With all due respect to the seven-term sitting Congresswoman from Palm Beach County, it’s time for a change.
Across the country, congressional Democrats are losing support — from Democrats. When we are on the verge of winning back the House, it is an ominous sign that our own constituents are turning their backs on us.
Additionally, Palm Beach County, which includes the 22nd Congressional District, is now dangerously close to the red after being a safely Democratic county for decades. Just 10 years ago in December, Democrats held a 35% voter registration advantage; that number had dropped to 4.9% last December. That’s before Gov. DeSantis’s upcoming mid-decade redistricting effort, which begins in April, carves up the state to favor Republicans.
To keep this district blue, we need an inspiring candidate. He’s willing to confront the affordability crisis and stand up to the Trump administration. Rep. Louis Frankel is not that candidate. She represents the status quo that has been failing us for years.
What is the current situation? Democrats are heavily dependent on big donors and corporate-aligned strategists, making them unlikely to challenge long-standing institutions. Democrats are only open to incremental reforms but are unwilling to disrupt powerful interests by enacting Medicare for All, a wealth tax, Supreme Court expansion and judicial term limits, or aggressive climate measures. Democrats are focused on restoring what was in the past rather than focusing on today’s political realities and changing what is possible.
Louis Frankl was all of the above.
First and foremost, she has been severely compromised by corporate, lobbyist, and billionaire money. In 2024, 94% of her campaign contributions came from large individual donors and PACs. Over the years, her donors have included billionaires; real estate developers; financial firms, including Blacktone Group, the parent company of the largest private equity home owner in the United States; pro-Israel lobbying groups; trial lawyers; Big Sugar; Southern Glazer Co., the largest alcohol distributor in the United States, is currently being sued by the Federal Trade Commission for unlawful price discrimination that harmed small businesses, competition and consumers.
Furthermore, Frankl was a gradualist. For example, she doesn’t support Medicare for All. She supports expanding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) even though it is no longer affordable. Our for-profit, greed-fueled health care system is broken. It’s time for single-payer.
Finally, and perhaps the most damning of our times, Frankel’s hopefulness about the good old days is laughable to those of us who have watched Trump trample on every cherished norm and institution. At an event following the murder of Charlie Kirk, she was asked about political violence and gun violence. Her rote response? “Use words, not guns.” No, Louis. Rather than being nostalgic, we need to take gun regulations seriously and keep guns safe and out of reach of dangerous people.
victoria doyle
Change is in the air. The midterm elections will be a reckoning. Americans are fed up with Congress. Democrats are tired of lackluster congressional leadership, a seniority system that encourages senior members to serve too long, irresponsible campaign-finance misuse, and a majority of Americans being left behind by big donors. Lois Frankel represented more of the same. If she becomes our nominee again in 2026, for the eighth time, in a district with new lines, I worry that a MAGA Republican might win the district.
Victoria Doyle is a Lake Worth Beach attorney running for the Democratic nomination for Florida’s 22nd Congressional District.
This article originally appeared in The Palm Beach Post: Democrat Victoria Doyle hopes to succeed Rep. Lois Frankel | Opinion
