Congressional candidate attacked in Central Florida political ad | Get the Facts
ORLANDO, Fla. —
The candidate spending the most money to win a Central Florida Congressional seat appears to have chosen the biggest target for his political attack ads.
Airing on local television stations is an ad zeroing in on Carey Baker, one of five Republicans seeking the District 11 Congressional seat now held by Republican Dan Webster, who is retiring at the end of this term.
The new ad comes from businessman Joe Strada, who poured $5 million of his own money into his federal campaign account. His ad begins, “Career politician Carey Baker, desperate to stay in office.”
Let’s get the facts.
“Desperate to stay in office?” That’s indisputably false.
Baker isn’t currently in office and hasn’t been since he lost a bid for re-election to the office of Lake County Property Appraiser.
Now, some could fairly argue Baker’s more than two decades in various elected offices qualifies him to be a “career politician,” but he’s also the owner of a Mt. Dora gun shop, so, not strictly a politician.
The ad continues, “Baker is running for Congress in a seat he doesn’t live in.”
That claim is true.
Baker does not live in District 11, which stretches from Sumter and Lake counties in The Villages, east to Apopka in Orange County and down to Walt Disney World, also pushing east to include Universal Studios in Orlando. Baker lives just outside the northeast tip of the district, in Eustis.
But Strada doesn’t live in District 11 either. In fact, he lives farther away from it, in Lake Mary. For the record, members of Congress are required only to live in their state, not the district they represent.
The ad continues, “(Baker) voted for higher taxes and spending.”
That claim is true.
Baker has voted for higher taxes, though rarely. He was a state House member and state senator from 2000 to 2010. In 2009, the Republican-led Legislature was struggling to fill a gaping hole in the budget, with fallen tax revenues from the Great Recession. Baker and most lawmakers filled that hole with two significant tax hikes: on cigarettes and other tobacco products and on motor vehicle registration fees. When the economy recovered, the motor vehicle fees were rolled back in 2014 under then-governor Rick Scott.
Noteworthy for Baker is that he introduced and passed the first sales tax holiday on hurricane and other emergency supplies, which became permanent, year-round, in 2025.
The ad continues, “(Baker) Donated to Anti-Trump politicians.”
Donated to anti-Trump politicians? We’ll call that claim false.
WESH 2 News reviewed Baker’s Florida campaign contributions. We found one donation to a Democrat dating back more than 20 years, a $100 donation to fellow state House member and Baker’s friend, Dwight Stansel, in 2004. But keep in mind, that was a dozen years before Trump was first elected president, or on most people’s radars for that matter.
We also found three contributions totaling $750 to fellow Republican, former state House member, and current Lake County commissioner Anthony Sabatini. Yes, he’s had a recent falling out with the president, but the Baker contributions to Sabatini were in 2018 and 2019, when Sabatini was a Trump supporter.
Three of the five Republicans running for Congressional District 11 joined WESH 2 News in the studio for a debate. Strada was invited, but declined. All three Democrats in the District 11 Congressional debate also joined us for a debate. You can watch both of them by going to WESH.com, clicking on news, and then politics.