Republican Scott Franklin defeated Democrat Alan Cohn to represent U.S. House District 15 in Tuesday’s general election.
U.S. House District 15 is sprawling district stretching from south Lake County across parts of Polk County, including Lakeland, and southwest toward the Tampa area.
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Franklin defeated incumbent congressman and fellow Republican Ross Spano in the primary during August.
Franklin, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, served as a naval aviator in the U.S. Navy, according to his campaign website. He is a small business owner who supports lower taxes, wants to cut wasteful spending and backs the elimination of “excessive regulations to create jobs and grow the economy,” his website states. Franklin also is a Lakeland city commissioner.
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Franklin beat out Cohn, a veteran investigative journalist, according to Cohn’s campaign website. Cohn said he wanted to address “our broken healthcare system,” lower prescription drug costs and tackle the “climate crisis,” his website says. Cohn said exposing the wrongdoing of political leaders as a journalist wasn’t enough.
“He had to get in the fight himself and make the policy changes that working people in our country need,” his website states.
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