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Let me expose some of the political machine at work, so you have some context.
Start with the self-important political blog Florida Politics and its publisher, Peter Schorsch, an uncouth and vulgar man, in my opinion.
NPR and Floodlight reported allegations from politicians, consultants and former employees that coverage could be influenced by who paid. Schorsch has publicly acknowledged advertisers receive greater attention.
His own history deserves scrutiny. Schorsch pleaded no contest to felony fraud and two counts of grand theft involving money taken from clients and was later heavily fined by the Florida Elections Commission for 40 willful election-code violations.
He has also faced allegations of extortion involving advertising and negative coverage. NPR and Floodlight reported records showing his attorney proposing that negative material would be removed for Schorsch’s “standard advertising fee.”
I have never advertised with Florida Politics despite repeated efforts to get me to do so. I didn’t buy into that relationship. Today, I am frequently a target of its coverage.
Maybe they consider that a coincidence.
I don’t.
Now look at my opponent’s political operation.
Her political consultant, Jeffrey Garcia, has twice pleaded guilty to election-related crimes. One case involved unauthorized absentee-ballot requests and resulted in jail time. The other involved a federal election-law conspiracy designed to help a candidate by funding another candidate to split the opposition vote.
I run my own campaign. I run a clean campaign. Every time.
Voters deserve to know who funds the committees, employs the consultants, finances the political media and ultimately benefits.
This is the incestuous political ecosystem I am talking about.
Follow all the money.
Now consider the actual choice in HD 106.
Democratic voters had a choice. Ashley Litwin Diego, an attorney and Democrat, presented herself as seemingly willing to work across party lines and earned support from local Democrats and the Miami Herald.
Instead, Democrats nominated Lucia Báez-Geller. Beyond running for one office after another, her political claim to fame has been carrying a progressive agenda on the Miami-Dade School Board, despite repeated opposition from parents and rejection by the School Board.
My disagreement is not with how anyone chooses to live. I believe strongly in individual freedom and dignity. But individual freedom does not mean ignoring the rights of others. I oppose biological males competing in women’s sports, policies that diminish parental rights, and efforts to involve children in gender transitions or other life-altering decisions without their parents’ knowledge and consent.
Live your life as you choose. But fairness matters, parents matter, and children deserve protections adults do not need.
Those are fundamental differences in how we approach individual freedom, children and the role of parents.
And by the way, I have publicly challenged Báez-Geller to debate these and any other issues, live and in person. She has declined. Glenna Milberg of WPLG Local 10 also invited us to appear together for a live debate. I accepted. Báez-Geller declined.
That invitation still stands.
In an age of artificial intelligence, political consultants, strategists, edited videos and carefully manufactured messaging, campaigns have become far too easy to manipulate. Voters deserve to hear directly from the people asking to represent them, live, unscripted and face-to-face.
I believe anyone asking for your vote should be willing to stand across from their opponent and defend their record, positions and ideas in public.
That reflects what I see as a larger problem with today’s left. Too often, when practical and financially viable solutions are missing, politics becomes about culture wars, fear and telling people whom they should hate.
I offer a different model: individual freedom, parental rights, common sense and practical solutions that actually improve people’s lives.
I am a Republican, but I have never believed an “R” after my name should tell me what to think. I have disagreed with my own party, worked with Democrats and built coalitions across political lines.
And it has produced results: record funding for our communities and legislation addressing water and sewer infrastructure, resilience, condominiums, environmental protection, historic preservation, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, education and economic development. I built a new mechanism to get Florida investing in film again, fought overdevelopment and defended local authority when I believed Tallahassee went too far.
That approach was successful enough that no Republican filed to challenge me in the primary. And while I have the support of my party, I have also built relationships across party lines locally because governing requires something campaigns too often forget: other people.
A broken sewer pipe doesn’t care how you voted.
Neither does a condominium assessment, an insurance bill or a failing water system.
Solving these problems requires cities working with the county, the county with Tallahassee, Tallahassee with Washington and Republicans with Democrats.
So examine Báez-Geller’s record, political operation, endorsements and positions. Examine mine.
People are tired of being manipulated into hating each other while their bills rise, businesses close, homes become unaffordable and infrastructure deteriorates beneath them.
Political extremes don’t work. You can stand by your principles and still work across the aisle to deliver results.
We need independent-minded leaders willing to represent people instead of political machines. I believe my record shows that’s exactly what I’ve done.
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Fabián Basabe represents Florida House District 106 in Miami-Dade County. He flipped the district Republican in 2022, was reelected in 2024 and is now seeking a third term in the Florida House.
