Florida House, District 61
Represents District 61 (Parts of Hillsborough, Pinellas) 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 ↗Linda Chaney
Qualified for the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot according to the Florida Division of Elections, 2026 general election candidate list (Qualified).
May Thach
St. Petersburg resident whose family immigrated to the U.S. in 1999; she was raised by a single mother with four siblings. A University of South Florida graduate with a graduate degree from UC San Diego, she served four years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia and later built a statewide civic-engagement coalition i…
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 | Linda Chaney Republican | May Thach Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | Strongly agrees· stated position The Times quoted Chaney's campaign site saying the local economy should be revived by lowering taxes and cutting regulations, and that infrastructure can be rebuilt without raising taxes. | Strongly disagrees· stated position Thach said she would raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour and pursue tax reforms closing corporate loopholes so corporations 'pay their fair share,' rather than broad tax cuts. |
| 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 yes on HJR 1-F in the June 2026 special session, which placed Amendment 3 on the November ballot to raise the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028 and to limit how counties and cities may spend property-tax revenue. | 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. | 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 Thach said she would cap insurance rate hikes, tax insurers' excess profits and return them to policyholders, and expand state-backed universal windstorm coverage. |
| Housing affordabilityGovernment should do more to make housing affordable (subsidies, zoning changes, rent measures). | No public position found | Leans agree· stated position She calls for stronger tenant protections as part of lowering costs. |
| ImmigrationImmigration enforcement should be stricter, including large-scale deportation of people in the country illegally. | Strongly agrees· based on record Voted yes on SB 2-C (2025), which created the State Board of Immigration Enforcement, required state help with federal detainers, barred driver licenses for unauthorized immigrants, and funded an Unauthorized Alien Transport Program. | 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 yes on SB 300 (2023), the law that limits most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. | Leans agree· stated position She says politicians should be kept out of private health-care decisions; she does not name the six-week law. |
| 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 | Strongly agrees· stated position She supports expanding Medicaid and keeping politicians out of private health-care decisions. |
| Education & school choicePublic money should follow students to private, charter or home schools (universal school vouchers). | Strongly agrees· based on record Voted yes on HB 1 (2023), which removed income limits and enrollment caps so state scholarship funds can follow any K-12 student to private or home education. | Leans disagree· stated position She calls for increasing accountability in school voucher programs. |
| Environment & waterProtecting water quality, conservation land and climate resilience should take priority even if it slows development or raises costs. | Leans agree· stated position Chaney's campaign site, quoted by the Times, lists the environment among her three top priorities: preserving the beaches and protecting water quality, while saying this can be done without interfering in the economics of tourism. | Leans agree· stated position She wants practical solutions to help communities prepare for severe weather and reduce flooding. |
| Growth & developmentGrowth and development should be slowed or more tightly regulated (higher impact fees, density limits, stronger local control). | Leans agree· based on record Chaney did not return the Times questionnaire. The paper reported she voted for Senate Bill 484, which requires public disclosure of new data-center projects and lets local governments set stricter land-use rules for them. | Strongly agrees· stated position Thach told the Times Florida should have a moratorium on the development of any new hyperscale data centers, with regulations on noise, water and electricity use and a role for communities in the approval process. |
| 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. | Strongly agrees· stated position She supports expanding voter access and government transparency. |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Linda Chaney | 1.50 (4 statements) | 1.50 (6 statements) |
| May Thach | -1.75 (4 statements) | -1.25 (4 statements) |
Other issues the candidates have raised
Priorities each candidate has brought up on their own, beyond the major-issue list above.
Linda Chaney
- Campaign money — Florida Politics reported Chaney raised more than $140,000 in her campaign account, with about $340,000 on hand in a supporting political committee, versus under $25,000 raised by May Thach.
May Thach
- Minimum wage and corporate taxes — Supports raising the minimum wage to at least $20 an hour and closing corporate tax loopholes.