Candidate Profile: Doug Bankson

Incumbent State Rep. Doug Bankson of Apopka is seeking his third term representing House District 39, which includes Winter Garden, Apopka and parts of Seminole County.

The founder and senior pastor of Apopka’s Victory Church World Outreach Center is facing an unexpected primary challenge from Longwood dentist and real estate investor Carlos Johary, Sr. in the Aug. 18 election. State representatives serve for two years and earn $29,697 annually.

A proponent of the property tax reform amendment, Bankson told VoxPopuli that a top priority for the 2027 legislative session is establishing a trust fund to cover the revenue losses municipalities will need to fund essential services if the amendment passes and homesteaded property taxes are cut.

“I will absolutely fight to make sure we have the trust fund available,” he said, adding that rules would need to be put into place to ensure that municipalities wouldn’t be able to abuse the fund. “We have to have the right formula so that a municipality isn't just, Oh, well, we need this, we need that. Do you really? We gotta make sure that we help those who truly do.”

In his time in Tallahassee, Bankson has passed key anti-drug legislation. Working with Democratic State Rep. Rita Harris in 2025, Bankson passed Gage’s Law, which requires hospitals to screen for fentanyl in suspected drug overdoses. Earlier this year, he worked with fellow Republican State Rep. Rachel Plakon to pass Meg’s Law, banning convenience stores and smoke shops from selling nitrous oxide. The law also includes new penalties for xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer often used to cut other recreational drugs.

Bankson is an avid pilot and worked with Democratic State Rep. Bruce Antone to recognize the Tuskegee Airmen with the Tuskegee Airmen Commemoration Day on the fourth Thursday in March. He’s also looking ahead to the not-too-distant future of air travel, helping to lay the groundwork for electric air taxis and the vertiports where they land.

As a hardline conservative who runs an evangelical church, Bankson holds the social/cultural  positions one would expect. He’s a “selective-vaxxer,” who still considers there may be a link between vaccines and autism. (There isn't.) He’s staunchly anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ. He ran two of the 19 anti-trans bills introduced in the 2024 legislative session —both died in committee. For the past two years, Bankson has tried unsuccessfully to do an end run around the Miller Test for obscenity with his Material Harmful to Minors bill, attempting to remove materials he considers pornographic. Last session it passed the House but the Senate failed to take it up. He told VoxPopuli he will introduce it again next session.

“ Every year I have to earn this job because the seat belongs to the people, not me,” Bankson told VoxPopuli. “And if they like what I do, I'll get my seat back. If they don't, I get my life back, so I can't lose either way.

“But I'm there to serve, and just because my intentions are good doesn't mean everyone will agree with them. But I will genuinely listen to all sides and do the best that I can to make what I believe are good and healthy decisions in the long run. And I could do things that are popular right now, but I know my grandkids are going to pay for it.”

Here, Bankson responds to questions from VoxPopuli and the News Collaborative of Central Florida.

If elected, what are the three most pressing problems you want to address, and what do you suggest to solve them?

Affordability

1. Continue my work to reduce insurance costs for both property and auto through maintaining the tort reform and increasing OIR oversight by holding insurance company presidents that bankrupt companies accountable and unable to simply start a new company.  

2. Regarding supplementing the lost tax revenue for local govts, there is a statewide 35 percent reduction in revenue, although disproportionate among municipalities, especially in more rural settings. This will require a trust fund to be established from which grants will be allocated, and equitable standards for grant application protected from political motivations. That being said, there are several ways we can approach this: a minimal 1 percent sales tax increase, 6% sales tax at the time of purchase with proceeds set into a trust fund for more affected cities, a small surcharge on tourism stays that supply the trust fund, and an effort to combine first responder services, and other various revenue streams such as a front-facing license plate on vehicles, tiered on-ramp approach to replace dependency on homestead tax revenue, and at minimum we should match the 1980 homestead exemption of $25,000 when the average home cost $45,000 making it a 56 percent exemption at the time. In 2026 the average home is $382,000 so had we maintained a percentage basis that would have been $214.000. This is another justification for the necessity to increase homestead exemption.    

3. A reduction in property tax would make first-time home buying more attainable and ease the pressure on the rental market, thus bringing a market-based solution to the rental problem.  

4. Utilize 3P (public-private partnerships) for addressing housing needs and aim funding for demonstrated positive ROI partners.

Pro business  

1. Focus on job creation by supporting small business protections, reduce red tape, and promote jobs and economic development incentive such as our successful removal of business rent tax.  

2. Address workforce needs through education opportunities and continued interaction with industry to match their need.  

3. Oppose duplicative regulations that create unnecessary red tape, increase costs, and add burdensome layers of bureaucracy. If property tax reforms are approved in November, I will rely on input from industry leaders to understand their needs and work to ensure that businesses are not subjected to onerous tax shifts or unintended financial burdens.  

4. We need to provide affordable and attainable housing for the workforce, and this coincides with my former point of supporting public-private partnerships and uniting all levels of government. We can further accomplish this with tax relief and proper utilization of Sadowski funds.

Transportation

1. Build on my work in the area of EVTOL technology and vertiport development to alleviate the pressure on our ground infrastructure.    

2. Advocate for increased transportation funding for Central Florida and work with CRX to make sure revenues are spent to extend local exit arteries.

Why do you deserved to be re-elected in this race?

Having served six years at the local level and now four years in Tallahassee, I’ve grown in a depth of understanding both at the local and state levels. I believe in working together to solve real world issues that my constituents face. I served for 19 years on our local Chamber of Commerce as both a board member and past chairman, I’m familiar and supportive of business and entrepreneurial needs. Over the past two legislative sessions I have passed 20 bills, and I have built a reputation and proven track record of working hard to advance meaningful legislation that promotes economic opportunity, public safety, workforce development, and educational advancement. I am passionate about ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to succeed. When it comes to appropriations, I work diligently to ensure that state funding does not simply flow south to Miami. I strive to highlight Central Florida's role as an emerging leader in innovation and next-generation technology, while promoting our region as a healthy, affordable, and desirable place to call home.It is an incredible honor to serve the people of my district, and I believe in working together wherever possible to get the job done.

According to a University of North Florida poll, Floridians say affordability is their top issue. What are your solutions for dealing with Florida’s affordability issue?

Answered in Question 1.

Will you vote Yes or No on the constitutional amendment to slash property taxes and explain your position. How would you replace lost revenue – fees and/or service reductions?

Yes, as I agree that homesteads should be owned and protected, and I also believe through reducing government waste and replacing lost revenue, we can work together to do the right thing and still fund the things that are important to Floridians. It will be incumbent upon the next legislature to delve into the implementation phase of tasked by Florida citizens. I’ve answered this question in prior responses in this survey above, and also in my answer to the next survey question regarding data centers.

Utility costs are rising for customers in Florida, and the proliferation of data centers is expected to exacerbate that issue. How should Florida’s utility regulators respond?

First, we should make sure that regulations are in place to protect neighborhoods from intrusion against quality of life issues. We must also require data centers to be net neutral in closed loop systems for water usage to not harm our water needs. Finally, I believe in pursuing micro nuclear power and requiring data centers to produce their own power supplies, both protecting our public power grids, and being a source to backfeed into the power supply in times of emergency. I believe this could create a great source of revenue to help replace our reduced property tax revenues and position us to lead when it comes to increased AI and data center necessities.

What do you think is the biggest environmental issue your government should address in Florida?

I have a passion to see Lake Apopka restored to its pristine beauty for future generations. Water issues should top the list so that our aquifer is protected and our waterways are enjoyed for posterity.

The property tax reform amendment does not mention a trust fund for the municipalities to replace lost revenue from homestead property tax. Such a fund was in the governor’s proposal but was removed. So, how do you make that happen that if its not in the amendment Florida residents will vote on?

 The trust fund is something that we are absolutely set on being able to fund.  We know that the need is there.  And without doing something, things will fail. All I can say is that's already been part of the conversation. The fact that the governor's proposal of how he would do that was stripped away does not mean it won't be done.

What do you want to focus on for next session if you're re-elected?

I can only run seven bills.  I try and do something that's right here at home, something that's gonna keep us safe, something that's gonna help us prosper, and something that's gonna keep us healthy. I'm always looking at those different avenues to do that.

 Obviously anything that can help assess the affordability issue. I’m gonna be looking for those bills, making sure that there's not onerous regulation on businesses at multiple levels. Sometimes there's a local, county and state regulation. It's like, if they're already qualifying, why are they having to pay three fees? Many of these are small businesses that are just trying to survive.

 I want to do some bills that support our law enforcement, the Florida Sheriff Association. Because one of the bills that we ran [in 2024] shut down these street takeovers, which were very bad. Kids would get together and do drag racing right down the street, stopping emergency vehicles, frustrating the heck out of homeowners and neighborhoods. And it was actually dangerous for the kids. So, law enforcement bills, business-related bills, obviously insurance and taxes, the affordability that government has the right and the ability to deal with and health-related issues. And then I want to hear, what are my own people in the district, what are they facing?

Florida is currently fifth in the nation for number of measles cases with 141 cases this year after 8 cases in 2025 and 11 in 2024, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. The herd immunity that keeps serious diseases from spreading is maintained when 95 percent of the population is immunized. Currently 88.6 percent of Orange County’s kindergarteners are fully immunized. Where do you stand on potentially rolling back the required vaccines for school entry?

 I used to trust this implicitly, and now I'm like, Wait a minute. Trust but verify. So I'm not an anti-vaxxer, but I think parents have a legitimate concern. When we look at the autism rates, it is insane. I mean, 1 in every 32 children has some form of this? I think that there’s enough question that we gotta tap the brakes because it's happening.  I think that parents should have the right to be selective on what's put into our bodies. For the government to say, You will have this, that to me is Orwellian.

 I think when it comes to our health and our children, we need to have that right, and those who want [vaccines] need to have that right as well. So that's what I want the net to be. Everyone has the right to make that choice, to do their own research, to object if there's questionability, that they have the right to object and it's not a mandated thing on their child.

Are you planning to re-file your Materials Harmful to Minors bill?

There’s no reason not to, unless there's no Senate sponsor. Everyone that's looked at that, including the other side of the aisle, when they see what I'm trying to do and get past the rhetoric, which is book banning and “Donald Duck has no pants on” — it’s the silly stuff.  It's simply saying, if material has something that by our own statute already is banned and shouldn't be in there, how is it getting back in? This is closing the loophole of using an adult standard for something that's not age appropriate. It's that simple. And everyone that I've shown the examples of things and the proof of the process of how it's gone through and was interjected back into the schools, every single one, they read the first line like, Oh my gosh, that's not appropriate for kids. It's no different than the movie saying PG. This isn't about banning books. This is not about let's put a fig leaf on the statue of David.

Could eVTOL [electric vertical takeoff and landing] vehicles and vertiports help solve the county’s transportation and traffic problem?

This is the Jetsons. This is cool.

 My goal was to make sure that, Florida is the world leader in aviation and aerospace. I tell folks, You know, we're shaped like a runway. We gotta roll." But we are the number one destination for training for pilots and different things like that. So with this new technology, I wanted to make sure that our regulatory system was compatible to that industry, that would draw the industry to base here because that produces long-term jobs, next-generation jobs.

The eVTOL is the vehicle and the vertiporm is where it takes off and lands. So the vertiports was the bill that we ran, because if you have no place to land, the industry's not getting off the ground, pun intended. Once we got that in place, it will be like an air taxi. Like an Uber, you pull up your phone, you order your air taxi, you go to the local vertiport, and from there you can take the eVTOL and you want to commute downtown, you want to go to theme parks, whatever. Orlando and Tampa will be a real corridor. A lot of this will start in major airports.  So someone flies in, lands at the airport, they go to the vertiport and take [an eVTOL] rather than the buses clogging the streets, they'll be able to go to the different theme parks, which will have enough finances to create their own infrastructure, their own personal vertiport.

I think within the next couple years, with the way the industry is, is discussing these things, that we're going to begin to see them in operation. That would help unclog the roadways. It alleviates the pressure on the transportation system. And it brings jobs.