Florida House, District 17
Represents District 17 (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
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Jessica Baker
Jessica Baker is a Jacksonville attorney first elected to the House in 2022. Her campaign highlights a 2024 tax-cut package (HB 7073), teacher-pay funding and child-protection legislation, and she sponsored the Officer Jason Raynor Act, which became law in 2026.
Jacob Guerrero
Qualified for the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot according to the Florida Division of Elections, 2026 general election candidate list (Qualified). A search on Oct. 7, 2026 — campaign materials, the League of Women Voters' Vote411 guide, Ballotpedia's candidate survey and local news coverage — found no public statements on the is…
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 | Jessica Baker Republican | Jacob Guerrero Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | Leans agree· stated position Her site credits her with cutting taxes by $1 billion through HB 7073 in 2024. | 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 Baker voted for HJR 203 and HJR 1-F in 2026. | No public position found |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| ImmigrationImmigration enforcement should be stricter, including large-scale deportation of people in the country illegally. | Strongly agrees· based on record Baker voted for SB 2-C, the 2025 state immigration-enforcement package. | No public position found |
| AbortionAbortion should be legal in most cases (Florida's six-week ban should be repealed or loosened). | Strongly disagrees· based on record Baker voted for SB 300, the 2023 six-week abortion law. | No public position found |
| 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 She voted for permitless carry in 2023 and for lowering the long-gun purchase age in 2025 and 2026. | 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 |
| Education & school choicePublic money should follow students to private, charter or home schools (universal school vouchers). | Strongly agrees· based on record Baker voted for HB 1, the 2023 universal school-choice expansion. | No public position found |
| Environment & waterProtecting water quality, conservation land and climate resilience should take priority even if it slows development or raises costs. | No public position found | No public position found |
| 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 |
| MarijuanaRecreational marijuana should be legal for adults. | 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 |
| Crime & policingCriminal penalties should be tougher and police funding increased, rather than emphasizing reform and rehabilitation. | Strongly agrees· based on record She was House sponsor of the Officer Jason Raynor Act (SB 156, 2026), mandating life without parole for killing a police officer, and touts child-protection legislation. | 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· based on record Voted for SB 254 (2023), the 2023 law barring gender-affirming medical treatment for minors and restricting it for adults. | 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. | No public position found |
| Trump administrationI approve of the direction of the Trump administration. | 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 |
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.
How 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Jessica Baker | 0.80 (5 statements) | 2.00 (7 statements) |
| Jacob Guerrero | not enough data | not enough data |
Other issues the candidates have raised
Priorities each candidate has brought up on their own, beyond the major-issue list above.
Jessica Baker
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.
Jacob Guerrero
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.