Florida State Senator, Candidate Phillip Snyder, for District 17

Born and raised in Palm Bay, I grew up the middle child of a large family. At eighteen I became a Christian, at twenty I married my best friend, and at twenty-three I was both a father and a first year teacher.

These three things (my relationship with God, my relationship with my wife, and my relationship with my now three children) have shaped me into who I am today. They are also the reason that I cannot sit back and watch as the state I live in continues to sit on its hands and pretend that our schools aren’t falling apart, our climate isn’t changing, our people aren’t underpaid, and our communities aren’t hurting.

Let me be clear: I’ll be damned if my boys grow up and I can’t look them in the eyes and say with integrity that I tried my hardest to give them the best world I could. They deserve better, as do all those in the next generation.

So, I’m running for Senate to do my part in making a difference. I’m a realist and know it will be hard and that I won’t get everything done that I’d like. But I’m also hopeful, because things can change, and they will change.

But we get to decide how things change.

So let’s make a positive change together

Our campaign is focused on being as clear about our platform issues as possible, which is why detailed information can be found on our website http://www.Snyder2020.org

However, we have locked in on a few core issues that affect every Floridian.

We need to create Racial Equality through policy. It is true that policy doesn’t change people’s hearts, but people with changed hearts should vote for good policy. Through our 4E Plan we will attack the systems at the root of perpetuating system racism.

As a former educator, Education Reform is the issue perhaps closest to me personally. People are beginning now to realize what educators in this state have been warning about for nearly a decade: we have a teacher shortage that’s been fueled by decades long underfunding. Each year, far more teachers retire or leave the profession early than come into the field, leaving our teaching force with lots of empty classrooms, a weak pipeline of certified teachers, and no real path forward. Gov. DeSantis’s step forward with teacher pay is good, but it is incredibly insufficient. Teachers need a mandatory minimum of $50,000 in annual salary, provided by an incredibly minimal corporate tax. Then, we need to provide teachers with a voice to lead a conversation on education reform.

At some point, we need to understand that the best thing for the economy in the Sunshine State is to lean into solar energy as our primary energy source. We already have the infrastructure, now we just need to provide tax incentives for entrepreneurs to start solar panel installation and maintenance businesses in their communities, provide incentives for homeowners to purchase solar panels and funnel that business into those small companies, and give cities grant opportunities to put community solar farms in low income neighbourhoods to provide low cost or free energy to those who need that break the most.