Money Pours in as Attack Ads Fly in Florida's 26th District
*By Justin Chermol*
For Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Second-Amendment politics are deeply personal.
Mucarsel-Powell, an Ecuadorian-born U.S. citizen, is facing the two-term Republican incumbent, Congressman Carlos Curbelo, in Florida's 26th District. She lost her father to gun violence when she was just 24.
"I'm going to take action on day one and will not stop until we find solutions to protect our kids in this community," she told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin.
Just eight months ago, Florida ー and the country ー was rattled by a devastating high-school shooting that claimed 17 lives and spurred a wave of protests and a national conversation on gun reform.
As Election Day looms, many political spectators have fixed their gaze on Mucarsel-Powell's district, among the most contentious midterm races in the country. Florida's 26th district was among the few Republican-controlled districts won by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race.
The most recent [poll](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/upshot/elections-poll-fl26-3.html) from The New York Times has Mucarsel-Powell up 1 percent over the Congressman, with a margin of sampling error of 4.9 percent.
Mucarsel-Powell is calling for a four-pronged approach to reducing gun violence: banning military-style weapons, preventing gun show loopholes, requiring universal background checks, and prohibiting those with a history of domestic violence, mental illness, or terrorism, from purchasing a gun.
In a separate interview on Cheddar, Rep. Curbelo said of his efforts on gun reform: "I have a record of working across the aisle to get things done." That includes breaking with some Republicans to support a bill that would allow the federal government to research gun violence.
As for the race ー just six days away ー attack ads have stirred the local drama.
A super PAC backing Rep. Curbelo released a provocative ad featuring a man holding a gun on screen, the kind of message Mucarsel-Powell said is an intimidation tactic.
"The attacks against me have been really shameful," she said. "I think that it's time for Congressman Curbelo to really think about what he's doing to instigate and incite this type of behavior in this community."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-race-for-floridas-26th-congressional-district).
Matt Hayden, vice president of govtech solutions at Exiger and a former assistant secretary of cyber at Department of Homeland Security, joined Cheddar to discuss the surprise phone call initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin to President Joe Biden, ahead of January security talks about the rising tensions over Ukraine. "We're hoping to hear that we're able to talk about the aggression and the leadup of the Ukrainian militarization," Hayden said. "But we're also looking to hear is how the Kremlin leveraged their talking points to try to test their negotiation stance with the United States leading into this January 10th meeting."
The No Surprises Act begins implementation on January 1, 2022. The legislation is meant to curb the practice of unexpected billing for care from providers the patient was unaware were out-of-network from their insurance. Patricia Kelmar, director of health care campaigns for U.S. PIRG joined Cheddar to describe the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars charged to unsuspecting patients and how things will change under the new law. "If we are picking an in-network doctor and an in-network hospital, we should not see those added costs from anesthesiologists, radiologists, scrub-in surgeons," she said. "The other area it protects you is in air ambulances — not ground ambulances, unfortunately — but the helicopters or the airplanes you might need to transport you in an emergency situation."
President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladmir Putin are expected to have another conversation surrounding escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Ariel Cohen, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, joined Cheddar's Ken Buffa to discuss the ongoing tensions and why Putin's request for a conversation with Biden comes now. "This is very serious. This is the worst security crisis we had since the collapse of the Soviet Union," Cohen told Cheddar.
Stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, but two indexes - the Dow and the S&P 500 - ended the session with a new record. Akshata Bailkeri, Equity Analyst at Bruderman Asset Management, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she says there is a consensus for robust consumer spreading in 2022, especially as the Omicron variant is proving to be milder than other COVID-19 strains.
John Quelch, Dean of Miami Herbert Business School, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says the retail giant is acting in accordance to President Biden's new law banning goods from China's Xinjiang region. Quelch also elaborates on the importance of China in Walmart's overall strategy.
