The Nov. 5 elections in Southwest Florida includes the State Senate District 27 race between a Republican in line to become the chamber’s next majority leader and a Democratic newcomer. Voters are choosing between Republican incumbent Ben Albritton and Democratic challenger Phillip Carter. The district includes Charlotte, DeSoto, and Hardee Counties, as well as a portions of northern Lee County and Southern Polk County.
Albritton has served in the legislature for more than a decade, having won his first state house seat in 2010. After being term-limited out of the House, he was elected to the Florida Senate in 2018 and has been reelected subsequently. If he wins again, he’ll succeed Senator Kathleen Passidomo for the influential position of Senate Majority leader in next year’s legislative session.
Albritton was born in Lakeland and is a fourth-generation citrus grower. Before serving in the legislature, Albritton was appointed by then Governor Jeb Bush to serve on the Florida Citrus Commission, including the role of chairman from 2007 to 2010.
Albritton did not respond to requests for an interview, but his campaign website indicates his platform includes advancing economic opportunities, lowering taxes, reducing government spending, and limiting what he calls overregulation of businesses.
Albritton is also a staunch supporter of second amendment rights. A statement on his campaign website reads, “He will champion and defend your Second Amendment rights against the threats of the Radical Left.” Albritton campaign says his Christian faith informs his position against abortion. “Those values include the right to life for all individuals, no matter how small or young. Ben will protect the gift of life and ensure those with a heartbeat have a right to live.”
In a 2023 story from the News Service of Florida, Albritton said he expects his focus during the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions to be on supporting Florida’s vital agriculture industry, including more support for research on new varieties of citrus that can better contend with citrus greening disease, which has plagued groves throughout the state for decades.
His Democratic challenger, Phillip Carter, presents himself as a progressive candidate raised with traditional Midwestern values in a middle-class family. This campaign marks his first foray into politics. His professional background is diverse and includes serving six years in the U.S. Air Force before working in civil law enforcement. He then moved into movie theater management before running his own subcontracting business.
If elected, Carter said working collaboratively across the political aisle, and helping to tamp down political divisiveness will be key to his approach to leadership.
“My personal belief is that Americans are very disgruntled with our politicians and our inaction and the divisiveness that has occurred, and it's been coming for some time, and now it's erupting, and this is what we're dealing with,” said Carter.
“I know that Trump has certainly elevated all of that, but I don't blame him for every bit of it. It's where we are with our politicians,” he continued.
Carter said he wants to help the state legislature tackle the economy and the environment; two topics he said are inextricably linked.
“We're a state that is basically precipitated off of tourism, and we're destroying that to some extent with some of the things that we do environmentally, those two are linked together,” said Carter.
“But we've got to look more completely and intelligently over building, when we're building in areas, what we're building, as we obviously have a housing crisis. We've got to build affordable housing. We've got to look at how those new subdivisions of homes impact the areas that they're at.”
Carter’s vision also includes embracing clean and renewable energy.
“I've been around for 60 years now. I’m 60 years old. I've seen a huge change in how weather is, and I recognize that our world has been around for, you know, our Earth has been here for millions of years. And there have been millions of changes, but we've got change that are happening that we can affect by doing the right things, by going to EVs (electric vehicles), using solar power, making wind power, taking advantage of all of these new technologies that will make the world a better place and a safer place,” said Carter.
As to the amendment proposals to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and to legalize recreational cannabis for adults, Carter said he supports both citizen-led initiatives.
“Abortion is a big one because we're attempting to take women's rights away from them again. I'm a man, and I'm offended by that. I just don't understand how we could be going in the reverse,” said Carter.
“As far as the legalization of marijuana, to me, it's the same thing we were looking at, (when) we were looking at prohibition. If a man or a woman wants to smoke marijuana and they can do it legally, and that means not going out there and driving the vehicle or being unsafe. Got to follow the same rules we did with alcohol. We should be able to make that choice for ourselves.”
The topic of firearm regulations marks another stark contrast between Carter and Albritton. Carter has earned the endorsement of the “Moms Demand Action” organization. He said he’s not out to take away people’s firearms, but says he supports limiting magazine capacity, expanding red flag laws, and requiring gun owners to undergo firearm safety and proficiency education.
“If you're going to have a weapon and you've never had any formal training, I think you ought to have to go through at least a couple hours of training online, perhaps, you know, and then maybe go to maybe even further, have to go to a gun range and demonstrate your ability to understand how to use that weapon safely, understanding what that weapon can do and how to, you know, properly store that weapon.”
One area where the candidates seem to agree is taking a smart-growth strategy when it comes to future development in District 27 and balancing the need for growth with preservation of the area’s agricultural and rural character.
Still, winning the election will likely be an uphill battle for Carter, given the GOP’s edge among registered voters in the district as well as financial support for their campaigns. According to the latest campaign finance documents from the state division of elections, Albritton has raised more than $379,000 dollars, compared to just over $3,500 dollars raised by Carter. Additionally, political committees led by Albritton raised $320,000 dollars, largely from business groups, just between Oct. 28-30.
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