Florida’s 14th Senate District in western Hillsborough County went without representation during the past regular legislative session in Tallahassee, so newly elected Democrat Brian Nathan says his first responsibility is to make sure the district doesn’t get slighted when House and Senate leaders resume negotiations on the state budget later this spring.
“There is a huge gap between the Senate and the House right now in terms of budget priorities,” Nathan told a group of around 40 students while speaking on the University of Tampa campus on Friday afternoon. “I do not want District 14 looked at as some place where they can start making cuts to balance that budget. That’s my priority right now.”
There is a $1.4 billion gap between the Senate’s proposed fiscal year 2026-27 $115 billion plan and the House’s $113.6 billion plan — seemingly not that insurmountable, at least as compared to a year ago. That’s when the divide between the two chambers stood at $4.4 billion, an impasse that ultimately took an additional 45 days to resolve.
Florida Democrats’ spirits have soared in the month since Nathan and Emily Gregory in Florida’s House District 87 in Palm Beach County scored upset victories in two pro-Trump districts.
And, in the case of Nathan’s win, it also a matter of perhaps being able to address what has been seen as a growing problem for Democrats nationally — losing the working class vote to the GOP.
Nathan is very much a union man, having served as a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 915 for the past decade. He says he started getting more involved in politics by working with the Florida AFL-CIO’s Working Family Lobby Corps over the past five years. That lets rank-and-file members travel to Tallahassee during the legislative session to meet with lawmakers to speak for and against bills.
“I’d go up to Tallahassee for a week of two, do the work, and I kind of got a taste for it,” he said. “It is a lot of thankless work. Politics can be a dirty business. But knowing that I’m actually fighting for the people back here — for the people down in Miami, Sarasota, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville. Just the regular working class folks. That’s what really got me interested.”
Nathan’s upset came about because he won a share of Republicans who crossed over to vote for him as well as a majority of NPA voters in a district previously won by Republican Jay Collins by nearly 10 points four years ago.
‘Culture war stuff’
He told the students that his campaign strategy “was to actually avoid some of the culture war stuff,” adding that there are enough things going on this state — such as disdain for high property insurance premiums — that transcend political ideology that might have helped him get crossover votes.
“The other thing is that I was always honest about where I stood on certain issues,” he added. “It took some time, but I built, I’d say, a certain amount of goodwill and respect. Even though these folks disagreed with me, they knew where I stood.”
And he said it helped that he believed he came across as a “regular person” who could connect with people.
“Willing to disagree but also willing to listen seemed to help bridge that divide,” he said.
Nathan, and the rest of the Florida Legislature, are scheduled to return to Tallahassee on Monday, April 20, for the special session on congressional redistricting.
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