What is your why? What moves you to get up, get out, and take action?
Here’s mine: public education, healthcare access, feeding families, being a good husband, and raising our sons to be good men. Part of raising good men is showing them that you show up.
I spent 25 years in publishing, often following the numbers. Here are some big ones:
Gas. The day the U.S. and Israel struck Iran in February, regular cost $2.98 a gallon. AAA data shows gas hit $4.29 nationally this week, and ABC News counted a record 158 days above $4. Florida drivers pay 40 percent more than a year ago.
Groceries. The Yale Budget Lab estimates tariffs cost households about $1,100 a year. Congress can check those tariffs. The Republican majority hasn’t.
Health care. The House passed the 2025 Medicaid cuts by 218 to 214, and the CBO projects 10 million more uninsured by 2034. The same law cut SNAP benefits for families. Then Congress let ACA subsidies expire, and 440,000 Floridians dropped their coverage after premiums jumped 58 percent. Congress also decides school funding and whether abortion rights get federal protection. Florida’s six-week ban still stands.
The midterm gap
Turnout hit 66.6 percent in 2020 and 63.9 percent in 2024. Midterms fall off a cliff. Pew found just 45 percent turnout in the 2022 House races.
Small numbers decide big things. Inside Elections found about 7,309 voters decided House control in 2024. This year Democrats need a net gain of three seats, and Cook rates 17 races as toss-ups.
They redrew the maps first
Texas and North Carolina had already redrawn their maps. Then in April, the Supreme Court’s 6-3 Callais ruling gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Within days, Louisiana eliminated a majority-Black district, Tennessee split Memphis and Alabama followed. DeSantis signed Florida’s new map in May. NPR mapped how Black communities were split across six states, and the Brennan Center explains what Callais changed for all of us. These maps assume you stay home.
Florida’s ballot
Three Florida Republicans voted for the Medicaid cuts:
Anna Paulina Luna, FL-13 (Clearwater, Largo and Pasco)
Laurel Lee, FL-15 (Citrus, Hernando, east Pasco and New Tampa). She faces Army veteran Robert People.
María Elvira Salazar, FL-27 (Miami, Coral Gables and Kendall). She faces Eliott Rodriguez in a race a September poll had at 47 to 46.
The Democrats who might be in your districts:
Bale Dalton, FL-7 (Seminole and southern Volusia). He’s a 24-year Navy aviator and former NASA chief of staff. He faces Ryan Elijah, who beat Cory Mills in the primary.
Leela Gray, FL-13 (Pinellas and Pasco). She’s a retired Army brigadier general with 30 years and three deployments, who earned a law degree to help veterans. A Democratic-aligned poll shows her leading Luna 47 to 46.
Pia Dandiya, FL-22. (My district!) She’s a former teacher and principal born in Palm Beach County. The new FL-22 runs from Wellington and Parkland to Marco Island. Her opponent wants to end Obamacare, and his own poll has him trailing.
Darren Soto, FL-9 (Kissimmee south to Lake Okeechobee). He’s the first person of Puerto Rican descent Florida sent to Congress. Trump won the new district by 18 points.
Kathy Castor, FL-14 (Tampa and southern Hillsborough). She’s a native Floridian fighting for lower electric bills and affordable care. Her race against state Sen. Mike Beltran is a toss-up.
Jared Moskowitz, FL-25 (Boca Raton to Miami Beach). He’s the former state emergency management chief who pushed school safety after the Parkland shooting. He’s running in the new coastal FL-25 against Scott Singer.
How to vote
Florida:
Early voting ends today in much of the state. But Broward, Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Orange stay open Sunday, and you can vote at any site in your county through the weekend.
Mail ballots must reach your Supervisor of Elections by 7 PM Tuesday. Postmarks don’t count, so drop yours off.
On Election Day, polls run 7 AM to 7 PM at your precinct. Bring photo ID.
Everywhere else: Rules vary by state, so check iwillvote.com or vote.gov today.
Now tell me your why
Groceries? Your premium? Your kid’s classroom? A war we keep paying for? Tell me in the comments. Then bring a neighbor and go vote.
Slade Wentworth | The Dad Briefs covers the civic, political, and quietly human stories that shape family life in America, with recipes along the way.
Thanks always for your good words. My big picture why was said well by Wendell Berry: "Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy." My gratitude for that blessed privilege connects me to all of creation. I am organically obliged to be dependent on the well-being of all. We flourish together, or not at all, in the truest measure of things.
I have often observed that when one has a strong enough “why”, the “what” often follows naturally.