Pensacola State Rep. Mike Hill is getting some company in the 2020 Republican primary, as Michelle Salzman begins her campaign for the House District-1 seat.
Salzman has worn a number of hats – human relations, consultant, marketing, and co-owning a photography studio. She also wore a helmet while serving in the Army in Kosovo. Add to that community volunteer. Up to now Salzman’s political claim to fame has been helping lead the charge for switching from an elected Escambia County school superintendent to an appointed one, beginning in 2020.
“I felt like it was more important to have an appointed superintendent, so that political dollars weren’t swaying at the possibility of shifting the paradigm in our school district,” Salzman said. “Every community has a unique challenge, but we have a lot of unique challenges in our education system.”
As for running against the incumbent in the GOP primary, Salzman points to a number of her life’s events and challenges – which she says created what she calls “a vision of something she’s supposed to do in order to give back.”
“The Grace of God is a big thing, and I’m doing the things I’m doing in the community,” said Salzman. “I’ve been a community advocate and volunteer for many years, and I really love it; I’ll continue to do that. I current sit on, I think, ten boards and I have no intention of leaving those positions.”
But she didn’t get serious about running for the Florida House until earlier this year, after watching Rep. Mike Hill and trying to gauge the economic impacts on District-1.
“The growth is phenomenal, obviously, it’s a great thing for our community,” Salzman said. “Navy Federal has been a huge blessing; but we’re not having conversations at the state level with all of our legislators on what we can do to really drive that force and make it an effective and efficient transition into the growth and development that we could.”
One of the jobs Salzman had during an especially rough patch in her life about 20 years ago was that of exotic dancer. She’s very forthcoming about that experience, knowing full well that Hill, at some point, likely will make it a campaign issue.
“The whole purpose of putting that story out there, was so that it would be my story and not Mike Hill’s story,” said Salzman. “I am not ashamed of the things that I have done to take care of my children. I learned a lot from all of those experiences and it actually helped me become an even better and stronger advocate.”
After Hill defeated Rebekah Bydlak by three percentage points in the 2018 Republican primary, he cruised to the District-1 seat with a 22 point win over Democrat Vicki Garrett. Salzman — who campaigned for Bydlak — is realistic about challenging him in 2020.
“He’s got a lot of name recognition; six years as a politician, so it’s going to be a strenuous battle for me to get out there and really make a connection with the folks in District-1,” said Salzman. “And that’s really what it’s about.”
Getting down to the issues, a major concern for Salzman is the state of the district’s infrastructure. Step one on that, she says, is getting local leaders and constituents on the same page.
“It’s not just a state conversation; we have local roads and we have the school district, ECUA, Gulf Power,” Salzman says. “There’s a lot of components there. And I think if you just have collective and collaborative conversations, you can make more effective and efficient plans for the future.”
Moving forward in the run up to the primary on August 18, 2020, Michelle Salzman says for now, there are no secrets, and she has yet to hire a campaign strategist. But Salzman adds that she and her team support what they call, “the conversation of change.”
“For me it’s ‘why should we choose you over the incumbent?” said Salzman. “With the polling showing that Mike Hill did have so much support, the Republican Party and the leadership around is like, ‘well, it looks like District-1 really wants that; you have to show us that District-1 really doesn’t support these things.’”
During the interview, Michelle Salzman wore a T-shirt that said “Use Your Power to Empower.”
“I’m just one of those people that really believes in using whatever you can to lift up others,” Salzman said. “Advocate for those that can’t advocate for themselves – most of that being children, [and the] disabled. Its’ just a fun thing that’s is really near and dear to my heart.”
Franscine Mathis is currently the lone candidate in the Democratic primary, according to filings with the Escambia County Supervisor of Elections office.