Florida House, District 52
Represents District 52, which covers all of Sumter County and part of Hernando County, in the Florida House of Representatives. Votes on state laws and the state budget. Term: 2 years.
How we verified who is on the ballot
Third pass (Sept 17, 2026): verified against the Sumter County Supervisor of Elections' official 2026 General Election sample ballot, which lists Samantha Scott (REP) and Pamala Kaye Bivins (DEM) for State Representative, District 52, with no write-in line. Position research: Scott was seated March 25, 2026, after the regular session ended, so her only floor record is the June 2026 special session; her campaign site states values rather than issue positions, and no questionnaire responses were found. Bivins' site lists priorities without detailed positions.
Candidates
Samantha Scott
Scott is a lifelong Sumter County resident from Bushnell, born June 18, 1981, in Orlando; she and her husband Shawn have five children and two grandchildren. She works as director of marketing for the family plumbing company and in real estate, and earlier served as executive director of the Sumter County Chamber of C…
Pamala Kaye Bivins
Bivins (also known as Pamala Harrison-Bivins) was born and raised in Wildwood and is a lifetime resident. She served more than 25 years on the Wildwood City Commission, including as mayor pro tem, and resigned in November 2025 to run for the Florida House. She opened a campaign account for the HD 52 special election b…
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 | Samantha Scott Republican | Pamala Kaye Bivins Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | No public position found | 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 On June 2, 2026, Scott voted yes on CS/HJR 1F, which 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; the measure passed the House 75-26. A vote to refer the amendment is treated here as leaning support; she has not published a statement on Amendment 3. | 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. | No public position found | No public position found |
| Housing affordabilityGovernment should do more to make housing affordable (subsidies, zoning changes, rent measures). | No public position found | Leans agree· stated position Her campaign website lists 'pushing for solutions that keep housing affordable and communities strong' among her key issues, and she named affordable housing among the concerns she wants to take to Tallahassee. Specific mechanisms (subsidies, zoning, rent measures) were not found. |
| ImmigrationImmigration enforcement should be stricter, including large-scale deportation of people in the country illegally. | No public position found | 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 | 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). | 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 | Leans agree· stated position Her campaign website lists 'advocating for accessible, affordable health care for all Floridians' as a key issue; she has said she wants to take concerns about healthcare, Medicaid and health-care access to Tallahassee. She has not been found explicitly calling for Medicaid expansion or ACA subsidy extension. |
| Education & school choicePublic money should follow students to private, charter or home schools (universal school vouchers). | No public position found | No public position found |
| Environment & waterProtecting water quality, conservation land and climate resilience should take priority even if it slows development or raises costs. | Leans agree· stated position In April 2026 Scott wrote a letter raising concerns that a proposed direct-injection well at the Heart of Florida Landfill near Lake Panasoffkee could endanger the Floridan aquifer, the area's main drinking-water source. This is a single, project-specific statement; no broader statement on conservation land or climate resilience was 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. | No public position found | Leans agree· stated position Her campaign website lists 'protecting the right to vote and ensuring no community is left behind at the ballot box' as a key issue, and she repeated that commitment at a July 2026 voting-rights event in The Villages. Specific proposals on mail voting, drop boxes or rights restoration were not found. |
| 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. | 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 |
| Trump administrationI approve of the direction of the Trump administration. | Strongly agrees· stated position Her campaign site describes her as a 'trusted ally' of President Donald J. Trump; she was a 2024 Republican National Convention delegate and chairs the state party's Moms Coalition. | 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).
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).
| Candidate | Economic issues | Social & legal issues |
|---|---|---|
| Samantha Scott | not enough data | not enough data |
| Pamala Kaye Bivins | -1.33 (3 statements) | not enough data |
Other issues the candidates have raised
Priorities each candidate has brought up on their own, beyond the major-issue list above.
Samantha Scott
- Heart of Florida Landfill injection well / aquifer protection — Wrote a letter opposing or questioning a proposed direct-injection well at the Heart of Florida Landfill near Lake Panasoffkee, citing risk to the aquifer that supplies local drinking water.
- Business climate / job creation — Campaign materials emphasize her record as a business owner and job creator (plumbing company with 200+ employees) and 'conservative principles'; her campaign describes 'fighting for local families and defending constitutional freedoms.' Specific policy proposals were not retrievable.
- Higher education / Lake-Sumter State College — Serves as a DeSantis-appointed trustee of Lake-Sumter State College; the college publicly congratulated her on her swearing-in.
- Succeeded Rep. John Temple — Replaced outgoing Rep. John Temple, who resigned after being named president of Lake-Sumter State College; local swearing-in was held April 10, 2026 at the historic Sumter County Courthouse in Bushnell.
- 'Faith, Family, and Freedom' — Campaign site frames her platform as 'Rooted in Faith, Family, and Freedom' and 'Conservative Leadership,' pledging to defend constitutional freedoms and 'fight for local families'; it does not list positions on specific bills.
Pamala Kaye Bivins
- Public education — Her campaign website lists 'fully funding public schools and supporting teachers' as a key issue, and she names public education among the concerns she wants to bring to Tallahassee.
- Local infrastructure and regional representation — Spoke with voters about local infrastructure, health-care access and representation for the region.
- Bipartisan framing of needs — Called for Democrats, Republicans and non-partisans to see healthcare, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, housing and education as human needs that connect everyone rather than divisive party-line issues.
- Serve the people, not a party — At a June 2026 Democratic club forum she listed health care, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, affordable housing and public education as priorities and said, 'You're elected to serve the people, and that's what we intend to do.'