District 3 Rep. Corrine Brown’s Republican opponent Mike Yost has unveiled his newest campaign ad, his camp announced in a Wednesday press release.
The ad shows a young woman touting the need for a fresh face to represent the district: “District 3 is suffering because Corinne Brown keeps wasting our money outside our district to benefit her Washington cronies. We need change. We need solutions. We need Mike Yost.”
The battle for District 3 has grown increasingly heated in recent weeks, mostly due to Brown’s staunch opposition to amendments that, if passed, would see her district redrawn under new rules that aim to limit gerrymandering. Amendments 5 and 6 have been a bone of contention for politicians like Brown and fellow Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart. Both represent districts comprised largely of minority voters, and they rely on those clustered minority votes for their successful campaigns.
According to U.S. Census demographic estimates, District 3 has a high African-American population (52 percent). Diaz-Balart’s District 23 shows similar characteristics — 55 percent of the population is black, and 18 percent is Latino.
Many have argued that District 3 is drawn in a way to include a specific racial and economic population so that political incumbents like Brown can be sworn into office, again and again. District 3 contains parts of Jacksonville, Gainseville, and Orlando, and is surrounded by districts that are heavy with Republican voters.
Yost has been fairly silent in his opposition to gerrymandering, instead of going after Brown for using her political clout for reasons other than supporting her district. Brown has been called out in a similar fashion by Republican Dean Black, who ran in the District 3 primary. In August, Black had several sandbags delivered to Brown, in a political stunt that referenced a years-old request that sandbags be placed in front of Brown’s home during Tropical Storm Fay, at the expense of taxpayers.
Yost’s ad:
