Candidate Profile: Leonard Spencer

State Rep. Leonard Spencer, has spent the past two years working across the aisle and serving as a “strong voice” in the legislative process for the priorities he believes all Floridians desire, regardless of party affiliation: access to education, economic mobility and support for Florida’s working families.

Those are just a few of the issues the Gotha resident said he wants to continue to focus on if voters send him back to Tallahassee to represent House District 45 for a second term. The district includes Oakland, Winter Garden, Windermere, the Disney area and parts of Osceola County. 

“I want to ensure that everyone who lives in our district has a representative in Tallahassee who understands the community, but is also going to advocate for them and put them first every day,” Spencer said. He added, “That's why I believe I'm the best candidate for re-election here in House District 45.”

Spencer, who was the only Democrat to flip a seat in the Florida House during the 2024 election when he unseated Republican Carolina Amesty, now faces a challenge from Orange County GOP Chair Erin Huntley in the Nov. 3 election. State House representatives serve for two years and earn $29,697 annually.

Born in Jacksonville and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Spencer, 55, has lived in the West Orange County area for more than two decades, with his wife, Tanya, and two adult children, both of whom graduated from West Orange High School. His son is a former U.S. Navy officer; his daughter is a Washington, D.C. attorney.

Like so many Central Floridians, Spencer initially came to Orange County to work for The Walt Disney Company, starting as a senior financial analyst in 2005 and ultimately becoming the corporation’s director of supplier diversity and procurement. In 2021, he joined Amazon where he currently serves as head of responsible sourcing for global corporate procurement. 

If re-elected, Spencer said he wants to create more opportunities for constituents to “engage directly with my office,” he told VoxPopuli. 

“The folks in House District 45, I work for them, I go to Tallahassee to represent them, I am employed by them,” he said. 

Here, Spencer answers questions from VoxPopuli and the News Collaborative of Central Florida. Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.

If re-elected, what are the three most pressing problems in your district that you want to address, and what do you suggest to solve them?

The affordability crisis is the most pressing issue facing families in House District 45 and across Florida. Rising prices, higher costs for everyday necessities, and a shortage of affordable housing are forcing Floridians to stretch their budgets further just to make ends meet.

Addressing Florida’s property insurance crisis is essential to providing meaningful relief. Soaring premiums do not only affect homeowners; they also increase housing costs for renters and make it more expensive to build and maintain affordable housing.

I sponsored and co-sponsored several proposals aimed at lowering insurance costs and creating a more stable market. One would establish an interstate insurance compact, allowing Florida to spread hurricane-related risk across a larger pool of insurers and policyholders. Another would transition Citizens Property Insurance into the state’s sole provider of windstorm coverage, removing the difficult-to-price risk of catastrophic wind damage from private policies. These proposals would help reduce premiums, strengthen Florida’s insurance market and address one of the underlying causes of our broader affordability crisis. Floridians need practical solutions that lower costs and make it possible for working families, seniors and young people to continue living in the communities they call home.

Transportation is a major issue for residents across Central Florida, where worsening congestion and limited public transit options affect daily commutes and quality of life. Addressing these challenges requires a truly multimodal transportation system that expands reliable public transit while investing in new ways to move people throughout the region. That is why I sponsored House Bill 1093, which supports the development of vertiports and prepares Florida for advanced air mobility. Vertiports are only one part of the solution, but they could help reduce congestion by moving some regional trips off our roads. Combined with expanded bus service, passenger rail and other transportation investments, this technology can help build a more connected and efficient Central Florida.

Ensuring every child has access to a quality education is a top priority for families across our community. In Orange County, public schools are facing declining enrollment and potential closures while teachers continue to struggle with inadequate pay and limited resources. We must increase teacher salaries, improve retention and ensure educators receive the support and compensation they deserve. We must also bring greater transparency and accountability to the voucher system. Parents should have the freedom to choose the educational setting that best meets their child’s needs, but that choice cannot come at the expense of the public schools that serve the vast majority of Florida’s students. Florida must fully fund its public schools while holding every institution that receives taxpayer dollars to consistent standards of financial transparency, academic accountability and student safety.

What do you consider your standout achievements from your first term and what do you hope to accomplish if voters send you back to Tallahassee?

I think one of our most significant accomplishments was being able to pass a vertiport bill which supports Florida's emerging advanced air mobility industry and is going to help prepare our transportation infrastructure for this new technology. It's also going to create potentially high-paying jobs and opportunities for folks here in the state, as we think about how we continue to diversify our economy. 

I've also pursued appropriations focused on many of the pressing needs here in the community like infrastructure, public safety and programs that really are going to improve residents' quality of life. More broadly, my legislative work is really centered on my priorities in Tallahassee, which are all around affordability, around property insurance… as well as affordable housing options. It's around improving our transportation infrastructure, it's around creating economic opportunity and advancing education.

 The affordability crisis is just placing tremendous pressure on families and local businesses. A large part of our district [is composed of] hospitality workers, but we also have hardworking families that are working in multiple industries, and what they consistently tell me is that they're struggling to keep up with everyday expenses. 

When I talk to the small businesses ... they're seeing customers cut back, which is affecting them as well as the households, because what the folks are trying to do, like everyone else, is trying to look at their household budget around the kitchen table and how can they make ends meet. Part of that is the housing costs, they're a major part of that burden, and we've got a limited supply of attainable homes. 

But property insurance premiums — mine personally have almost quadrupled in the last five years — it's making it increasingly difficult for residents to remain in the communities where they live and work. They work here, but they can't live here, so they're moving farther and farther out, which is leading to some of the transportation issues. Because in addition to folks having to move out of the district, we've also had this rapid growth in the district, and it's outpacing our transportation infrastructure. We need comprehensive solutions that are going to reduce congestion, but also expand reliable transportation options and most importantly make our roads safer for not just drivers but also pedestrians and cyclists. How do we make sure that our communities are communities where we can actually live, work and play? Those are the big issues that I want to go to Tallahassee to work on.

If Amendment 3 passes, there's been discussion about a state trust fund that would help municipalities to cover lost property taxes to fund police and fire departments. What's your position?

When you talk about the trust fund, there was some language about building a trust fund into this amendment that was removed. But even when you think about that whole process, if you have a budget gap and you have to go to Tallahassee, well, right now that's a very political process. It doesn't guarantee anything, and so you're going to have decisions around whether or not you can hire more police or whether or not you can have infrastructure or parks and recreation. You're going to have to go to Tallahassee to try to get that done, and that doesn't make a whole lot of sense because your local community should be able to decide what's most important for them. And so, for me, property tax relief should remain a priority, but it has to be carefully structured, and it shouldn't come at the expense of the services that residents rely on and need every day.

Going back to Amendment 3, I voted against it on the House floor because when you think about how it came to be, the process was extremely rushed. It didn't provide lawmakers or local governments or the general public, for that matter, sufficient time to really evaluate the consequences of this. Again, homeowners urgently need some meaningful property tax relief. But when you look at this proposal, it fails to deliver it responsibly. It's going to be eliminating a significant source of local revenue that is going to significantly impact the quality of life of residents across the state, without even contemplating a replacement. And as a result of that, it's going to threaten essential services like emergency response, hurricane preparedness, sanitation, infrastructure maintenance, parks and recreation. None of these things are really addressed, and the consequences could be especially severe for municipalities like Winter Garden, Ocoee and Windermere that don't have the alternative means of replacing any losses because they don't have the business infrastructure. 

If this amendment passes, local leaders are going to need to try to carefully assess the fiscal impact, while also simultaneously trying to protect the most critical services, and then try to communicate to residents what programs are going to be eliminated. I think we should also work collectively to come up with a sustainable revenue source that is not just going to shift costs onto residents through higher fees and assessments.

With the Florida legislature over the last few years, local government's ability to make decisions has been tested — regulating everything from plastic straws and gas-powered leaf blowers to building height and density. What are your thoughts on the state preemption of cities and counties' ability to govern themselves?

A government closest to the people is best able to serve the needs of the people. That's a fundamental truth that comes from our founding fathers, which is why our structure is the way it is in the first place. What we've consistently seen from this legislature is an erosion of local home rule, which is actually ingrained in the state constitution … Local governments should not have to lean on Tallahassee to fund things that are pertinent to their respective communities. That's something that should be decided by those communities. That's why you elect local officials at the county and city level.

How would you work to protect election integrity and voting rights?

This isn't a Republican or Democrat issue — I think it’s a democratic issue. I think most voters, [non-party affiliates] included, would think that gerrymandering is wrong, and we should not have politicians electing their electorate, which is kind of what we're saying. Politicians are choosing who gets a chance to choose their representation. It should be the other way around ... When you take a step back and look at what has happened, I mean, it's been a blatant disregard of the Constitution, in my opinion, and so I think it's something that we should be looking at really closely in trying to ensure that we're doing things that actually are for the people, not for politicians. I would really support and encourage everyone to continue to look closely at this gerrymandering issue and to make sure that the voters are the arbiter of who goes to Tallahassee, who goes to D.C. to represent this district in this state, and not the politicians.

Is there a biggest issue that you think the government needs to address when it comes to public education?

I think in Florida, we’ve built a strong foundation through educational opportunity in a number of ways. When you think about Bright Futures, we made significant investments in our colleges, our universities. With CareerSource, we’ve got a good workforce training program right across the state. I think these resources have really helped a lot of Floridians pursue higher education and really have prepared them for successful careers. But that same commitment, I don't think, has been consistently extended to our traditional public schools. If you think about Orange County Public Schools, they're being asked to serve a growing and increasingly diverse community, while also at the same time they face financial pressures, decline in enrollment and the threat of school closures. 

I believe that every student deserves access to a well-funded, high-quality neighborhood school, which is what many of us had growing up. They should have access to that regardless of their zip code, regardless of their family income. And when you think about that high-quality education, we’ve got to increase teacher salaries because we've got to recruit and retain talented educators.

We've got to reduce classroom vacancies, and we have to ensure that our experienced teachers can afford to live in the communities that they serve. We talked about the home affordability crisis, and so you’ve got teachers who are getting paid 50th in the nation, unable to live in the communities where they work. I think we've also got to protect funding for classroom instruction, like student support services. And then when we think about, unfortunately, all of the school shootings and other trauma that we have throughout the state, we need to make sure that our schools are safe. That they have the modern technology to keep our schools safe.

School districts across the state are facing declining enrollment and school closures. What do you believe, if anything, is the cause of that declining enrollment, and are there any specific actions you’d plan to take to address the issue?

I think there could be a number of issues that are driving it. This is something that I queried my team to dive into and make sure we better understand it, but there are some anecdotal things that I've heard around folks actually leaving the area to go to different states. There's been some discussion around some of our folks who may have come from other countries who are leaving, so there could be a number of issues.

Do you see a need for more accountability for education quality and/or financial stewardship at the private schools that now collectively receive more than $4 billion each year in public funds? If so, what accountability measures do you recommend?

I think one of the big things that we've heard a lot about and that we see is that the state's voucher system has to be subject to meaningful financial and academic accountability. We're seeing billions of dollars go into this voucher system that are being pulled from our public schools, which we've talked about are underfunded. I think the basic thought should be that any institution that is going to receive public funds, they have to be held to clear standards. They have to have transparent reporting on how taxpayer dollars are being spent, and they have to show that the students that are attending them are receiving a quality education. The bottom line is you can't expand educational choice, which by the way I support, at the expense of accountability. 

Almost 90 percent of our kids here in Florida are educated in the public school system. You're talking about vouchers, you're talking about private schools, but you're talking about taking money out of the resource that educates almost 90 percent of our kids. I mean, what kind of sense does that make? I'm for a common sense solution. When my counterparts are talking about how they want to fix the system, they've been in power for 30 years. They broke it. It becomes really important for us to really think about where we are today, how we got here and then what the path forward is — and we need to do it together. 

Florida is currently seventh in the nation for measles cases because of declining vaccination rates among children. The Florida Surgeon General recently re-introduced a rule that would eliminate vaccine mandates not required by law. Where do you stand on maintaining vaccine mandates for public/private school entry? Do you believe that vaccines cause autism?

I think that the science has been clear relative to vaccines, and we've seen the benefits of what vaccines have done. We don't have to worry about polio today because of vaccines. It seems like people forget a little bit. When you think about measles, there hasn’t been, up until recently, measles outbreaks. We don't have to worry about polio or smallpox, which were killing kids or crippling kids in the mid-1900s. 

There is no credible data that says that vaccines are attributable to autism in kids. So I firmly believe that we should follow the science here, and not just follow the science, but I mean look at public health and all of the advances that we've had in public health around infant mortality, around infectious diseases. I think if you really look objectively at the data, it becomes clear that these things work, right? I can understand where folks feel like that they want to have some autonomy and ability to make decisions, but we also have to take a step back and ask how those decisions affect other Americans. Is this creating a dangerous environment for others? I just think that we need to consider and make decisions like these very carefully and with the right amount of science, and with the right public health officials who have experience in this space. That's where I would lean in my decision making.

In terms of abortion restrictions in the state, do you believe those should be more strict, less strict, or stay the same?

I think at the end of the day, when we start talking about these things, in my opinion [it’s about] the broader healthcare discussion. I think women should have the ability to make decisions around their own body. But I also think, when we talk about just medicine in the state, we've got to decrease the overall cost of medicine in the state. With the administration in D.C. cutting the funding for healthcare in the Big Beautiful Bill — I mean, it's hundreds of thousands of Floridians who lost their healthcare through the exchanges. So you really have to think about how we bring medical costs down because when people get sick, it hurts our economy. It hurts families, and it really could bankrupt people because now they don't have insurance. People going bankrupt because of medical expenses is one of the highest reasons that people are going bankrupt today. 

I have a plan to expand access to affordable healthcare by expanding Medicaid. Florida remains one of only 10 states that didn't expand, and that's leaving hundreds of thousands of working families without access to affordable health coverage. If we can bring some of these federal healthcare dollars back to our state, that could also reduce the burden of hospitals that are uncompensated for the care of some of the patients. If you think about folks who don't have insurance, they're going to go to the emergency room when something happens, they don't have primary care that could have prevented a lot of these issues before they have to go to the emergency room, which is the most expensive form of care. They're not going to be able to compensate the hospital. Who's ultimately going to pay for that? Those folks with insurance. So we're still paying for it. When people lose health care, that's just inflating the cost for everyone because people are going to go to the emergency room, and the hospital still has to recoup those costs, and they're recouping those losses through the folks who can pay.

We also have to lower prescription drug costs. We've got to be able to strengthen preventative and community-based healthcare programs. More importantly, I do agree with the other side on this — we’ve got to improve the transparency of the bill so that patients can understand the cost of care before they actually get the bill. I think expanding access to primary and preventative care that would allow some of these health conditions to be treated earlier before they become more serious and expensive is a good way to also decrease the overall cost of medical expenses for all Floridians. 

Do you support expanding the eligible uses of the Tourist Development Tax (TDT) under the state law, such as public infrastructure, transit and affordable housing?

When we think about some of the things that the TDT could do, I think we can have some conversations about some of the things that are already within statute and maybe do more of those. But in terms of fundamentally changing the TDT, I think we should also really get into [the fact that] when we create these funding mechanisms for certain things, I'm a firm believer that we should use the funding for those certain things. You think about the Sadowski Fund that is specifically supposed to be used for affordable housing, [but] we're using it for all different types of things outside of affordable housing. I do not want that same thing to happen to the TDT because of all the things that it has done for our community.

For those who start to think about [expanding TDT funding use,] understand that you're opening a Pandora's box where this will be used for all kinds of other things and not for the significant benefits that it has brought to our community. If we're looking to use it for other things, I think Mayor Demings talked about and was working on a one cent tax to start to build reliable funding to adequately change and upgrade our transportation infrastructure, and that becomes a funding mechanism that is used specifically for things that are going to make our life better. Because the other thing about the TDT, it's going to ebb and flow with tourism and that is not a reliable funding source. We're doing well now, but we also had periods like during COVID where it bottomed out. Because we had the TDT, it really helped many of my constituents in Osceola County, because we have funding from the TDT that was able to help sustain them in that significant downturn. We have to think very carefully around that particular issue.

Regarding the Hope Florida controversy, would you take any specific actions regarding the findings from the grand jury report that came out? Would you pursue recovering the disputed funds?

The short answer is yes. Listen, no one is for corruption … so what I would hope is that as we come back, we would continue our oversight responsibilities within the House to make sure that we get to the bottom of what happened and hold those responsible if wrongdoing is actually identified and adjudicated.

Do you agree with the current federal and state government’s approach to immigration enforcement?

I think everyone would agree that we need real pathways for citizenship for people who are willing to work hard, pay taxes and follow the rules. I believe and I support strong laws that are really going to help our borders stay secure from violent criminals. We don't want dangerous drugs coming over the border, and I am 100 percent in support of that. If you're a violent criminal, there is no place for you in the United States, and that's how we keep people safe — not by the current [methods] that we're seeing under this administration.

We've got a lot of the things that have been done to really put citizens across the United States in really difficult situations. When we talk about some of the untrained ICE agents who are in a lot of ways instilling fear in some of our communities because of some of their actions that we've seen and that have been documented … there has to be a more focused way and better way.

Where do you stand on balancing the rights of gun owners under the Second Amendment with the need to maintain safety in public spaces, such as in places of worship, schools and shopping centers?

I'm supportive of the Second Amendment. I think it is a right everyone should be able to own a gun… [but] sometimes you need to have some common sense rules around different privileges that we have … I am not advocating and would not advocate for the government to come and take anyone's gun, right? But what we do want to do is think about how we put some common sense rules and laws in place to actually protect folks who may be at risk.