Florida House, District 66
Represents District 66 (Part of Hillsborough) 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
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Traci Koster
Northwest Hillsborough attorney first elected to the Florida House in 2020. She has been named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers, led the Hillsborough County Bar's Young Lawyers Division and co-founded Tampa Bay Pro Bono Partners. Mother of two.
Jose A. "Dante" Sanchez Sanchez
U.S. Air Force veteran whose campaign platform cites technical expertise, military discipline and professional utility experience. His website frames the campaign around God, family and community and a six-point plan on insurance, traffic safety, schools, water infrastructure, veterans and energy.
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 | Traci Koster Republican | Jose A. "Dante" Sanchez Sanchez Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | Leans agree· stated position Her issues page pledges to keep taxes low on small businesses and working families. | 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. | 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· stated position On cost of living, Koster said she would protect the insurance reforms already enacted, which she said are bringing more carriers to the market and lowering auto and homeowners rates. | Mixed / neutral· stated position His platform mixes state intervention with market measures: expanded state-backed My Safe Florida Home hardening grants tied to mandatory premium reductions, plus a crackdown on litigation fraud he says inflates claims. |
| 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. | No public position found |
| 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). | No public position found | Mixed / neutral· stated position Describes himself as a moderate Catholic with a nuanced view and does not state where he would set abortion 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). | Strongly disagrees· based on record Voted yes on HB 543 (2023), which allows carrying a concealed firearm without a state license. | No public position found |
| Health careGovernment should expand its role in health coverage (expand Medicaid in Florida, extend Affordable Care Act subsidies). | Strongly disagrees· stated position Koster said Medicaid expansion would not help those with the greatest needs, would take from the groups most in need and would hurt Florida's budget and other services. | Strongly agrees· stated position Sanchez Sanchez said Florida's refusal to expand Medicaid leaves more than 400,000 children uninsured and that lawmakers should work out how to give everyone in the community access to health care. |
| 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. Her issues page also pledges to protect the Hope, Gardiner and Bright Futures scholarship programs. | No public position found |
| 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 Sanchez Sanchez named climate change one of three top issues, called for shifting from reactive disaster relief to long-term mitigation, and said firms that cannot guarantee their infrastructure leaves the environment whole should not be allowed to build. |
| Growth & developmentGrowth and development should be slowed or more tightly regulated (higher impact fees, density limits, stronger local control). | Leans agree· stated position Koster said data-center decisions are as much a development question as an AI question and should be left to local governments. | Strongly agrees· stated position Sanchez Sanchez called for a moratorium on new AI hyperscale data centers and a state and local framework requiring a net-zero impact model. |
| 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. | No public position 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. | 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 He backs an all-of-the-above strategy that expands commercial solar, battery storage and smart-grid technology, with state tax exemptions for solar and protection from punitive utility fees. |
| 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 | Strongly agrees· stated position He proposes expanding property-tax exemptions for disabled veterans, licensing reciprocity for military spouses and state-funded community veteran mental-health networks. |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Traci Koster | 1.00 (6 statements) | 2.00 (5 statements) |
| Jose A. "Dante" Sanchez Sanchez | -1.00 (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.
Traci Koster
- Water quality — Her issues page cites sewage releases into waterways as an infrastructure problem needing mitigation.
Jose A. "Dante" Sanchez Sanchez
- Schools — He proposes forensic audits of school facility funds, retention bonuses for veteran teachers and expanded trade and dual-enrollment programs.
- Traffic safety — He wants state matching funds for Hillsborough's Vision Zero work on Dale Mabry, Gunn Highway and Sheldon Road.