Florida House, District 34
Represents District 34 (Indian River, Part of Brevard) 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 ↗Robert Brackett
Brackett, a Vero Beach native and Lipscomb University graduate, served as mayor of Vero Beach before winning HD 34 in 2022. He sits on the House Select Committee on Property Taxes.
Jordyn Balderas
Balderas, 21, is a community organizer from Vero Beach who left high school to support his family after his mother was diagnosed with amyloidosis, and experienced homelessness as a teenager. He says he is currently uninsured and is running on housing, health care access and working-family representation.
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 | Robert Brackett Republican | Jordyn Balderas Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | Leans agree· stated position Says cutting government spending allows cutting taxes. | 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. | Leans agree· based on record Voted for HJR 1F to place the homestead-exemption amendment on the ballot and was recorded as a yes after the roll call on HJR 203, but told News 6 he questioned whether the amendment was the answer and stressed public safety funding. | Leans disagree· stated position Says property taxes fund community programs, firefighters, ambulances and police, and that insurance is the bigger concern. |
| 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· stated position Attributed affordability problems to supply and demand and credited new insurers entering the market with improving rates. | Leans agree· stated position Calls Florida's insurance situation a crisis on all fronts and says it deserves more concern than property taxes. |
| 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. | Strongly agrees· stated position Would rehabilitate vacant properties for workforce housing, expand rental subsidies and add renter protections such as longer notice for rent increases and fee limits. |
| 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 |
| AbortionAbortion should be legal in most cases (Florida's six-week ban should be repealed or loosened). | Strongly disagrees· based on record Voted for SB 300 (2023), the Heartbeat Protection Act, which bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. | Strongly agrees· stated position Says he stands with the majority that voted for Amendment 4 and will work to restore reproductive freedom. |
| 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 543 (2023), which allowed carrying a concealed firearm without a license, and for HB 759 (2025) and HB 133 (2026), which would lower the minimum age to buy a rifle or shotgun from 21 to 18. | Strongly agrees· stated position Supports stricter gun laws, including barring high-school minors from buying or carrying firearms and requiring safe storage around minors. |
| 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 Wants the state to raise eligibility and expand access, including accepting a children's coverage expansion it has declined. |
| Education & school choicePublic money should follow students to private, charter or home schools (universal school vouchers). | Strongly agrees· based on record Voted for HB 1 (2023), which opened Florida's private-school scholarship (voucher) programs to every K-12 student regardless of family income. | Strongly disagrees· stated position Wants public dollars kept in public schools and reporting requirements for every voucher dollar. |
| Environment & waterProtecting water quality, conservation land and climate resilience should take priority even if it slows development or raises costs. | Leans agree· stated position Pledges to continue water and utility infrastructure upgrades and fight for clean waterways and beaches. | Strongly agrees· stated position Would expand state lagoon restoration through mangroves, living shorelines and stormwater work, fund septic-to-sewer from the state budget and require major projects to pay full environmental costs up front. |
| Growth & developmentGrowth and development should be slowed or more tightly regulated (higher impact fees, density limits, stronger local control). | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Says power has shifted too far to Tallahassee and wants home rule fortified so communities control development; opposes blanket preemption bills. |
| 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. | Leans agree· stated position Says current ID and signature verification is sufficient and would fund grants for document access if proof of citizenship were required. |
| Crime & policingCriminal penalties should be tougher and police funding increased, rather than emphasizing reform and rehabilitation. | 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· 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Brackett | 0.60 (5 statements) | 1.57 (7 statements) |
| Jordyn Balderas | -1.50 (4 statements) | -1.80 (5 statements) |
Other issues the candidates have raised
Priorities each candidate has brought up on their own, beyond the major-issue list above.
Robert Brackett
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.
Jordyn Balderas
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.