The race is heating up in one of Florida’s most closely watched congressional contests — the battle between incumbent Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-District 18) and his Republican challenger, former State Rep. Carl Domino.
District 18 covers all of Martin and St. Lucie counties, as well as northern areas of Palm Beach County, including portions of Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee Groves and The Acreage.
Domino defeated five other Republican hopefuls in the August primary to claim the right to face Murphy on Nov. 4. His focus now is on bringing those factions together and unifying his party. Domino also wants to bring new issues to the campaign, and contrast himself from the incumbent in terms of finances and political positions.
Domino pointed out that his father was an enlisted military man. Not coming from a family of means, Domino worked his way through college and established his own successful businesses.
In previous races, some have tried to use Domino’s large personal fortune against him.
“I’ve always had to fight this silver-spoon image,” he said. “This time I won’t have to, because Patrick is a silver-spoon kid.”
Murphy, 31, was born in the Florida Keys and grew up working in his family’s Coastal Construction Group, starting as a day laborer and moving up to assistant project engineer and manager. He earned a degree in finance and accounting from the University of Miami, and later rejoined his family’s company.
Domino attended Florida State University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting. After active duty in the military, he earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. Domino also served 17 years in the U.S. Navy reserves.
After working with accounting and money management firms in Philadelphia, Domino moved to Florida in 1987 to start his own financial management company. Even after long and successful financial and political careers, he was not done with his education.
“Last year, I went back and got a law degree,” Domino said. “I got my degree in May from Nova Southeastern University.”
He served eight years representing northern Palm Beach County in the Florida Legislature, where his accomplishments included the successful initiative to pass homestead portability, which enables local homeowners to move without losing the property tax benefits of the home they left.
Domino describes himself as a fiscal conservative but believes there is a place for limited government. “I understand that government has a role in doing some things,” he said. “I think my years in the state legislature reflect that.”
He is also proud of the work he did to get funding for the Loxahatchee River and Lake Worth Lagoon restoration projects.
“We helped bring Scripps to the Treasure Coast, and I was the only state representative who opposed the Digital Domain project. That turned out to be a financial disaster,” Domino said.
While he is personally against abortion, he accepts the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the states cannot unreasonably restrict a woman’s right to an abortion.
“The fact is, I am against abortion, but have said… a woman can choose to have an abortion, and I am going to take an oath to support the Constitution,” Domino said.
While his primary opponents described him as pro-choice, he points out that he has never voted for legislation that increases abortion rights. He also pointed out that he fought for Florida’s prior notification state constitutional amendment that requires parents to be notified before a minor daughter can have an abortion.
Domino contrasts himself from Murphy on the All Aboard Florida high-speed rail project and accuses Murphy of flip-flopping on the issue.
“On the record, Patrick Murphy said to the Department of Transportation that this was the future of public transportation and the process should be expedited,” he said, adding that Murphy has since said that he opposes All Aboard Florida.
Domino said he opposes All Aboard Florida because of its questionable finances, and because it would impair recreational opportunities, safety and the health of citizens. “I’m against it; I’ve always been against it,” he said.
In contrast, Domino voted for SunRail, the mass transit system in Orlando.
“It was a substitute for congestion on the highways,” he said. “It would be like if you went to New York City and there was no subway system. It has nothing to do with All Aboard Florida.”
Domino said he wants to be part of a group that fixes the problems in Washington.
“What do I mean by that? We believe in term limits,” he said. “We believe that if you get elected to Congress, you should have all the same pension benefits as other citizens. We believe there should be a restriction on lobbying by congressmen. We believe the pay should be lowered.”
Domino thinks that many restrictions on businesses should be removed, including the Affordable Care Act, and reducing the 35 percent tax rate on businesses that he says is sending local businesses overseas. “We need to get rid of a lot of unnecessary regulation,” he said.
Domino also wants to improve services for veterans and the military.
“We have a weakness in national security,” he said. “It has never been like this since I was an adult. I’m 70 years old. Basically, we’ve got no leadership. We cut pension benefits for veterans; we have a VA system that’s not working.”
He said there have been long delays getting benefits for victims of post-traumatic stress disorder. “I would like to see that our military members are respected and honored, not just in photo opportunities, but every day,” he said.
Regarding hurricane policy, Domino would favor the federal government establishing a matching fund for states that have disaster funds.
“I’ve always believed that if a state government sets up a catastrophe fund — and this state has one — that the funds are matched if there’s claims on that fund,” he said. “I don’t believe in a free ride, so I believe in a federal match to existing state catastrophe funds for insurance.”
Domino lives in Jupiter with his wife and two teenagers.
Murphy, who changed his registration from Republican to Democratic before his successful 2012 run against former GOP Congressman Allen West, said he has lived up to his pledge to encourage bipartisanship in Washington over the past two years.
“I created a freshman bipartisan group called United Solutions, and I got about 50 percent of the freshman class on board, talking about our fiscal house and how we can bring down the national debt,” he said. “I’m most proud of a bill called the Save Act, Part One, Two and Three, which combined, reduced wasteful spending by $330 billion. We ended up getting $56 billion passed through the Congress. That was through our bipartisan effort.”
Murphy noted that his voting record is in the top 5 percent of the most independent voters in all of Congress. “My independence, I think, is clear,” he said. “There is definitely a group of people in Washington who are willing to be bipartisan. There’s not enough of them right now to make it a critical mass to get something done, though, and that’s the frustration.”
Low voter turnout in non-presidential elections could be a negative for Murphy as he seeks re-election in a district that trends slightly Republican.
“It’s a problem that’s getting worse and worse across the country,” he said. “Voter turnout is just abysmal.”
In a non-presidential cycle, he expects 48 percent to 50 percent turnout. “That’s terrible,” he said, noting that all across the world, people fight and die for the right to vote.
Murphy said he is spending a lot of time and effort to get people out to vote. “Unfortunately, our state legislature has made it tougher for them to do that,” he said. “They purged the voter rolls. They’re closing down the early voter days, stripping the polling stations from colleges. That’s a direct attempt to suppress voters.”
Murphy said he is happy that he appears to hold a convincing lead in the polls.
“I’m happy that our voters are supporting us right now, but my focus has been and will continue to be my job, and I think those polls are a direct reflection of our approach,” he said. “Instead of doing what the polls say to do, which is what some people in D.C. do, on both sides of the aisle, if you do your job and focus on helping out with the flood maps, or helping out with beach renourishment or helping out with preventing discharges out of Lake Okeechobee… I think voters recognize that.”
Important issues to Murphy include the environment, preventing large discharges out of Lake Okeechobee that disrupt the Indian River Lagoon ecology, and cleaning and protecting the Everglades.
“The flood maps have become a very important local issue, and it’s a problem that has been building for years,” he said, noting that the problem came to head after hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. “The National Flood Insurance Program got into a lot of trouble, $24-plus billion in debt. Then the Biggert-Waters bill passed, and they didn’t take into account the affordability study and the remapping, and they ended up with some really dramatic rate increases, so fixing the flood maps and getting that right long-term is very important.”
Murphy is also opposed to All Aboard Florida, which he wants to stop at the federal level.
“One specific concern we have, on top of the safety and the noise, is the fiscal side of it,” he said. “This is taxpayer money that they are asking for to fund this. We have some real problems with this, and we don’t trust the intentions of the company.”
Murphy said that all the water issues in Florida are interconnected and need broad oversight. He said he has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to improve their drainage and forecasting for catastrophic storms.
“All of these investments in cleaning up our water and fixing it is really fixing the problems that the Army Corps created 80 to 100 years ago,” he said. “It’s not going to happen overnight, but we’ve got to start somewhere.”
He said the race against Domino will focus on what Murphy has accomplished during his first term.
“I’m sure you’ve seen some of the commercials,” he said. “We’re trying to keep it positive and get away from that negativity that people are so tired of.”
That’s why he is focusing solely on his accomplishments.
“Whether it’s a letter I wrote to delay the flood maps, or whether it’s a bill I introduced recently with Congressman Dennis Ross of North Florida to allow the private sector to enter the market more, or reduce some of the regulations at the federal level that restrict private-sector involvement, to stop All Aboard Florida or reduce the debt, talking about those issues, I think, resonates more than just trying to point a finger at somebody else,” Murphy said. “It appears that’s what my opponent wants to do to us, but we’re just going to keep our head down and keep working hard, and hopefully the voters will recognize that.”
ABOVE: Incumbent Patrick Murphy and challenger Carl Domino.
