The Progressives of the Islands Voter Guide for Precincts 105 and 116
Progressives of the Islands (POI), an organization dedicated to informing residents about the issues facing Sanibel and Captiva and supporting candidates and organizations that advance progressive solutions, has announced its endorsements for the November 3, 2026 General Election.
Every election cycle, the Progressives of the Islands undertakes the same responsibility we have honored since our founding: studying the candidates, weighing their qualifications, and sharing our honest assessment with the voters of Sanibel, Captiva, and the broader Lee County community.
The November 3, 2026, midterm general election will determine the direction of our country for many years into the future. Will we be able to halt the slide into corruption, economic inequality and abandonment of basic democratic principles that has marked the second Trump presidency? From high-profile Florida gubernatorial and U.S. races to the Lee County Supervisor of and School Board race, the stakes on the ballot this summer are real and consequential.
We do not take our endorsements lightly. We listen to candidates who appear before us, review their records, and ask the hard questions about viability, qualifications, and vision. What follows is our assessment of the races before us and our clear recommendations for where progressive voters in Southwest Florida should place their trust on November 3.
FEDERAL OFFICES
U.S. Senate (Special Election): We endorse Angie Nixon (Democrat)
Angie Nixon, candidate for the United States Senate, is a Jacksonville native and University of Florida graduate, Nixon began her career as a union organizer before moving into community organizing and small-business ownership. She was elected to the Florida House in 2020 and has now served there for nearly six years, representing constituents through two legislative terms and redistricting. In the House, she has worked on issues including childcare, consumer protection, small business, and voting rights, while becoming one of the legislature's more active voices on behalf of working- and middle-class Floridians.
Nixon's readiness for the Senate is demonstrated by her ability to build a political organization and win a difficult statewide nomination. In August, she defeated Alex Vindman for the Democratic Senate nomination despite being dramatically outspent, winning 56.1% of the vote. That campaign demonstrated her ability to organize voters, communicate a clear message, and build support beyond the traditional political establishment. She would bring to the Senate something that cannot be learned from a résumé alone: years of experience organizing people. Her principal proposals include Medicare for All, universal childcare, a $25 federal minimum wage, a tax on billionaires and a national rent freeze. She has identified health care as her leading Senate priority. Her Senate candidacy represents a transition from state legislator and activist to national policymaker. We believe Angie Nixon has earned the opportunity to represent Florida in the United States Senate.
U.S. House, FL-19: We endorse Victor Arias (Democrat)
Southwest Florida deserves a congressional representative who has spent decades in this community fighting for ordinary people. Victor Arias has done exactly that.
A graduate of Hamilton College and the SUNY Buffalo Law School, Arias has practiced law in Cape Coral for more than 35 years, representing clients in personal injury, workers’ compensation, and Social Security cases, the kinds of cases that matter most to working families. He also served as a staff attorney for the Lee County and St. Lucie County School Districts, giving him direct experience with the educational and administrative challenges facing our region. Victor Arias is the progressive candidate in this field. He has our endorsement.
STATEWIDE OFFICES
Governor: We endorse David Jolly (Democrat)
Florida needs a governor who can actually govern, not a partisan warrior, but a leader capable of building coalitions and solving problems. We believe that candidate is David Jolly.
Jolly served in Congress as a Republican from 2014 to 2017, representing Florida's 13th Congressional District. He left the party, became an independent, and spent years as one of the most prominent and credible critics of the direction the Republican Party had taken. He formally joined the Democratic Party in 2025 and launched his gubernatorial campaign on a simple but powerful premise: Florida needs pragmatic leadership, not ideological politics.
His record in Congress bears that out. He was known for bipartisan work on campaign finance reform and veterans' healthcare. He is a graduate of Emory University and George Mason University Law School. He has chosen Gwen Graham, an attorney, former congresswoman, and former Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education, as his running mate for lieutenant governor.
Jolly has visited and spoke before the POI, and he made a compelling case. He has our endorsement.
Attorney General: We endorse José Javier Rodríguez (Democrat)
José Javier Rodríguez is a Miami attorney and former state legislator who is the Democratic nominee for Florida attorney general in 2026. He graduated from Brown University in 2000 with a degree in international relations and served in the Peace Corps from 2000 to 2003 before earning his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2006. His legal career has included representing workers and unions, with a particular focus on employment and labor law.
Rodríguez entered elected politics in 2012, winning a seat in the Florida House of Representatives, where he served until 2016. He then represented Senate District 37 in the Florida Senate from 2016 through 2020. During his legislative career, he became particularly identified with issues involving workers' rights, utility regulation, consumer protection and the environment. His 2020 Senate reelection campaign ended in a 32-vote loss after a Republican candidate in the race was later determined to have been part of an illegal "ghost candidate" scheme; Rodríguez has subsequently made combating political corruption a central theme of his campaign for attorney general.
After leaving the Legislature, Rodríguez served in the Biden administration as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training in 2024–25, giving him experience in federal government as well as Florida state government. He entered the 2026 attorney-general race arguing that the office should emphasize consumer protection, workers' rights, public safety and enforcement against corruption and powerful interests. Rodríguez became the Democratic nominee without a primary contest and will face Republican incumbent James Uthmeier in the November 3 general election. The Progressives of the Islands strongly support José Javier Rodríguez’s election to the office of Attorney General.
Chief Financial Officer: We endorse Annette Taddeo (Democrat)
The Florida CFO oversees the state's finances, insurance regulation, and consumer protection: a role that demands both executive experience and a genuine understanding of what Floridians face in their daily economic lives. Annette Taddeo brings both.
Taddeo made history as the first Latina Democrat elected to the Florida Senate, where she represented Miami-Dade County from 2017 to 2022. But her qualifications extend well beyond the legislature. She founded LanguageSpeak, a multilingual translation and interpretation company, in 1995 and built it into a thriving business serving government agencies, healthcare organizations, and private companies over more than three decades. She knows what it means to meet a payroll, manage a budget, and serve clients who depend on you.
Her opponent, Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican politician and businessman, served eight years in the Florida House and nearly three years in the Florida Senate. In July 2025, he was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the post of Florida’s Chief Financial Officer. His legislative career was closely aligned with Gov. DeSantis and the conservative direction of the Florida Republican Party. Opposing stricter gun control measures and supporting legislation that would create more barriers to the polls for young voters, Ingoglia properly describes himself as a “Conservative Pitbull.”
Florida needs an independent watchdog, not a political appointee who answers to the governor. Annette Taddeo is that person.
Commissioner of Agriculture: We endorse Joey Mendoza Atkins (Democrat)
An attorney with a Juris Doctor (J.D.), Joey Mendoza Atkins also holds a Master’s degree in environmental management, He has worked in family law, representing families and individuals in legal matters. Before practicing law he worked as a sports agent. In 2024 Atkins was the Democratic nominee for Florida's 26th Congressional District. Based on his campaign statements, Atkins emphasizes: supporting Florida farmers and agricultural businesses, consumer protection, environmental stewardship, including protecting water resources, expanding economic opportunities in rural communities, and governmental accountability and transparency.
Atkins’ opponent, Republican incumbent Wilton Simpson, has opposed vaccine mandates, advocated parental choice including decisions about wearing a mask, and has fought to allow public school students to use Hope Scholarships to transfer to a private school or to another public school if they feel they face “harassment” in response to their COVID-related decisions. As Senate president, Simpson worked closely with Gov. Ron DeSantis to enact election laws that imposed additional requirements and restrictions on voting, including vote-by-mail and ballot-drop-box rules. He has defended these efforts for “election integrity” by declaring that “Floridians will not be cancelled by elitist socialists.” This type of political bombast needs countering by a progressive candidate like Joey Mendoza Atkins.
Florida Supreme Court Justice: “NO” on Carlos G. Muñiz
Carlos G. Muñiz, Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, is on the ballot for retention in 2026. Florida Supreme Court justices do not run against an opposing candidate; in a YES/NO vote voters decide whether to retain them. Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Muñiz to the court on January 22, 2019, making him the 89th justice in Florida history. With a B.A. from University of Virginia and a J.D. from Yale Law School, Muñiz has served over his career as Deputy general counsel to Gov. Jeb Bush and General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Education, where he provided legal and policy advice to Secretary Betsy DeVos and senior department officials. His background is therefore somewhat unusual for a state supreme-court justice: he came to the bench primarily through executive-branch and political/legal policymaking positions rather than through a long career as a trial or appellate judge.
Muñiz’s appointment was particularly significant because DeSantis's appointments since 2019 have produced a court considerably more conservative than the one that preceded it. While Muñiz has not voted with the majority in every regulatory case, his key decisions have largely been with the conservative majority. Two of his decisions reveal his conservative judicial leanings. In Abortion —Planned Parenthood v. State (2024) he joined the majority, 6–1, holding that the Florida Constitution does not independently protect a right to elective abortion under the constitutional privacy provision. The decision cleared the way for Florida's six-week abortion restriction to take effect. In Black Voters Matter v. Secretary of State (2025) Muñiz authored the opinion for the majority, upholding Florida's 2022 congressional redistricting plan. Black Voters Matter and other plaintiffs argued that the plan violated Florida's Fair Districts Amendment because it eliminated a North Florida congressional district in which Black voters had previously been able to elect a candidate of their choice. The court rejected that challenge, concluding that the plaintiffs' proposed district would itself constitute an impermissible racial gerrymander under the federal Equal Protection Clause. Assaults on civil rights, especially with respect to reproductive health and fair access to the ballot, have been among the most grievous products of current U.S. and state Republican administrations. A “NO” vote on Justice Muñiz will signal that progressives are fed up with these erosions of basic democratic rights.
COUNTY OFFICES
Lee County Supervisor of Elections: We endorse Chris Vignieri (Democrat)
Chris Vignieri is the Democrat challenger running for Lee County Supervisor of Elections against Republican incumbent Jenna Persons-Mulicka. Vignieri has lived in Lee County since 2000 and graduated with a B.S. in 2009 in Legal Studies from Florida Gulf Coast University and a J.D. in 2012 from Florida Coastal School of Law. He has spent more than a decade as an attorney and public servant with the Florida Department of Children and Families. He currently serves as Chief Legal Counsel for DCF's Suncoast Region, overseeing the legal office serving a region stretching from Pasco through Collier County and nearly six million Floridians.
Jenna Persons-Mulicka is a Fort Myers native. She earned two B.A. degrees (in 2004 and 2005 in journalism and Government) from Evangel University, Springfield, Missouri and a J.D. in 2009 from The George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C. She has served three-terms as a member of the Florida House, representing District 78, resigning from the House effective May 20, 2026, when Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed her Lee County Supervisor of Elections, succeeding Tommy Doyle. Working closely with Governor DeSantis and President Donald Trump, she has committed to strengthening voter ID requirements, cracking down on petition fraud, and ensuring that only legal U.S. citizens cast ballots in our state.
Vignieri’s principal argument is that the Supervisor of Elections is fundamentally an administrative and legal-management job, rather than a political office. His campaign emphasizes fairness, consistency, legal precision, security and impartial administration. Vignieri does not have Persons-Mulicka's electoral experience, but he arguably has more directly relevant senior legal/administrative management experience. He also is not associated with Republican efforts to reduce voters’ ease of access to the ballot. This manifested itself in 2021when the Florida Legislature passed Senate Bill 90 reducing the duration of a standing Vote-by-Mail request from two general-election cycles to one (from about 4 years to 2). After each general election, the voter must now make a new request. Contemporary election-law analysis describes this change as making it significantly more difficult for Floridians to vote by mail. Persons-Mulicka was the legislative leader for the voter suppression proposals DeSantis-Trump-MAGA promoted during the 2026 session.
Taking all these factors into consideration, POI endorses Chris Vignieri for the position of Lee County Supervisor of Elections.
Lee County Commission, District 2: We endorse Elliot Taylor (Democrat)
Software engineer Elliot Taylor has thought a lot about traffic and density problems in Lee County. His website shows how continual home and business building is expanding ever outwards, and how traffic congestion is expanding with it. The problem, as Taylor sees it, is that homes and roads are being built with no thought for developing walkable neighborhoods where people can shop, go to school and work, play sports, and enjoy the outdoors. Not only are Lee County residents being deprived of livable neighborhoods, but the costs for more and more of these buildings and roads are being piled onto taxpayers. These buildings and roads also encroach on wetlands, which, when left in their natural state, act as water purifiers and absorb storm surge. But when they’re paved over, they lead to greater runoff problems, such as flooding and algae blooms.
Taylor will have an uphill climb against incumbent Republican Cecil Pendergrass, who serves as Commission Chairman and has been in that office since 2012. Pendergrass is more supportive of continued development, with infrastructure investment accompanying growth, while Taylor Makes this a major issue, arguing that new development should bear more of its infrastructure costs. Taylor places water quality and environmental protection prominently in his platform. Pendergrass supports county environmental programs and conservation, but he would balance them against development and economic considerations. With $6,200 cash on hand, as against to Pendergrass’s $89,800, Taylor will need substantial fundraising. The POI supports his vision for a healthier Lee County.
Florida House of Representatives, District 80: We endorse William Moskal (Democrat)
William (Bill) Moskal, is the Democrat challenger running for the Florida House of Representatives, District 80 in 2026. His opponent is the Republican incumbent, Adam Botana. District 80 takes in portions of Lee and Collier counties and includes Sanibel and Captiva.
Moskal’s holds an M.S. in Educational Psychology and an Ed.D. from Wayne State University. His doctoral work concerned team building and the conditions necessary for trust within organizations. Moskal describes himself as a teacher, healthcare executive and organizational-development consultant. His career included senior work with Henry Ford Health System, followed by consulting for more than 30 hospital systems around the country.
Botana has a high school equivalency diploma, and is vice president of Bay Water Boat Club, founded by his family in 2006. He has served in the Florida House since 2020 and was Majority Chief Floor Whip from 2022–2024. He holds influential committee assignments, including Natural Resources & Disasters, Insurance & Banking, Ways & Means and State Affairs.
Moskal wants infrastructure—roads, water, schools and storm protection—to precede development and he emphasizes a greater local voice over growth. He is explicitly running against what he calls growth without adequate infrastructure. He wants roads, water systems, storm protection and other infrastructure to keep pace with development and believes that residents should have more influence over development decisions. Botana's philosophy is considerably more pro-business and deregulatory. His published profile emphasizes reducing regulations that burden local businesses.
Insurance is one of the most consequential issues in the Moskal–Botana race for Sanibel/Captiva. Both candidates can legitimately claim that they want to make insurance more affordable, but their underlying approaches appear quite different. Moskal’s campaign explicitly calls for “homeowners’ insurance reform” and “stronger oversight of insurance companies,” while Botana supports the current Legislature's strategy of reducing the role of Citizens and steering property owners toward private insurance when private coverage is available. Each of these approaches has strengths. Moskal’s emphasis on empowering a greater local voice over growth fits well with the values of Sanibel and Captiva. Botana’s emphasis on encouraging development of the private insurance market is good, but private insurance without adequate regulation could be dangerously exploitive.
On balance, we believe that Bill Moskal’s campaign expresses values more compatible with those of progressive Sanibel/Captiva voters, and we endorse his candidacy.
Lee County Charter Referendums
There are three referendum measures on the official ballot.
A first would make the Lee County Commission consist of five members elected from single-member districts, beginning with the 2028 general election. A YES vote would change the way Lee County Commissioners are elected from at-large (county-wide) to single-member (voters in their district). The change will bring greater accountability of Commissioners to their districts. Multiple elections have seen candidates for Commissioner lose countywide despite winning the district they represent. Single-member districts could also provide greater access for minorities whose votes are diluted by at large voting. The Lee County Democratic Party urges a YES vote on this measure as do The League of Women Voters of Lee County: https://my.lwv.org/florida/lee-county/voting/single-member-districts. The POI agrees.
A second measure would set a three-term limit for elected Lee County constitutional officers. The Lee County Democratic Party urges a NO vote, stating that the Amendment “has no teeth; it does not include prior or current terms in office and can easily be circumvented. A Commissioner could serve for three terms, then leave office for one term and return to office for another three terms.” The POI concurs with this recommendation of a NO vote.
A third measure would expand the Lee County Mosquito Control District to all of Lee County, abolish the Fort Myers Beach Mosquito Control District, and transfer its assets and liabilities to the county district. The Lee County Democrats take no position on this measure but point out that while the proposed merger will streamline mosquito control in Lee County it will also reduce local autonomy and significantly raise Fort Myers Beach’s tax burden to double the current millage rate — from 0.1123 to 0.22 per $1,000 of assessed value. Fort Myers Beach Commissioner Steve Johnson notes that Fort Myers Beach’s unique geography (surrounded by the Estero Bay Preserve) requires special treatment restrictions and warns that residents would lose tailored, on‑site services and have to wait in line with other districts for treatments. The POI does not believe that our progressive values point clearly to our favoring a YES or NO vote on this measure.
Florida Constitutional Amendments
Three constitutional amendments are set out on pages 1–2 of the official ballot Amendment 1, increases the maximum Budget Stabilization Fund from 10% to 25% of general-revenue collections. Amendment 2 exempts qualifying tangible personal property located on agricultural land from ad valorem taxation. Exemption 3 increases the homestead exemption for non-school taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with inflation adjustments thereafter, and reduces the annual assessment-increase cap for non-homestead property from 10% to 5%.
The Lee County Democratic party has published a September 2026 Special Election Issue on these amendments.
Here are summaries of their arguments
“Amendment 1 will provide windfall tax relief for a handful of giant Agribusinesses. It provides no distinction between family-owned and operated farms and these large agricultural corporations. This amendment will further reduce the revenue collected from property taxes for counties, which will result in additional service cuts and/or other tax increases.”
Amendment 2 creates a special property-tax exemption for agricultural businesses, cutting revenue for local governments. The biggest benefits could go to Big Sugar and other large agribusinesses, while local taxpayers and communities are left to make up the difference”
Amendment 3 is a direct attack on local control and an attempt to consolidate power in Tallahassee. The significant loss of revenue will result in either sizable cuts in services OR shifting of tax burden to sales tax, which will greatly erode local controls.”
The Lee County Democrats urge a NO vote on each of these amendments. The Progressives of the Islands agree.
Precinct 116—Captiva: Captiva Erosion Prevention District
The Seat 1 race is between John Raburn Dupre Jr., the incumbent and Margarethe Thye-Miville. It is a nonpartisan special-district election for a four-year term beginning in 2026. Margarethe Thye-Miville is married to René Miville, a current commissioner of the CEPD.
Dupre has demonstrated a willingness to scrutinize the scale and cost of CEPD projects, including voting against the larger sand quantity and insisting on a defensible assessment figure, while also supporting other dune and beach-management expenditures. Thye-Miville has a much longer record of Captiva community involvement and environmental/infrastructure advocacy. While here are no laws preventing a husband and wife from serving on the same board in Florida, they must comply with the Florida Sunshine Laws. Having a married couple hold 40% of a five-member government board introduces severe legal risks for the CEPD and sets a precedent for future power imbalances that could erode confidence in CEPD decisions. For these reasons, the POI recommends a vote for John Raburn Dupre Jr.
The Seat 3 race is between Michael Christopher Mullins and Bob Walter. Walter has been a full-time Captiva resident since 2013 and is the Regional Managing Director of South Seas Island Resort. He is currently CEPD chairman. Mullins is not a newcomer to CEPD. He previously served on the board, including as Seat 3 chairman in 2020. Published reports indicate that there was considerable dissension and turnover among CEPD staff under Mullins’ leadership. The POI recommends Bob Walter for this open position.
A Final Word
The Progressives of the Islands believe that an informed electorate is the foundation of a functioning democracy. We offer these endorsements not as commands, but as the product of careful deliberation by people who care deeply about this community and about the direction of our state and nation.
We urge you to vote. We urge you to bring a neighbor. And we urge you to stay engaged, because the work of democracy does not end on Election Day.
