Nate Douglas (second from the right) tailgates at the University of Central Florida on Oct. 26, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Douglas’ campaign)
Nate Douglas, the 23-year-old running for the Florida House, is counting on college students to help him win a tight election to unseat Republican state Rep. Susan Plasencia.
The race in House District 37, which comprises parts of Orange and Seminole counties, is one of the most competitive this cycle, but Douglas believes that if students from the University of Central Florida head to the polls he will be able to turn the district blue again after Plasencia’s 2022 victory.
“We’re on campus all the time, and the responses this time around on campus, students are definitely ready to get out there and vote, but you know, it’s always going to take a lot of pushing because, compared to a lot of college campuses, UCF tends to have a lower voter turnout,” Douglas said in an interview with Florida Phoenix.
“And you know, for me, at this point, this is a competition. We need to get all students in Florida out there to vote, but we especially need to get UCF to vote.”
Between the candidates’ campaign funds and supporting political committees, Douglas has outraised Plasencia by more than $172,000, according to campaign finance records.
Turnout from young voters could tip the race
UCF is the largest Florida university by enrollment with more than 69,000 students. While roughly 12,000 live on campus, even a couple thousand voters could help decide this election, said UCF political science professor Aubrey Jewett in a phone interview with the Phoenix.
In 2022, Plasencia won the then-newly redrawn district by 2,068 votes. The Republican has lived in the UCF area for 25 years, according to her campaign website, and recently became executive director of the Orlando Regional Realtor Foundation. Her brother, Rene “Coach” Plasencia, served in the Florida House from 2014 until 2022.
Ahead of this year’s election, Democrats hold a razor-thin advantage of 729 voters there over the GOP, according to voter registration records.
“Not every UCF student is Democratic, of course, but there is a disproportionate number of younger voters who tend to be Democratic, and for Douglas, if he is going to win this race, he’s got to have at least solid turnout,” Jewett said. “And if he wants to have his best chance, he needs to have great turnout from the UCF area, and particularly among students who would sort of be a natural constituency for him because he is so young.”
Douglas’ upbringing and political experience
Aside from being young, Douglas says his platform to protect reproductive rights, invest in public education, and lower housing costs would appeal to older voters in the district. His upbringing as the son of a public school teacher in a family that faced financial hardship during The Great Recession shaped his view on education and housing.
He criticizes Plasencia for her vote in support of the state’s six-week ban on abortion and the bill she co-sponsored in 2023 giving state funds for families, regardless of income, to send their kids to private schools.
Plasencia has told other news outlets that her views on abortion don’t matter because voters will get to decide if they want to enshrine access to the procedure in this year’s election. However, lawmakers would need to implement Amendment 4 and could narrow the measure’s reach as they did after 2018, when voters approved the amendment restoring voting rights for most Floridians with felony convictions.
When it comes to age, the largest demographic of voters, approximately 23%, in HD37 are 20 to 29 years old, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
“Republicans love to say that my youth is inexperience, but it just shows that they don’t understand their district very well and they don’t understand who they’re running to represent,” Douglas said. “Because young people do deserve a seat at the table, and there are many folks like me who are experienced enough to represent us.”
Douglas has successfully run for office before. He won his bid for Orange County’s Soil and Water Conservation District when he was 19. However, he was ousted after lawmakers approved a bill in 2022 shortening terms for the districts from four to two years. That bill also required candidates to be actively involved in agriculture or have retired from the industry.
What are college students thinking?
UCF Dems president Laurel Richmond said it was exciting to see a young candidate on the ballot. The campus group has hosted events with Douglas, state Sen.-elect Carlos Guillermo Smith, and state Rep. Anna Eskamani to discuss what’s at stake in this election. Douglas participates in tailgates to promote his campaign and to support U.S. Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, the first Gen Z member of Congress.
“I think it’s going to be crucial to flipping this seat,” the third-year student said. “The boundaries changed a lot to include a lot of Seminole County, and we saw what happened when they showed up and UCF students didn’t, and that was the seat changing to red. So, I think when students show up and voice their concerns we’ll see a change in leadership that will represent more of our values.”
Although UCF also has a Republican group working to get out the vote, Plasencia hasn’t engaged with the students, UCF GOP president Mary Connolly wrote to the Phoenix.
“I have been in contact with some people from her campaign. We haven’t really done much, but we do openly support her, and we just put up a bunch of signs for her near the Live Oak polling center last week,” she wrote.
Plasencia’s campaign manager, Victor Martinez, did not respond to the Phoenix’s requests for an interview with the candidate. According to her website, her priorities include lowering the cost of property insurance; expanding technical education and reforming vocational licensing; protecting parental rights in education and expanding school choice; placing police officers in every school; and protecting Seminole County’s rural boundary.