ELECTION 2026 - DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Montavon pitches progressive vision in District 17 race
Amy Bennett Williams
Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA
Two Democrats are competing in U.S. Congressional District 17’s primary: Sarasota’s Matthew Montavon and Allen Spence of Charlotte County’s Babcock Ranch are aiming to defeat Republican incumbent Greg Steube, who’s now serving his fourth term. The Aug.18 election will decide which Democrat will be on the November ballot, on which little-known no-party-affiliation candidate Michael Quirk will appear as well.
Steube, who’s consistently won by nearly 30 points since 2018, is running in the deep red district that includes all of Charlotte and parts of Sarasota and Lee counties.
Montavon
U.S. 17 has morphed in recent years, resulting in a more diverse and urban version than the one voters saw after the 2022 redistricting. Florida’s latest congressional territory revision pushed district 17 deeper into Lee County, adding portions of Fort Myers, including the historical Dunbar community, while continuing to include all of Charlotte and much of Sarasota County.
Only registered Democrats can participate in their party’s primary, but all registered voters can vote in the Nov. 3 general election. Candidates like Quirk with no party affiliation go straight to the November ballot, with no limits on how many unaffiliated candidates can appear.
Here are Montavon’s answers to The News-Press candidate Q&A, lightly edited for length and clarity.
Q: Why are you the best person to represent Congressional District 17, and what in your background has prepared you to serve effectively?
A: A key trait of an effective representative is to be engaged with the constituency and a willingness to listen. I am that kind of person – active in the communityl, volunteering and ready to participate. My activities take me to those communities. I will hold frequent town hall meetings and visits across the district. My experience in public service–the Peace Corps, local government, and the United Nations FAO–has given me the skills to be effective in Congress through working with others, diplomacy, and a broad knowledge.
Q: How would you describe your political philosophy and where do you place yourself on the political spectrum? Why?
A: I am a progressive Democrat, in the tradition of Republican/Progressive Teddy Roosevelt and New Deal Democrat Franklin Roosevelt. I am also a pragmatist. I know that we can’t achieve an ideal society for everyone overnight, and we will need to compromise. I have worked all my life with people from every political stripe, and I know that we agree on many basic issues. We just have to get past the labels.
A: If elected, what are your top three priorities for District 17, and what specific legislation or actions would you pursue to accomplish them?
A: Affordability, democracy and immigration. We must end Trump’s tariffs and senseless war in Iran to bring down prices. We need to restore safety net programs such as SNAP, ACA subsidies, and Medicaid funding. We need economic policies to reduce the expanding wealth gap. We need to put an end to the waste, incompetence and corruption in the White House. Stop spending billions on roundups of immigrants. We are sick and exhausted by people killed and abused on our streets by untrained ICE officers. We need a humane immigration system. Give long term productive immigrants green cards or a path to citizenship.
Q: Affordability remains a major concern for Southwest Florida residents. What should Congress do to address the cost of housing, insurance, health care, energy and other everyday expenses while promoting economic growth and fiscal responsibility?
A: Wars and tariffs drive up prices and are implemented at the whim of an incompetent and corrupt administration. This must stop. Actions to add housing stock and limit corporate ownership of private homes as in the recent bill is a good idea. We need to move to universal health care and limit private health insurance companies’ profits for a more productive and less expensive system. We need to move to renewable energy to bring down costs, get energy independence and protect our planet.
Q: Southwest Florida faces ongoing challenges involving growth, infrastructure, environmental protection, water quality, hurricane resilience, and disaster recovery. What role should the federal government play in addressing these issues?
A: Congress can play a role in subsidizing and incentivizing responsible growth and environmental protection. Subsidize affordable housing. Restore funds for FEMA, the EPA, NOAA and other federal agencies that protect our environment, prevent disasters, and help us recover when necessary. Strong environmental stewardship of endangered species and public lands is needed. Pollution standards need to be enforced. Federal support for renewable energy is essential.
Q: What are your views on border security and immigration reform, including deportation policies, ICE and border patrol regulation, birthright citizenship and the role of states, especially Florida, in immigration enforcement? What is your opinion about Alligator Alcatraz?
A: We need effective and humane border security and immigration reform. The current policy is cruel, wasteful, and hurts our nation. Productive tax paying people are ripped out of their families and imprisoned in abhorrent conditions. Birthright citizenship is in the Constitution and should be respected. Immigration is a federal responsibility, and Florida should stay out of immigration enforcement. I am glad the Everglades Detention Center is closed. It was a disgusting misuse of public funds, our tax dollars, used only to show the governor’s allegiance to Trump.
Q: What should U.S. policy be regarding major international challenges, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela, and what role should Congress play in decisions involving military action and foreign spending?
A: Under the Constitution and War Powers Act Congress has authority over spending and war. We need to reestablish the checks and balances. We need to fully support Ukraine and oppose Putin’s attempt to expand Russian borders. We should end the war in Iran as swiftly as possible. Don’t invade Cuba or starve them into submission. We need to use non-military measures to help Cubans move toward democracy. Venezuela, especially after the earthquake, needs help. We should provide it, which would also build a better relationship between us.
Q: What are your positions on the major cultural and governance issues facing the country today, including abortion, gun rights, education, LGBTQ protections, artificial intelligence, social media regulation, term limits and government accountability?
A: Congress must ban assault weapon sales and enact other gun safety laws. Reproductive health decisions should be between a woman and her medical provider. The federal government should support school special needs programs where there is a shortage of local funding. We need to respect the rights of all people regardless of who they love. We need a moratorium on data centers until their environmental faults are corrected. Congress should regulate AI and social media to prevent the spread of misinformation and hate. The Supreme Court especially needs term limits. If we can’t get corrupt money out of politics, we need term limits in Congress. Congress needs to step up and assert its oversight authority.
Q: What is your stance on the VOTE Act, election security and voter rights?
A: I am absolutely against the VOTE Act. Florida has vibrant Spanish- and Creole-speaking communities, and they deserve to be able to read a ballot in their first language. Inclusivity is a virtue. Our state election system has been proven to be fair and secure. I am also against the SAVE ACT. Voting should be encouraged, not discouraged. Our biggest problem with voting in this country is that so many of us don’t bother to vote, and [there are] administrative obstacles to voting such as in Florida limiting the types of acceptable IDs.
Spence highlights centrist path in bid to take on Steube
Amy Bennett Williams
Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA
Two Democrats are competing in U.S. Congressional District 17’s primary: Allen Spence of Charlotte County’s Babcock Ranch and Sarasota’s Matthew Montavon are aiming to defeat Republican incumbent Greg Steube, who’s now serving his fourth term. The Aug.18 election will decide which Democrat will be on the November ballot, on which little-known no-party- affiliation candidate Michael Quirk will appear as well.
Steube, who’s consistently won by nearly 30 points since 2018, is running in the deep red district that includes all of Charlotte and parts of Sarasota and Lee counties. U.S. 17 has morphed in recent years, resulting in a more diverse and urban version than the one voters saw after the 2022 redistricting. Florida’s latest congressional territory revision pushed 17 deeper into Lee County, adding portions of Fort Myers, including the historically Black Dunbar community, while continuing to include all of Charlotte and much of Sarasota County. That county has gone back and forth and back again: starting with an in-county split between districts 16 and 17, then becoming all 17, then returning to “a pre-2022 scenario,” as Sarasota’s Supervisor of Elections’ website describes it. Only registered Democrats can participate in their party’s primary.
Here are Spence’s answers to The News-Press & Naples Daily News candidate questionnaire, lightly edited for length and clarity Q: Why are you the best person to represent Congressional District 17, and what in your background has prepared you to serve effectively?
Spence
A: I’m a Fort Myers native and lifelong Floridian who has worked in finance for over two decades, serving companies large and small. The gap between rich and poor keeps growing because too many Americans are shut out of the markets where wealth is built. After years of sky-high prices and inflation, real wages are falling, and families spending everything on essentials have nothing left to invest. I’m an economics graduate of USF, a husband, father, and Scout leader. Congress needs working people who live these pressures, not a political class.
Q: How would you describe your political philosophy and where do you place yourself on the political spectrum? Why?
A: I’m a centrist grounded in common sense. I used to be a Republican, but January 6th made clear the GOP had abandoned its principles, and I began my journey out of that party. My views are rooted in my economics education, and my policy goals are built around specific outcomes, strengthening families and lowering costs. You can see that in my economic plan, “The Prosperity Agenda.” Too many politicians today care about power, not the welfare of the people. The Constitution says the government should provide for the general welfare.
Q: If elected, what are your top three priorities for District 17, and what specific legislation or actions would you pursue to accomplish them?
A: First, saving Social Security. Earnings above $185,000 are exempt from payroll tax, so the ultra-wealthy pay a lower rate than nurses. I would be a vote to abolish the wage cap, securing benefits for generations. Second, the $40 trillion national debt. I’ll cut defense spending by 10 to 20 percent and impose a fee on the asset-backed loans that the ultra-wealthy use to dodge taxes. Third, property insurance. I’ll pursue a federal disaster reinsurance backstop and ban the subsidiary fee structures insurers use to hide profits and justify premium increases year after year.
Q: Affordability remains a major concern for Southwest Florida residents. What should Congress do to address the cost of housing, insurance, health care, energy and other everyday expenses while promoting economic growth and fiscal responsibility?
A: My economic plan, the Prosperity Agenda, targets two outcomes, lowering costs and strengthening families. On housing, I’ll require new homes to include residential flood barriers, modeled on Florida’s impact-window law, and reward homeowners with discounted flood insurance premiums. On health care, I’ll restore the enhanced ACA subsidies Congress let expire. I’ll fight for Congress to reclaim its constitutional tariff authority, ending the Canadian boycott. Canadians pay $600 million yearly in Florida property taxes and sustain our restaurants and small businesses. Their absence shifts the tax burden onto Southwest Florida residents.
Q: Southwest Florida faces ongoing challenges involving growth, infrastructure, environmental protection, water quality, hurricane resilience, and disaster recovery. What role should the federal government play in addressing these issues?
A: As a lifelong Floridian, I’ve lived through numerous hurricanes, including Ian in 2022. The federal government must be a strong, active partner, not a bystander. Disaster aid should flow automatically when a declaration is signed, never withheld as a political weapon. I’ll fight to restore the resilient infrastructure grants and FEMA staffing Washington gutted, because prevention costs less than rebuilding. On water quality, I’ll pursue market-based limits on the fertilizer runoff feeding toxic algae in the Caloosahatchee. Washington should protect Southwest Florida before storms, not just after.
Q: What are your views on border security and immigration reform, including deportation policies, ICE and border patrol regulation, birthright citizenship and the role of states, especially Florida, in immigration enforcement? What is your opinion about Alligator Alcatraz?
A: My plan, Safe, Secure, and Accountable Immigration, is at spence2026.com. Restore order by processing asylum claims outside the United States. For immigrants living here peacefully, an earned path, work permits, then residency, then citizenship. Violent offenders are prosecuted and deported, no exceptions. ICE gets no new funding until it’s reformed, with agents clearly identified and accountable. Birthright citizenship is settled by the Fourteenth Amendment. Alligator Alcatraz is a concentration camp that will forever stain our legacy, and Florida should investigate every no-bid contract awarded to political donors.
Q: What should U.S. policy be regarding major international challenges, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela, and what role should Congress play in decisions involving military action and foreign spending?
A: Congress must reclaim its war powers and the power of the purse. On Ukraine, fund victory. Russia commits war crimes daily and seeks to erase Ukrainian identity, which is genocide. On Iran, the war was unnecessary. Iran posed no direct threat, and I would be a vote to end it. Both chambers voted against it; the administration ignored Congress. On Cuba and Venezuela, end the embargo and sanctions, and let American culture and commerce compete. Their favorite sport is already baseball. Engagement spreads freedom faster than isolation ever has.
Q: What are your positions on the major cultural and governance issues facing the country today, including abortion, gun rights, education, LGBTQ protections, artificial intelligence, social media regulation, term limits and government accountability?
A: On artificial intelligence, data centers must plug into the grid, never generate their own power, and pay higher electric rates than families, not lower, as today. The Arcadia data center was proposed without any water plan. How can that be approved? On education, $10,000 teacher retention bonuses to keep experienced teachers in classrooms. On governance, I support term limits, automatic voter registration at 18, and expanding the House as our population grows. I believe in civil rights, and LGBTQ Americans are citizens entitled to every protection under law, including marriage.
Q: What is your stance on the VOTE Act, election security and voter rights?
A: Secure elections and accessible voting are not in conflict. My democracy reform plan starts with automatic voter registration and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which protects voters and requires transparency when states change election rules. It goes further: 12 at-large senators elected by national popular vote, so every American’s vote carries equal weight. And a 13-judge national panel to hear cases where the federal government is a party, restoring balance to the Supreme Court. Noncitizen voting is already illegal, prosecuted, and vanishingly rare. I’ll oppose laws making voting harder.
