Florida House, District 56
Represents District 56 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: 'Incumbent Brad Yeager and Jessica Naioti are running in the Republican primary for Florida House of Representatives District 56 on August 18, 2026' and a Democrat awaits in the general election ; CBS Miami/NSF: all 16 House incumbents facing primary challengers won . 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
Report an error ↗Brad Yeager
Incumbent Republican state representative for HD 56 (coastal Pasco County including New Port Richey), first elected 2022. Faced Jessica Naioti in the Aug. 18, 2026 Republican primary.
Jose Freites
Jose Freites describes himself as a lifelong Floridian, activist, community organizer and Democratic Socialist running 'to fight for the working class'. His site lists platform headings (environment, housing crisis, 'people over insurance profits', public safety, 'defending our neighbors', teachers). Endorsed by Pasco…
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 | Brad Yeager Republican | Jose Freites 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. | No public position found | Strongly disagrees· stated position Freites said he will vote no, calling elimination of property tax catastrophic for working-class Floridians without a replacement plan. |
| 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. | Strongly agrees· stated position Freites supports HB 30, which he describes as capping annual property-insurance increases at 10 to 15 percent, restoring one-way attorney fees when claims are wrongly denied, and requiring insurers to publicly account for premium increases. |
| 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 Freites calls for amending the state constitution to protect the Sadowski affordable-housing trust fund, repealing Florida's statewide ban on rent control so local governments can set their own rules, adding anti-price-gouging limits on sudden rent increases, and building community-owned housing in Pasco County priced for teachers, nurses, first responders and service workers. |
| 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. | Strongly disagrees· stated position Freites says he would end cooperation between local police and federal immigration agents, extend due-process protections to undocumented residents, and allow immigrant residents to obtain driver licenses and use public-safety services regardless of status. |
| 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 2023 law limiting most abortions to six weeks of pregnancy. | Strongly agrees· stated position Freites said abortion restrictions should be less strict and supports putting a right to abortion in Florida's constitution. |
| 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), the 2023 law allowing adults to carry a concealed firearm without a permit. | 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 Voted for HB 1 (2023), the 2023 law that made every Florida student eligible for a state-funded scholarship usable at private schools or for home education. | Strongly disagrees· stated position Freites opposes expanding Florida's universal voucher program, saying it moves public-school money into private schools and mainly benefits wealthier families. He also calls for raising teacher base pay, restoring experience-based pay steps, repealing SB 256 and restoring binding arbitration for teacher unions. |
| Environment & waterProtecting water quality, conservation land and climate resilience should take priority even if it slows development or raises costs. | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Freites says he would advance legislation strengthening protections for wetlands, springs and aquifer recharge areas against sprawl and large industrial water users, and argues current leaders talk about conservation without acting. |
| Growth & developmentGrowth and development should be slowed or more tightly regulated (higher impact fees, density limits, stronger local control). | No public position found | Leans agree· stated position Freites frames sprawl, large-scale warehouses and AI data centers as threats to Pasco's water and neighborhoods, and says he would restrict their expansion and strengthen legal defenses for recharge areas against them. |
| 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 | No public position found |
| Crime & policingCriminal penalties should be tougher and police funding increased, rather than emphasizing reform and rehabilitation. | No public position found | Leans disagree· stated position Freites would make mobile crisis teams pairing mental-health professionals with trained responders the default response to mental-health calls, fund crisis stabilization units as an alternative to jail or the emergency room, add oversight and due-process safeguards to Baker Act holds, and staff school-based mental health so students are helped before a situation becomes a disciplinary or criminal matter. |
| 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. | Leans agree· stated position Freites says he would restrict what he calls Big Tech data centers from driving up residents' electric bills, and ties utility costs to tighter oversight of large industrial power users. |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Brad Yeager | 0.33 (3 statements) | 2.00 (5 statements) |
| Jose Freites | -1.75 (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.
Brad Yeager
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.
Jose Freites
- Repealing classroom speech restrictions — Freites says he would repeal the Stop WOKE Act and related classroom restrictions, protect teachers' academic freedom, and remove personal liability for teachers and librarians acting in good faith.