Florida House, District 28
Represents District 28 (Part of Volusia) 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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Bill Partington
Partington, a UCF and Loyola law graduate, served as mayor of Ormond Beach from 2016 to 2024 before winning the HD 28 seat in 2024. He has worked as a prosecutor and as an assistant public defender and chief of the felony trial division.
Sammy Jackson
Jackson, 69, was born in Vero Beach and lives in Daytona Beach. He founded Christian's Merging Together Ministry Foundations in 1990 and describes himself as a pastor and community activist; the campaign lists no website.
Joseph Hannoush
Hannoush, of Ormond Beach, is a Libertarian Party of Florida regional representative who has run for the Florida House and U.S. House several times since 2018. He describes his philosophy as individual liberty, limited government and equal treatment under the law.
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 | Bill Partington Republican | Sammy Jackson Democratic | Joseph Hannoush Libertarian |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | Leans agree· stated position His campaign site lists reducing taxation to make Florida the most affordable state as a priority. | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Wants to expand sales-tax exemptions on everyday goods and cut government at all levels. |
| 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 Voted for HJR 203 (Feb. 19, 2026), which would phase out all non-school property taxes on homesteads, and for HJR 1F (June 2, 2026), which placed the Amendment 3 homestead-exemption increase on the November ballot. | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Would file a bill to repeal the property tax for all Floridians, arguing it would lower mortgages and rent. |
| 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. | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Says the state should increase regulation of property insurers and keep Citizens as an option. | Strongly disagrees· stated position Would repeal state subsidies to insurers and the requirement to carry homeowners insurance, and says high premiums signal properties that should not be owned. |
| Housing affordabilityGovernment should do more to make housing affordable (subsidies, zoning changes, rent measures). | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Would seek full state funding for the Sadowski, SHIP and SAIL housing programs to triple resources for local housing finance authorities. | Leans disagree· stated position Asked about housing affordability, Hannoush pointed to lower taxes and less government rather than new government programs, and said he favors eliminating property taxes on all properties. |
| ImmigrationImmigration enforcement should be stricter, including large-scale deportation of people in the country illegally. | Strongly agrees· based on record Voted for SB 2-C in the February 2025 special session, which created a State Board of Immigration Enforcement, required state and local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and added state penalties for people in the country illegally. | No public position found | Strongly disagrees· stated position Hannoush said he favors an "Ellis Island" approach of admitting people who pass criminal-background and health checks, with due process, but without taxpayer support for newcomers. |
| AbortionAbortion should be legal in most cases (Florida's six-week ban should be repealed or loosened). | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Says government should not restrict access to abortion or other reproductive care. | Leans agree· stated position Says he would vote against bills that limit access to abortion, while opposing taxpayer funding of abortion. |
| 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 Voted for HB 759 (2025) and HB 133 (2026), which would lower the minimum age to buy a rifle or shotgun from 21 to 18; both passed the House and died in the Senate. His site pledges unconditional support for the Second Amendment. | No public position found | 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 | Strongly agrees· stated position Proposes a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing health coverage for every child and says the state should join all available federal programs. | No public position found |
| Education & school choicePublic money should follow students to private, charter or home schools (universal school vouchers). | No public position found | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Would file a bill to double funding for student education vouchers. |
| 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 | 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 | No public position found |
| MarijuanaRecreational marijuana should be legal for adults. | No public position found | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Hannoush lists ending cannabis prohibition as one of his top three priorities, calling possession a victimless crime and saying it is time to repeal the ban. |
| Elections & votingVoting should be made easier (mail voting, drop boxes, restoring voting rights) rather than adding new restrictions. | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Says protecting voting rights is his top priority and would introduce a bill applying the 1965 Voting Rights Act protections in Florida, plus free documents if proof of citizenship is required. | Leans agree· stated position Would file a bill removing costs for documents needed to vote, which he calls repealing poll-tax laws. |
| Crime & policingCriminal penalties should be tougher and police funding increased, rather than emphasizing reform and rehabilitation. | No public position found | 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. | No public position found | 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. | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found |
| 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.
Bill PartingtonSammy JacksonHow 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bill Partington | not enough data | not enough data |
| Sammy Jackson | -2.00 (3 statements) | not enough data |
| Joseph Hannoush | 1.75 (4 statements) | -0.80 (5 statements) |
Other issues the candidates have raised
Priorities each candidate has brought up on their own, beyond the major-issue list above.
Bill Partington
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.
Sammy Jackson
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.
Joseph Hannoush
- Electric utility competition — Would file a bill to repeal exclusive electric service territories so consumers can choose their power company.