Florida House, District 81
Represents District 81 (Part of Collier) 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 ↗
Yvette Benarroch
Yvette Benarroch was born in Puerto Rico, served in the U.S. Air Force during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and moved to Florida more than 20 years ago. She co-owns Affordable Landscaping Service & Design in the Naples and Marco Island area, holds a real estate license, and has a bachelor's degree from the Inte…
Kim Finer
Kim Finer earned a Ph.D. in veterinary microbiology from Texas A&M University and spent most of a 35-year career as a professor of biological sciences at Kent State University. She bought a home in Florida in 2012 and is president of the Friends of Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park; she is a member of the Conservancy of …
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 | Yvette Benarroch Republican | Kim Finer 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 opposes high taxes and red tape, and her 2024 survey emphasizes cutting regulations that burden businesses and homeowners. | 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 (June 2, 2026 special session), which put a $250,000 non-school homestead exemption on the November 2026 ballot, and yes on HJR 203 (Feb. 19, 2026), which would have phased out non-school homestead property taxes. | Leans disagree· stated position Calls property taxes necessary for local services while urging fairer appraisals; ranks insurance as the priority. |
| 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 Her issues page says she fought to lower premiums and curb frivolous litigation; her 2024 survey calls for insurance reforms that encourage competition to reduce premiums. | Leans agree· stated position She proposes targeted legislation to reduce homeowners insurance costs and says current costs are still rising with no workable solutions. |
| Housing affordabilityGovernment should do more to make housing affordable (subsidies, zoning changes, rent measures). | Mixed / neutral· stated position Supports more attainable housing through fewer regulations and permitting delays and public-private partnerships, while avoiding one-size-fits-all mandates. | Leans agree· stated position She wants local governments to regain authority over rent restrictions and zoning as part of affordability. |
| ImmigrationImmigration enforcement should be stricter, including large-scale deportation of people in the country illegally. | Strongly agrees· stated position Her issues page says she will fight to stop illegal immigration in Florida and put Floridians first, and she voted yes on SB 2-C (Feb. 13, 2025), the state immigration-enforcement law. | No public position found |
| AbortionAbortion should be legal in most cases (Florida's six-week ban should be repealed or loosened). | Strongly disagrees· stated position Her issues page says she will protect the sanctity of life; she cosponsored a fetal-personhood bill (H 289) in October 2025 and posted support for the six-week law when it passed in 2023. | Strongly agrees· stated position Says pregnancy decisions belong solely to patients and physicians without legislative interference. |
| 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· stated position Her issues page says she is 100 percent pro-Second Amendment. | No public position found |
| Health careGovernment should expand its role in health coverage (expand Medicaid in Florida, extend Affordable Care Act subsidies). | Leans disagree· stated position In her 2024 survey she said access to affordable health care and education should involve reducing government intervention and increasing choice. | Leans agree· stated position Her survey says she wants to ease access to health care with a focus on reducing costs and expanding available procedures and medications. |
| Education & school choicePublic money should follow students to private, charter or home schools (universal school vouchers). | No public position found | Leans disagree· stated position She proposes reorganizing the expanded voucher program with revised accounting to recover lost funds and verify student status, and says nothing is being done to ensure voucher dollars are used as intended. |
| 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 She lists coastal resiliency, ecosystem destruction, waterway pollution and overdevelopment as her policy passions and calls water quality and quantity the state's greatest challenge. |
| Growth & developmentGrowth and development should be slowed or more tightly regulated (higher impact fees, density limits, stronger local control). | Mixed / neutral· stated position Supports home rule but says the Legislature may need to act when local governments fail residents; weighs preemption case by case. | Strongly agrees· stated position She wants to return local control over taxes, comprehensive plans, rent restrictions and zoning, stop laws that favor developers over local governments, and names overdevelopment as a top concern. |
| 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· stated position Her issues page backs mandatory voter ID and making all election crimes felonies, and praises recent election-security reforms. | Strongly agrees· stated position Her Ballotpedia survey calls for promoting mail-in voting, simplifying registration, expanding early voting and making Election Day a state holiday; her site criticizes HB 991 as creating barriers for elderly, married women, students and low-income voters. |
| 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. | Leans agree· stated position Her site says she fights to keep what it calls radical-left ideology and 'wokeism' out of schools and supports parents' right to raise children by their own values; she led the county Moms for Liberty chapter. | 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 | Strongly agrees· stated position Her 'Bad Bills' page opposes HB 1217, which limits local climate and net-zero policies, and says Florida is uniquely suited to capture renewable energy. |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yvette Benarroch | 1.00 (5 statements) | 1.80 (5 statements) |
| Kim Finer | -1.20 (5 statements) | -1.75 (4 statements) |
Other issues the candidates have raised
Priorities each candidate has brought up on their own, beyond the major-issue list above.
Yvette Benarroch
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.
Kim Finer
- Books and DEI — Her survey calls for abolishing book bans and letting trained educators set curriculum; her site opposes HB 1001, which bans local DEI activities including Pride events, and SB 1296 on public-employee unions.
- Data centers and water — Calls for a state moratorium on hyperscale data centers to protect groundwater and springs.