Arias, Schwartzel seek to succeed Donalds for 19th Congressional District seat
The race for the 19th Congressional District seat being vacated by Congressman Byron Donalds (R-Naples), pits GOP primary victor and media executive Jim Schwartzel against Democratic candidate and attorney Victor Arias. The district covers nearly all of Lee County and most of Collier County.
Arias, a 65-year old Cape Coral lawyer, says he believes he can win the race based upon people’s frustrations with the economy and President Donald Trump. “The leadership has been failing the people,” Arias said. “We need to stop fighting and intimidating each other and work together,”
Schwartzel, the 50-year-old South Fort Myers owner of Sun Broadcasting, supports Trump’s policies on immigration, and believes Amendment 3 will help drive his supporters to the ballot box.
A Lee County native, Schwartzel said “This place means the world to me. It’s given me a lot and now I want to serve it,” he said.
With Republicans holding a large registration advantage in the 19th Congressional District, it would be a shock for GOP primary victor Jim Schwartzel not to win the race to succeed Congressman Byron Donalds (R-Naples). Still, Schwartzel is not looking past Democratic candidate Victor Arias in the Nov. 3 general election.
Arias says he believes he can win the race. “The leadership has been failing the people,” Arias said. “One person doesn’t have all of the answers,” he said.
Schwartzel thinks the Amendment 3 referendums on the ballot will boost his chances. He supports Amendment 3, which will raise the exemption for homesteaded homes from $50,000 of property value to up to $250,000.
Schwartzel said he thinks municipalities and taxing districts “will figure out a way to fill the necessary services. If they need more money, they can figure out another way to have some taxes. Many of these municipalities and counties have doubled their spending over the years and things haven’t doubled. I think government can be more efficient than it is. I see the bureaucracy all the time.”
Arias opposes Amendment 3. “What happens to those agencies that are providing us those services? Where are they going to get the funding? It is not well thought out,” he said. Arias is concerned about the cuts to public safety and emergency responders.
Arias said he has three messages. “One, is we need to come together as a country. We need to stop fighting and intimidating each other and work together,” Arias said. His second message is on the economy, which he doesn’t believe is working for everyone. “There is too much suffering. That is going to impact this area because we rely on tourism,” he said. “Inflation has gone up, food is more expensive for everybody, and gas is a lot more expensive.” Arias said his other main issues are water quality and the environment. “We have to be better stewards” of the environment, he said. “We have to have clean water, because we rely on it.”
Immigration
The two candidates differ most widely on immigration. Schwartzel is a big fan of President Donald Trump’s policies on immigration, while Arias said Trump’s crackdown has split up families and mixed up people with documents, or who are awaiting finalized documents.
Schwartzel said he believes A.I. can assist the government with document issues. He said Trump’s immigration policies are “the single biggest success of Donald Trump.” Schwartzel called the cost of immigrant care is a “catastrophe.” Schwartzel said the recent riots in France, which involved a large migrant population, is an example of the dangers of illegal immigration. “If you don’t know who is coming into your country and have porous borders, you are just setting yourself up for trouble. I realize there are some good people who came in but you have to do it the right way,” he said.
Arias said the crackdown on illegal immigration over the past two years has had an effect on families who he has represented in court, whose families have been split up. Arias said he is representing women who are going out and doing construction jobs now to make up for a loss of income from the father in the family being deported. “Most of the people being deported are men who haven’t had any brushes with the law. They are being deported and they are leaving behind their wives and children. So this is impacting everybody,” he said.
“They are just targeting everybody who has documents who are waiting to go before a judge. Their due process rights are being violated,” he said.
Arias said families are now going on public assistance due to the loss of the father in the family. “You are dividing and separating the family,” he said. “The biggest impact is on the children and the mothers.”
Arias is an immigrant himself. He was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to the United States as a child, growing up and attending college in New York. Arias moved to Southwest Florida in 1999 to work for the School District of Lee County. He has operated his own law firm in Cape Coral since 2003.
Schwartzel grew up in Fort Myers, attending Heights Elementary School. He graduated from Bishop Verot High School. Schwartzel’s mother Charlotte lives on Fort Myers Beach, having moved off Fort Myers Beach before Hurricane Ian and then returned to the island after the hurricane.
Schwartzel said he has been coming to Fort Myers Beach since he was a young child, having fond memories of visiting the old Dairy Queen and Plaka Restaurant. His high school soccer team did their pre-season training on Fort Myers Beach, running up and down the Matanzas Pass Bridge.
He said he has an understanding of what Fort Myers Beach has gone through since its various hurricanes. He is scheduled to meet with Town of Fort Myers Beach Manager Will McKannay next week to discuss some of the millions of dollars in funding the town has been waiting on from FEMA.
Schwartzel would like to do away with FEMA and find an easier path to funding communities hit by hurricanes and other natural disasters.
“I don’t think the federal government should tell us how to rebuild back. I think the federal government could allocate money towards communities and areas that are hardest hit whether it’s by hurricanes or fire, but those communities need to make determinations and the cities need to make determinations about how we rebuild,” Schwartzel said. “Similar to the Department of Education, I don’t think we need to have a standard for the entire country. I think every community knows their community better than the federal government. They need to work with their county and the state to figure out what is the best approach depending on what natural disaster occurred.”
Jim Schwartzel, Republican candidate for the 19th Congressional District. Schwartzel, of South Fort Myers, is the owner of several local media stations including WFTX-TV – FOX and WXCW-TV – CW (which includes WINK News). Photo by Nathan Mayberg
Schwartzel grew up around the radio business with his father Joe, who ran Sun Broadcasting. While attending college at Stetson University, he worked in former Senator Connie Mack’s Washington D.C. office answering constituent mail and building databases to track how senators voted. Jim took over Sun Broadcasting from his father in 2011. He has since expanded the company from radio to television and news print. As head of Sun Broadcasting, he owns several radio stations, including 92.5 Fox News, Trump Country 93.7, and 96 K-Rock radio stations. Schwartzel’s television stations include WFTX-TV – FOX, WXCW-TV – CW (which includes WINK News), WUVF-TV – Univision, and WLZE – UniMas. He purchased Gulfshore Life Media in 2018 and started the Naples Press.
Data Centers
Arias recently took part in a press conference denouncing Donalds for accepting donations form companies tied to data centers. Arias appeared at the press conference with fellow Democrat Phillip Carter, a candidate for the State House seat occupied by Rep. Vanessa Oliver.
Arias said data centers are bad news for Floridians.
Arias warned of rising electricity costs due to the high use of electricity from the data centers, and expressed concern for the large amounts of water which would be needed. “Here in Florida, we rely on our water,” Arias said.
Arias said he doesn’t believe many people yet understand what data centers do.
“We really don’t understand what data centers are all about. We don’t really understand what A.I. is all about,” Arias said. “We still don’t know their purpose.”
Arias said he would vote for a moratorium of “at least one year” on data centers if elected to Congress.
Schwartzel said data centers “are critical for national security.” Schwartzel said data centers will provide “revolutionary help for health care” through the use of artificial intelligence to help doctors treat patients and identify health issues earlier. He said the data centers will “lead to much better care.”
Southwest Florida “might not be the right place” for data centers, Schwartzel said. He is concerned about the amount of energy they use. “I think they need to bring their own power to the table so they are not on the grid so not only are they not using any power we already generate for residents, it also doesn’t use the transmission lines. They also need to protect our water. They need to have systems that don’t use large amounts of water or they have recycling systems were the same amount of water through some type of cooling system o they are not just draining water.”
On the issue of government surveillance, which some are concerned the data centers will enable, Schwartzel compares the use of Flock Safety cameras to property appraiser websites that show a person’s home. “It’s an invasion of privacy,” he said.
Schwartzel said if a private community wants Flock Safety cameras or a private business wants them, “that’s fine” but said he objects to the widespread use of license plate readers by the government.
Arias is against the use of Flock Safety license plate readers. “Good thing there was an outcry by the public against these cameras. Otherwise, we would still have them out there. When you have this information out there, it can be exploited and it was exploited,” Arias said. ”
On the environment, Schwartzel said water issues are key to him. He wants to remove one of the man-made island near the Sanibel Causeway, which he said is disrupting the estuary going into Pine Island Sound. He is concerned about the rate of releases from Lake Okochobee and for the health of the water in Estero Bay.
On the pace of development, Schwartzel said “you are not going to stop people from moving here.”
In Collier County, where environmental groups are concerned about major proposed development projects that are near the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Schwartzel said he is concerned for the endangered panther. Schwartzel’s position differs from the outgoing Rep. Donalds. The outgoing Congressman has expressed skepticism for years about whether the panther, one of the most critically endangered species for decades, is actually endangered. Donalds has said he believes there are too many panthers. Schwartzel said “I am concerned about the panther. They have been endangered for as long as I have been alive.” Schwartzel said that panthers are endangered by vehicles, which are their top cause of death. “If you are putting more people closer to where panthers go, we will have issues,” Schwartzel said.
Arias said he is concerned about overbuilding, and citing the expansion of the Southwest Florida International Airport. “They are building too fast,” he said. “There is not a heck of a lot of planning because we are having problems with congestion on the roads.” Arias said that fast growth will lead to the need to build more costly roads and bridges.
The next congressman from Southwest Florida could have the ability to have a say on the environment at a time when President Donald Trump has been filing a number of executive orders which have threatened to overturn protections for endangered species and to speed up permits for projects that would encroach on federally protected wetlands.
Arias believes Trump’s environmental policies are eroding local rule over environmental protections. “People are upset,” he said. ”
Arias won the Democratic primary with 45% of the Democratic electorate in Lee County and Collier County, defeating Howard Sapp (41%) and Robert Neeld (13%).
Victor Arias, a Cape Coral attorney and candidate for Congress, denounces Congressman Byron Donalds for taking in donations from companies tied to data centers. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
Arias, a Cape Coral attorney who once served as an attorney for the School District of Lee County, knows his task will be difficult with the Republican Party registration advantage in the district.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Arias said. “The most important thing is for this county to unite. We are not getting the job done.”
Economy and war in Iran
Arias said his top issue is the economy. “The economy is not helping everybody,” Arias said. “There is too much suffering. That is going to impact this area because we rely on tourism.”
Arias said his other main issues are water quality and the environment. “We have to be better stewards” of the environment, he said. “Clean water is a huge issue for us.”
Schwartzel said this region is in better shape than others. “I think we are in a better spot in Southwest Florida overall,” he said. “We are better off if we can get this war wrapped up and get fuel prices lower.”
Schwartzel was referring to the war with Iran, which led to increased gasoline prices after Iran blocked important shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz, attacked oil tankers and its oil-producing neighbors. Schwartzel thinks President Donald Trump is navigating the war better of late. The U.S. has blockaded the Strait of Hormuz to allow shipments to go through though Iran continues to attack vessels passing through, and has continued to attack its neighbors. “I am hopeful,” Schwartzel said. Schwartzel said he is also hopeful that the war between Russia and Ukraine will end.
Schwartzel blamed the “hyperinflation from the Biden administration” as another hurdle to getting the economy on track.
Arias said he wants to end the war in Iran “as soon as possible” in order to lower gas prices, which he thinks will help the economy. “It’s becoming a logistical nightmare,” he said. He doesn’t think there was enough planning. Arias said he is running to “put money in people’s pockets” to help people struggling economically.
Arias believes that Trump is failing Ukraine in its defense against Russia, while waiving sanctions that the U.S. had on Russia exports. Ukraine, he said, “are not the ones who started the war. They are just defending themselves.”
Republicans outnumber Democrats by around 140,000 registered voters in Lee County, and a nearly 100,000 voter registration advantage in Collier County. There are approximately 145,000 independents and voters of other minor parties in Lee County, and about 58,000 independents in Collier County.
The 19th Congressional District covers most of Lee County and Collier County, including Fort Myers Beach, Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Estero, Bonita Springs, Sanibel, Marco Island and Naples.