In Florida’s redrawn 23rd congressional district, which includes all of Palm Beach County, incumbent Democratic Rep. Lois Frankel faces a political outsider looking to sway primary voters who may want to see a generational change in the Democratic party.
The 78-year-old from West Palm Beach — who has been in elected office since the mid-1980s and in Congress since 2013 — is facing progressive challenger, Victoria Doyle, 60, a retired intellectual property attorney and local activist.
It's a high stakes proxy race: while both candidates align under the Democratic banner, distinct political differences separate their approaches to legislative pragmatism, economic policy, corporate influence, and foreign affairs that often seep into local politics.
Frankel previously planned to run for re-election in Florida's 22nd Congressional District but switched to the 23rd Congressional District after Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican reconfigured the congressional maps statewide.
The non-partisan Cook Political Report rates the 23rd district as more favorable to a Democratic candidate than a Republican. Frankel's former 22 District seat now leans more toward a Republican candidate.
Healthcare and economy
Frankel, who was first elected to Congress in 2012, centers her re-election bid on national spending toward education and healthcare.
While she remains a founding member of the Medicare for All caucus, Frankel emphasizes what she deems as a more pragmatic approach to providing better access to healthcare, arguing that every individual deserves a "dignified life" with access to medical care.
"I have to live not only in the future, but in the here and now," Frankel tells WLRN. "The here and now is whatever we can carve together to get access that we can get bipartisan support."
While Frankel says she’s open to supporting single-payer universal healthcare coverage, she wants to halt rising premiums by pushing to restore Affordable Care Act tax credits that expired last year.
Frankel highlights key legislative wins from the Inflation Reduction Act, such as capping insulin at $35 a month and prescription out-of-pocket costs at $2,000.
"I believe that everybody should have access to healthcare. Everybody. And I am open to any, really, reasonable way to get there," she added.
In contrast, Doyle's platform demands a $25 minimum wage and single-payer universal health coverage that replaces private insurance industries with one public agency that pays all medical bills using tax funds.
"People dealing with cancer or surgery or other catastrophic chronic illness should not have to spend 80% of their day fighting with their insurance company to get the care they need," Doyle told WLRN.
Registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by almost 41,000 votes in the district. There were nearly 126,000 No Party Affiliation voters, who represented the third-largest group of voters behind Democrats and Republicans.
Technology and Infrastructure
The candidates approach technological infrastructure challenges differently. Earlier this year, Frankel secured just over a $1million for a new AI cybersecurity center at Palm Beach State College, yet she remains wary of the physical infrastructure required to support such innovation.
She told WLRN she supports the county's decision to reject Project Tango, a proposed AI data center, citing concerns over its heavy environmental demands for water and electricity,
"No community should be forced to have a data center if it's going to have a serious impact on its environmental footprint."
Doyle, who often appears in person, protesting alongside residents and advocates at both local and county commission meetings over issues involving data centers, approaches the tech boom from a regulatory standpoint, she told WLRN, advocating for comprehensive federal AI data center regulations.
Immigration, foreign policy
Immigration and legislative votes have sparked clashes between the two camps. Frankel, a vocal critic of ICE operations whom she calls "inhumane" and harmful to the South Florida economy, faced criticism from progressives for voting for House Resolution 488, which praised ICE.
Last June, she was among 75 Democrats who crossed the line to vote for House Resolution 488, expressing 'gratitude' to ICE. The primary purpose of the Republican-led resolution was to condemn a horrific antisemitic terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, but 113 Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, saw the ICE language as a "poison pill" in the text.
Doyle criticized Frankel’s support for the resolution, noting that while she supports comprehensive immigration reform, "beyond the border we absolutely must continue to accept refugees."
Frankel defended her vote as a necessary response to the "poison pill" attached to the resolution condemning an anti-Semitic attack, citing her duty to her large Jewish constituency.
"I cannot vote no against a resolution that condemned a violent act... where Jews were peacefully... parading to bring hostages home and they were firebombed," Frankel told WLRN.
On foreign policy regarding the Middle East, Frankel is a staunch supporter of the state of Israel, having fought for "assistance to Israel and innocent civilians in Gaza," according to her campaign site.
Addressing the local rise in anti-Semitism, Frankel stresses the importance of distinguishing between the geopolitical actions of the Israeli government and the safety of the local community, emphasizing that "Jewish people are not responsible for the actions of Netanyahu."
She said she wants to shift national budget priorities away from "endless wars" to help fund her economic and healthcare objectives.
Campaign Finance, political independence
Doyle is hoping to buck the trend in a primary race that represents a proxy battle between the establishment and the progressive wing of the Democratic party in South Florida.
Doyle, who has raised nearly $400,000 from private individual donors to Frankel's $2 million, is making her independence from corporate donors the centerpiece of her campaign — she took aim at Frankel for accepting corporate and PAC contributions.
"I arrive with a relative independence and freedom that career politicians just don't have. I get to vote anyway I want being beholden to no one," Doyle told WLRN.
