Florida House, District 35
Represents District 35 in the Florida House of Representatives; 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
Ballotpedia's candidate page states 'Incumbent Erika Booth and Eric Gray are running in the general election for Florida House of Representatives District 35 on November 3, 2026' ); Florida Politics covered Gray's entry and Booth's fundraising. Research limitation: every WebFetch (Ballotpedia, Wikipedia, Division of Elections, county SOEs, news sites) was blocked and the search budget was capped, so this roster comes only from search-result snippets and should be re-verified against the county Supervisor of Elections sample ballot.
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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Erika Booth
Incumbent Republican state representative for HD 35 (parts of Orange and Osceola counties), first elected in a January 2024 special election and re-elected in November 2024.
Eric Gray
Democratic nominee for HD 35; Florida Politics reported in 2025 that he planned to challenge Booth.
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 | Erika Booth Republican | Eric Gray Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | No public position found | Leans disagree· stated position Supports renewing the local half-penny sales tax for schools and infrastructure and criticizes tax revenue going to corporations rather than the community. |
| 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 CS/HJR 1-F (2026), the June 2026 joint resolution that placed Amendment 3 on the ballot to raise the non-school homestead exemption to $250,000 by 2028 and let counties and cities exempt homesteads entirely; because the vote sent the question to voters rather than cutting taxes itself, a vote for it is coded as leaning toward sharply reducing homestead property taxes rather than as full agreement. | Strongly disagrees· stated position Gray said he will vote no on the property-tax amendment, saying it cuts billions from local services with no replacement; he favors targeted relief instead. |
| 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 agree· stated position Booth said Florida's excess-profit law should cover homeowners insurance; she voted for HB 1399 to do that and plans to push it again. | No public position found |
| Housing affordabilityGovernment should do more to make housing affordable (subsidies, zoning changes, rent measures). | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Wants to reform single-purpose zoning to allow multi-family housing and backs 'bold policies' to build homes affordable at $30,000 to $70,000 incomes. |
| 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 (2025), the February 2025 special-session immigration law that created a State Board of Immigration Enforcement, made entering Florida as an unauthorized immigrant a state crime and required local cooperation with federal detention. | No public position found |
| 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 Supports a woman's right to choose and pledges to vote to restore reproductive rights under the Roe v. Wade framework. |
| 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 yes on HB 759 (March 26, 2025) and voted yes on HB 133 (Jan. 15, 2026); both bills would have lowered the minimum age to buy a rifle from 21 to 18; each passed the House and died in the Senate. Sources: Florida Senate bill page: HB 759 (2025) Minimum Age for Fir… (2025-06-16) · House roll call, HB 759 (2025) passage, 78-34 (2025-03-26) · Florida Senate bill page: HB 133 (2026) Minimum Age for Fir… (2026-03-13) · House roll call, HB 133 (2026) passage, 74-37 (2026-01-15) · Florida 2026 legislative session ends: what passed, what fa… (2026-03-13) | 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). | No public position found | Mixed / neutral· stated position Gray said he understands why parents want options but that schools receiving public money should report how students are doing. |
| Environment & waterProtecting water quality, conservation land and climate resilience should take priority even if it slows development or raises costs. | Leans agree· stated position Booth named stormwater and water quality as the top environmental issue, citing unfunded drainage work and subdivisions that pave over land that used to absorb water. | Leans agree· stated position Committed to preserving green spaces, lakes and rivers and phasing out septic systems. |
| Growth & developmentGrowth and development should be slowed or more tightly regulated (higher impact fees, density limits, stronger local control). | Leans agree· stated position Booth said she would vote to protect Orange County's voter-approved rural boundary and that growth should pay for roads, schools and drainage before homes are built; on preemption she backs it only where it protects individual rights. | Leans agree· stated position Gray said preemption should be limited to genuine statewide concerns and described rural boundaries as a way to direct growth while protecting farms and wetlands. |
| 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 yes on CS/CS/HB 991 when it passed the House on Feb. 25, 2026 and yes on final House passage March 12, 2026. CS/CS/HB 991 (2026), now law (Ch. 2026-26), requires the state to verify voters' U.S. citizenship using driver-license and other government records and removes student and retirement-home IDs from the IDs accepted at the polls. Her campaign site says she is committed to auditing election results and finding new ways to root out fraud. Sources: Florida Senate bill page: CS/CS/HB 991 (2026) Elections, Ch… (2026-04-02) · House roll call, CS/CS/HB 991 (2026) third-reading passage,… (2026-02-25) · House roll call, CS/CS/HB 991 (2026) final passage, 77-28 (2026-03-12) · Florida 2026 legislative session ends: what passed, what fa… (2026-03-13) · Erika Booth for State Representative campaign website (2024… (2026-10) | Strongly agrees· stated position Pledges to fight for fair voter access, clear paths to rights restoration for formerly incarcerated people, and against voter suppression. |
| Crime & policingCriminal penalties should be tougher and police funding increased, rather than emphasizing reform and rehabilitation. | No public position found | Leans disagree· stated position Opposes criminalizing homelessness (he entered the race in response to HB 1365 of 2024) and says community safety begins with rehabilitation programs. |
| Gender identity lawsFlorida's laws restricting gender-affirming care for minors and classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity should remain in place. | Leans agree· stated position Her campaign site criticizes what it calls "trans-education in our public schools" under a heading pledging to protect children from indoctrination, and says she will stand with Gov. DeSantis on the issue. | 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 |
| 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.
Erika BoothHow 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Erika Booth | not enough data | 1.20 (5 statements) |
| Eric Gray | -1.67 (3 statements) | -1.20 (5 statements) |
Other issues the candidates have raised
Priorities each candidate has brought up on their own, beyond the major-issue list above.
Erika Booth
- Fundraising — The Orlando Sentinel reported Booth had raised about $258,000, much of it from corporate donors and groups, to Gray's about $83,000.
Eric Gray
- Fundraising — The Orlando Sentinel reported Gray had raised about $83,000, almost entirely from individuals, to Booth's about $258,000.