The African American Accountability Alliance endorsed Congressional candidate Yvonne Hinson by the end of the night.
Candidates at the African American Accountability Alliance forum Monday night agreed on what some of the state’s biggest issues are, but differed on the steps needed to resolve it all.
Monday, August’s primary Democratic candidates fielded questions from 4A members in what was one of the first debates for the upcoming election. None of the Republican incumbents attended the event.
U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., State Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, and Rep. Chuck Clemons, R-Newberry, all said they had scheduling conflicts that prevented them from attending. Judson Sapp, of Orange Park, who is challenging Yoho in the August primary, also was a no-show.
By the end, former Congressional candidate Yvonne Hinson was the only candidate to earn an endorsement from the 4As. Hinson, a former Gainesville city commissioner, is running for Florida’s third Congressional District and will face Tom Wells and Dushyant Gosai in the Democratic primary. The area covers parts of Alachua, Putnam and Marion counties.
“It is time to have a Congresswoman who will fight for a livable wage and affordable, quality child care,” Hinson said in her opening statements.
Candidates for the most part agreed on every topic. They said they would like to see a ban on assault weapons and called for stricter background checks.
Wells said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that banning assault rifles is constitutional and that the Second Amendment doesn’t justify allowing the public access to them.
“I say to Ted Yoho and all the NRA A-rated representatives in Washington and Tallahassee, when you support the Second Amendment, 'you don’t get to support the NRA’s version, the bloody shameful version,'” Wells said.
Asked about the countries latest immigration policies, Gosai, who was born and
