Florida House, District 83
Represents District 83 (Glades, Hardee, Highlands, Okeechobee) 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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Kaylee Tuck
Kaylee Tuck is a fourth-generation Highlands County resident who graduated from Sebring High School, earned an economics degree from Florida State University and a law degree from Stetson University. She practices land use and real estate law and was first elected to the Florida House in 2020, representing District 83…
Leigh Estes
Leigh Estes grew up in Alabama, earned two accounting degrees and a master's in public administration, and spent 28 years with Virginia state agencies in accounting, grants management and administration. A retired CPA, she has been a full-time Florida resident for about two years and lives in a senior community in the…
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 | Kaylee Tuck Republican | Leigh Estes Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | Strongly agrees· stated position Her issues page lists keeping taxes low and free-market principles that keep government out of people's pocketbooks. | 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. | 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 Wants limits on insurance rate increases and says state regulators have lost authority to the companies they regulate. |
| 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 Would repeal the state ban on local rent control, consider limits on rent increases for low-income, elderly and manufactured-home communities, and restore abandoned homes for low-cost purchase. |
| ImmigrationImmigration enforcement should be stricter, including large-scale deportation of people in the country illegally. | Leans agree· based on record Voted yes on SB 2-C (Feb. 13, 2025), which created a State Board of Immigration Enforcement, funded state cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and added criminal penalties tied to immigration status. | Leans disagree· stated position She criticizes state policies targeting immigrants and the state's role in building and staffing a migrant detention facility on protected land. |
| 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), which limited most abortions to six weeks of pregnancy, on April 13, 2023. | Leans agree· stated position On her 'Why I'm Running' page she criticizes Florida for having 'quickly eliminated abortion rights'; she does not state a specific proposal. |
| 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 allowed carrying a concealed firearm without a state permit, on March 24, 2023. | 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 Wants more competition and says money spent on the Alligator Alcatraz detention site could have subsidized coverage and the state Medicaid fund. |
| 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 made every K-12 student eligible for a state scholarship usable at private schools or for home education, on March 17, 2023. | Strongly disagrees· stated position She says funding and promotion of charter schools is designed to strip funding from public schools that serve less-privileged students. |
| 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 says Florida's ecosystems are being destroyed by development with state leaders' support, and lists environmental protections among her five policy points. |
| 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 She says state leaders have stripped localities of self-governance and backed development that harms ecosystems; strengthening local communities is one of her policy points. |
| 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. | Leans agree· stated position She criticizes a redistricting law and a law she says will hurt some voters' ability to register. |
| 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. | Leans disagree· stated position She criticizes the Legislature for replacing 'gender' with 'sex' in state law and condemns what she calls discrimination against people who 'have the courage to be who they are'. |
| 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. | Leans agree· stated position Her issues page says she is exploring ways to address veterans' issues in rural communities, starting with the lack of transitional housing. | 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kaylee Tuck | 1.00 (5 statements) | 1.83 (6 statements) |
| Leigh Estes | -1.67 (3 statements) | -1.33 (6 statements) |
Other issues the candidates have raised
Priorities each candidate has brought up on their own, beyond the major-issue list above.
Kaylee Tuck
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.
Leigh Estes
- Affordability and public health — Her policy page lists addressing affordability and security, public health, environmental protections, strengthening local communities and restoring integrity to the political system, without further detail.