Florida House, District 15
Represents District 15 (Nassau, Part of Duval) in the Florida House; votes on state laws and the state budget. Term: 2 years.
Partly verified. Either the November opponent could not be confirmed from available sources, or only a few positions are documented. Confirm the full candidate list on your county sample ballot; unknown positions are shown as such.
How we verified who is on the ballot
Candidate list taken from the Florida Division of Elections, 2026 general election candidate list on 2026-09-18 ; statuses Qualified/Unopposed only. Counties from the Legislature's district listings.
Debates and forums
- No debate or candidate forum has been scheduled in this race (checked Oct. 17, 2026). Checked Vote411's Florida debates-and-forums calendar, the League of Women Voters of Florida newsroom, the county Leagues, chambers of commerce, Tiger Bay clubs and local NAACP branches; every legislative forum they list was held during the primary.
Candidates
Report an error ↗One candidate in this race is a write-in. Florida does not print a qualified write-in candidate's name on the ballot. To vote for one you must write the name on the write-in line for this race; a blank or misspelled line may not be counted.
Dean Black
Dean Black, 60, is an eighth-generation Northeast Floridian, business owner and cattle rancher who served in the Air Force and Florida Air National Guard. He chaired the Republican Party of Duval County from 2018 to 2024, was elected to the House in 2022 and re-elected in 2024, and is vice chair of the House Select Co…
Lloyd Caulker
Lloyd Caulker is a Jacksonville entrepreneur and write-in candidate whose platform focuses on the maritime economy, biofuels and renewable fuels, education and workforce development. He also ran in 2024.
Chadd Charland
Chadd Charland, 51, of Fernandina Beach is a first-time candidate running without party affiliation. A writer, podcaster and small-business owner with a journalism degree from Auburn, he helped lead the push for a data-center moratorium in Nassau County and campaigns on the environment, public education and equal righ…
Side-by-side on the major issues
Each row is a statement. The chips show how each candidate's stated positions or record relate to that statement. Expand a row to read the evidence and sources. "No public position found" means we could not find a statement or record on the topic, not that the candidate has none.
| Issue | Dean Black Republican | Lloyd Caulker Write-in | Chadd Charland No Party Affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | Leans agree· stated position He says affordability comes from reducing the tax burden, insurance costs and regulatory burdens. | Leans agree· stated position He says he believes in lower taxes and small government. Sources: Ballotpedia: Lloyd Caulker (2026-09) | No public position found |
| Property taxesFlorida should eliminate or sharply reduce homestead property taxes, even if local governments must cut services or find other revenue. | Strongly agrees· based on record Black voted for HJR 203 and HJR 1-F in 2026 and says affordability should be addressed by reducing the tax burden. | No public position found | Leans disagree· stated position He contrasts property taxes, which fund roads, schools and public safety, with private insurance that benefits corporations. |
| Property insuranceThe state should intervene more directly in the property-insurance market (rate caps, expanding Citizens, stricter insurer regulation) rather than relying mainly on market-based reforms. | Leans disagree· based on record Voted for SB 2-A (Dec. 2022), the December 2022 property-insurance law that ended one-way attorney fees and assignment of benefits and created a state reinsurance program, a market-based approach; a vote for it is coded as leaning against more direct state intervention. | No public position found | No public position found |
| Housing affordabilityGovernment should do more to make housing affordable (subsidies, zoning changes, rent measures). | Leans agree· based on record Voted for CS/SB 102 (2023), the 2023 Live Local Act that put $711 million into state housing programs, required local governments to allow multifamily housing in commercial areas when at least 40 percent of units are affordable, and created property-tax exemptions for affordable developments; a vote for it is coded as leaning toward more government action on housing. | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position He supports limits on hedge-fund purchases of homes, state-built dense affordable housing and state-backed loans for first-time buyers. |
| ImmigrationImmigration enforcement should be stricter, including large-scale deportation of people in the country illegally. | Strongly agrees· based on record Black voted for SB 2-C, the 2025 state immigration-enforcement package. | No public position found | Strongly disagrees· stated position Charland said he does not agree with current state and federal immigration policy, calling it cruel, and said he sees immigrants as an opportunity for Florida. |
| AbortionAbortion should be legal in most cases (Florida's six-week ban should be repealed or loosened). | Strongly disagrees· based on record Black voted for SB 300, the 2023 six-week abortion law. | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position He supports a constitutional right to abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health. |
| GunsGun laws should be stricter (keep the red-flag law and the age-21 purchase rule; expand background checks) rather than looser (permitless or open carry, lower purchase age). | Strongly disagrees· based on record He voted for permitless carry in 2023 and for lowering the long-gun purchase age in 2025 and 2026. | Strongly agrees· stated position His site says public safety, and gun control in particular, should be a top priority. | No public position found |
| Health careGovernment should expand its role in health coverage (expand Medicaid in Florida, extend Affordable Care Act subsidies). | No public position found | No public position found | Leans agree· stated position He says health care should be treated as a human right, with lower drug prices and more preventive care. |
| Education & school choicePublic money should follow students to private, charter or home schools (universal school vouchers). | Strongly agrees· based on record Black voted for HB 1, the 2023 universal school-choice expansion. | No public position found | Strongly disagrees· stated position Charland says public money should go to public schools only and calls vouchers 'welfare for wealthy people.' |
| Environment & waterProtecting water quality, conservation land and climate resilience should take priority even if it slows development or raises costs. | Leans agree· stated position He says growth must not destroy woodlands, waterways and aquifers or the region's quality of life. | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position He would fully fund Florida Forever and prioritizes conservation land, clean water and clean energy. |
| Growth & developmentGrowth and development should be slowed or more tightly regulated (higher impact fees, density limits, stronger local control). | No public position found | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position He wants a 12-month moratorium on large data centers, tighter regulation to slow sprawl and restoration of home rule over development. |
| MarijuanaRecreational marijuana should be legal for adults. | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found |
| Elections & votingVoting should be made easier (mail voting, drop boxes, restoring voting rights) rather than adding new restrictions. | Strongly disagrees· based on record Voted for SB 7050 (2023), the 2023 elections law that raised penalties and shortened deadlines for third-party voter-registration groups and changed vote-by-mail and voter-roll procedures. | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position He supports equal voting rights, opposes gerrymandering and would overturn measures that make voting harder. |
| Crime & policingCriminal penalties should be tougher and police funding increased, rather than emphasizing reform and rehabilitation. | Leans agree· stated position He says public safety must always come first and police and firefighters must be supported. | No public position found | No public position found |
| Gender identity lawsFlorida's laws restricting gender-affirming care for minors and classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity should remain in place. | Strongly agrees· stated position Black filed the 'What is a Woman Act' (HB 1233, 2024) to define sex in state law by biology at birth, saying there are two immutable sexes. | No public position found | No public position found |
| Energy & utilitiesGovernment should promote renewable energy and tighten oversight of utility rate increases, even at the expense of fossil-fuel production. | Leans disagree· based on record Voted for CS/CS/HB 1645 (2024), the 2024 energy law that removed climate change as a priority of state energy policy, repealed several renewable-energy goals and grant programs, banned offshore wind turbines in state waters and eased regulation of natural-gas pipelines; a vote for it is coded as leaning against promoting renewable energy. | Leans agree· stated position He advocates renewable fuels such as biodiesel and renewable natural gas and a cleaner, sustainable future. | Leans agree· stated position He supports clean-energy initiatives. |
| Trump administrationI approve of the direction of the Trump administration. | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found |
| VeteransExpanding VA services and veterans' benefits should be a top priority. | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found |
Where they sit on the map
Each candidate is placed by the average of their documented stances. It is a summary of the table above, not an extra judgment.
Lloyd CaulkerHow the axes are computed
Each axis is the average of a candidate's coded stances (+2 to −2) on a fixed set of statements, so it comes straight from the documented positions and nothing else. A candidate needs at least three documented statements on an axis to be placed.
Economic issues (toward "Smaller government (lower taxes, less spending)"): Taxes & spending (agree), Property taxes (agree), Health care (disagree), Housing affordability (disagree), Property insurance (disagree), Energy & utilities (disagree), Social Security & Medicare (disagree), Teacher and staff pay (disagree).
Social & legal issues (toward "Conservative side of the statements"): Immigration (agree), Abortion (disagree), Guns (disagree), Education & school choice (agree), Elections & voting (disagree), Crime & policing (agree), Gender identity laws (agree), Marijuana (disagree), Environment & water (disagree), Trump administration (agree), Library and classroom materials (agree), School safety approach (agree).
| Candidate | Economic issues | Social & legal issues |
|---|---|---|
| Dean Black | 0.80 (5 statements) | 1.50 (8 statements) |
| Lloyd Caulker | not enough data | not enough data |
| Chadd Charland | -1.25 (4 statements) | -2.00 (5 statements) |
Other issues the candidates have raised
Priorities each candidate has brought up on their own, beyond the major-issue list above.
Dean Black
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.
Lloyd Caulker
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.
Chadd Charland
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.