Florida Senate, District 22
Represents District 22 in the Florida Senate; votes on state laws and the state budget. Term: 4 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
OPEN SEAT: Joe Gruters (R) left to run for CFO (Ballotpedia). Florida Politics reports Rep. James Buchanan defeated Vic Rohe by nearly 4-to-1 in the Aug. 18, 2026 Republican primary . Whether any Democrat, NPA or write-in qualified could NOT be verified; a Sept. 2025 report said Buchanan was then the only candidate. If no one else qualified, the seat would have been decided in the Aug. 18 primary and would NOT appear on the November ballot - verify. Research limitation (Sept 2026): Ballotpedia, Wikipedia, dos.fl.gov, floridaelectionwatch.gov, Florida Politics and all news sites were blocked for fetching in this sandbox and the WebSearch budget was capped, so the roster is built only from search-result snippets; write-in/NPA qualifiers could not be checked. Positions are null because no snippet contained an explicit issue statement.
Debates and forums
- 2026-09-16 · (held)
Candidates
Report an error ↗James Buchanan
Buchanan, a Sarasota Republican state representative (elected to the House in 2018), won the Aug. 18, 2026 Republican primary for the open SD 22 seat by nearly a 4-to-1 margin over Vic Rohe; Senate Republican leaders endorsed him in 2025.
Martin Hyde
Martin Hyde was born in the United Kingdom, has lived in Sarasota for 27 years and says he has nearly 40 years of business experience in the U.S. and Europe. Known locally as a frequent critic of Sarasota city government, he ran for Congress as a Republican in 2022 and is now registered with no party affiliation. His …
Lew Wasserman
Qualified for the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot according to the Florida Division of Elections, 2026 general election candidate list (Qualified).
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 | James Buchanan Republican | Martin Hyde No Party Affiliation | Lew Wasserman Democratic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | No public position found | Leans agree· stated position Wants government out of anything it does not need to be in, no tax increases and fees rolled back. | 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. | Leans agree· based on record Voted for CS/HJR 1-F (2026), the June 2026 joint resolution that placed Amendment 3 on the ballot to raise the non-school homestead exemption to $250,000 by 2028 and let counties and cities exempt homesteads entirely; because the vote sent the question to voters rather than cutting taxes itself, a vote for it is coded as leaning toward sharply reducing homestead property taxes rather than as full agreement. | No public position found | Strongly disagrees· stated position Opposes Amendment 3, warning it would shift $4.95 billion to $11.86 billion in costs onto local governments. |
| 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. | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Proposes oversight systems for insurers, a public catastrophe layer to cut reinsurance costs, home hardening and higher penalties for insurer and contractor abuse. |
| 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 | 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 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. | No public position found | 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 for SB 300 (2023), the 2023 law limiting most abortions to six weeks of pregnancy. | No public position found | No public position found |
| 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 | 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 | Strongly agrees· stated position Supports expanding Medicaid and moving toward a system where every Floridian has access to affordable care. |
| 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. | No public position found | 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 Hyde's campaign site says storm management, water quality, water supply and habitat preservation must be the state's top priorities, and that the state should plan long-term and resist development pressures that he says would otherwise ruin the state. | Strongly agrees· stated position Wants stronger investment in water quality, wastewater and stormwater, and greater protection of wetlands as the region grows. |
| Growth & developmentGrowth and development should be slowed or more tightly regulated (higher impact fees, density limits, stronger local control). | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Says the Live Local Act and SB 180 are bad for the community because they remove home rule over development and zoning, and would modify them. | Strongly agrees· stated position Wants developers to fund roads and schools through impact fees and local control over zoning and environmental rules restored. |
| MarijuanaRecreational marijuana should be legal for adults. | No public position found | 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 90 (2021), the 2021 elections law that added identification requirements for mail-ballot requests and limited drop-box hours. | No public position found | No public position found |
| Crime & policingCriminal penalties should be tougher and police funding increased, rather than emphasizing reform and rehabilitation. | Strongly agrees· based on record Voted for HB 1 (2021), the 2021 Combating Public Disorder law that created new riot-related offenses and penalties and let the state override local cuts to police budgets. | 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 | 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 | Leans agree· stated position Proposes public-private partnerships for power-line burial and renewable generators. |
| Trump administrationI approve of the direction of the Trump administration. | No public position found | 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 | 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.
Martin HydeLew WassermanHow 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 |
|---|---|---|
| James Buchanan | 0.50 (4 statements) | 2.00 (7 statements) |
| Martin Hyde | not enough data | not enough data |
| Lew Wasserman | -1.75 (4 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.
James Buchanan
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.
Martin Hyde
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.
Lew Wasserman
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.