PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — A newly redrawn congressional district stretching across South Florida is setting up a battle between two candidates with sharply different ideas about how to make life more affordable for Floridians.
Republican Casey Askar and Democrat Pia Dandiya are competing to represent District 22, which now connects coastal and inland communities across four counties.
WATCH FULL REPORT BELOW: Askar, Dandiya clash over affordability
WPTV reached out to both candidates about some of the biggest issues facing Florida voters, including affordability, insurance and health care.
Dandiya agreed to an interview. Askar did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
However, Askar's campaign website and political advertisements outline his positions on many of those issues — and make clear that affordability is at the center of his campaign.
"We're paying too much. For pretty much everything," Askar says in one campaign ad.
The Republican has pledged to cut fuel and property taxes, increase the child tax credit and reduce government regulations he argues are contributing to higher costs.
Dandiya is also making affordability a central theme of her campaign.
"People are no longer suffering in silence; they are suffering out loud," Dandiya told investigative reporter Kate Hussey.
Two very different approaches to healthcare
The candidates diverge significantly on how they would address healthcare costs.
Dandiya, a former teacher and principal, supports allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and restoring Affordable Care Act subsidies as ways to lower costs.
"Those are real, actionable ways that we can help people make ends meet," Dandiya said.
Askar is taking a different approach.
On his campaign website, Askar pledges to "end Obamacare once and for all" and replace it. He also says he would target government waste and fraud while working to protect Medicare and Medicaid.
Social Security becomes another dividing line
Both candidates say they want to protect Social Security, but their approaches differ.
Dandiya told WPTV she believes raising the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes could be one strategy for ensuring the program has enough money to pay promised benefits.
"People have been spending years saving into that Social Security, expecting to have a retirement in dignity," Dandiya said. "In my view, there is no world in which we can walk back on that promise."
She added that "raising the cap on tax in a smart way could be one of those many strategies."
Askar's campaign has attacked that proposal, claiming in a political advertisement that Dandiya "supports higher taxes on Social Security."
Dandiya's proposal, however, is specifically to raise the income cap subject to Social Security taxes, rather than increase taxes on Social Security benefits.
Askar instead pledges on his website to work with congressional leadership to slash what he calls "overburdening taxes and regulations" that he argues are contributing to the affordability crisis.
One issue where they agree
Despite their political differences, the candidates have found common ground on at least one issue: members of Congress trading stocks.
Both Askar and Dandiya support banning members of Congress from trading individual stocks, with both campaigns framing the issue as part of a broader effort to combat corruption in Washington.
Dandiya has made that argument prominently in campaign advertising, declaring in one ad that "Congress is getting rich off their office."
"I am a Florida girl, born and raised," Dandiya told WPTV. "I'm a teacher and principal by trade, and I have spent my entire career serving kids and families because I know that we can do so much more for all of us."
Askar has similarly positioned himself as an alternative to Washington's political establishment.
"We need full transparency in Congress. Casey will help deliver that," his website reads.
As voters in the newly redrawn District 22 prepare to choose their next representative, the candidates are offering distinctly different solutions — but making a similar pitch: Florida families are paying too much, and Washington needs to do something about it.