Referring to their shared military experience as Iraq war veterans, Congressional District 15 Democratic candidates Adam Hattersley and Jesse Philippe said Tuesday that contrary to what people may have heard or seen, bipartisanship is alive and well – though maybe not in Washington D.C., where they hope to replace GOP incumbent Ross Spano later this year.


What You Need To Know


  • Forum was held Tuesday in Lakeland

  • Jesse Philippe says America isn't nearly as divided as portrayed

  • Adam Hattersley said he supports police reform

  • More Election 2020 headlines

“When I was driving that truck in Iraq, I didn’t care if the guy next to me was a Democrat or Republican,” Hattersley told about 50 people who gathered at Talbot House Ministries in Lakeland, a social service agency for the homeless.  “That’s why I was never part of a political party until right before I decided to run for the state House.”

Philippe said that contrary to media reports, America isn’t nearly as divided as its portrayed.

“The average American is not divisive. We believe in the brother next to us. We don’t care if he’s white. We don’t care if he’s Black. The average American believes in people.”

Philippe, 32, is a U.S. Marine veteran who served a tour in Iraq. Hattersley, 42, earned a Bronze Star for his service in the U.S. Navy during the Iraq war and is currently representing House District 59 in the Florida Legislature. They both live in Riverview.

Their pitch for bipartisanship makes sense if a Democrat is going to win the district in the fall. Though redistricting has made the seat more favorable for Democrats than it previously was (it encompasses Polk, eastern Hillsborough and part of Lake county), Donald Trump still won it by ten percentage points over Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The forum was one of what has been less than a handful of in-person campaign events that have taken place in the Tampa Bay area during the age of the coronavirus. Two other candidates who were listed as having agreed to appear - – Democrat Alan Cohn and Republican Scott Franklin – did not attend. Organizers said that Franklin had an event he had to attend to in Tampa, while Cohn is not attending any events in person during the pandemic.  Spano was never scheduled to appear at the event.

There were small but distinct differences that the two Democrats voiced during the hour-long forum.

Take for instance, the issue of qualified immunity – a judicially created doctrine that shields government officials from being held personally liable for constitutional violations. It’s surfaced as a major issue among those calling for law enforcement accountability following the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis Police at the end of May.

Hattersley responded by saying that he supports the police reform bill that House Democrats passed last month (titled the George Floyd in Policing Act) that would ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants in drug cases and reform qualified immunity, making it easier to pursue claims against police officers in civil court.

Philippe, the only Black candidate in the race, said that stripping away qualified immunity doesn’t address the heart of the issue, which he said was officers lacking a “community mindset.” He also supports the idea of a Citizens Advisory Board overlooking the police, which the city Lakeland recently launched. And he said the issue of police accountability wasn’t a federal one, but one that needed to be figured out at the local level. “This is Lakeland. Lakeland can fix this issue.”

On health care, the candidates were asked if they supported “socialized medicine.”

Hattersley said that universal coverage was the ultimate goal, but preached that incrementalism was the soundest course to pursue that option. He referred to his experience after two years in the Florida Legislature. “If you try to swing for a homerun on every pitch, you’ll never a get a hit,” he said. Staying with the baseball metaphors, Hattersley added that if were possible for Congress to improve the Affordable Care Act, “that might be hitting a double.”

Philippe supports a public option for people who make less than $30,000 a year to have the option of accessing Veterans Health Administration facilities.

Talbot House Ministries works with the homeless, so it wasn’t a surprise when one of the audience members asked the two Democrats on how they would address that issue.

Hattersley said that as with so many issues, funding was paramount. But he also emphasized that “showing up” matters, and applauded himself and Philippe for being the only two candidates for CD 15 to attend the event.

Philippe said he learned a lot about veteran homelessness while writing a thesis as an undergrad in college. He said that most homeless have an underlying issue of some sort, and that there needs to be more investment in people via funding mental health services. 

Social service organizations like Talbot Ministries aren’t usually the location for a campaign forum (coronavirus or not), but Tuesday’s event came together because of the initiative of Brenda Reddout, the organization’s executive director.

Reddout said that many of the residents at her agency have been “involved” in the criminal justice system, and saw that they were deeply affected by the death of George Floyd.  So she promised that she would work on getting them registered to vote (she called up the Polk County Supervisor of Elections office, who ended registering about 30 people) and decided she would host events with local candidates running for office in the area – Tuesday’s was the first such meet and greet.

A former member of the Polk County School Board, she said she understood completely why some of the other candidates couldn’t attend. 

“I’m just proud that these two candidates- delighted, actually – that these two candidates came and they showed up, and they answered the questions that our folks had,” Reddout said.

Everyone admitted into the facility had their temperature checked at the door and were mandated to wear masks. Both Philippe and Hattersley wore theirs throughout the forum. 

While the primary election isn’t until August 18, the voting will begin soon the contest, with the first vote-by-mail ballots scheduled to start being sent out later this week.