Florida Democratic Senate candidate Allen Ellison recently took to Twitter to voice his support for legalizing cannabis. Ellison was responding to a follower who asked him how he felt about legalizing cannabis at the federal level.

“Not only should we legalize cannabis across the country, we should tax the sale of it and pay for higher education,” Ellison wrote.

Ellison is one of the Democrats who is running against Sen. Marco Rubio this year. The race has received a lot of attention, and it appears some
Floridians are hoping a Democrat who supports legalization will defeat Rubio.

Christopher Cano, executive director of Suncoast NORML, told Cannabis News Box that he’s happy to see candidates coming out in support of legalizing cannabis.

“I am glad to see candidates willing to take bold stances on the right side of history when it comes to ending cannabis prohibition,” Cano said.

Cano said that Ellison has a lot of good policy stances, but it doesn’t appear the Democratic Party in Florida is getting behind him. Former
Orlando Police Chief and Congresswoman Val Demings appears to be the candidate the party is most interested in supporting.

“Demings has never been a vocal proponent of legalization, however, her votes in the House when it comes to key legislation to protect legal states
and the MORE Act indicate she is voting the way we want when it comes to reforming cannabis policy in America,” Cano said. “My hope for this Senate race is anyone but Marco Rubio would be progress when it comes to ending prohibition.”

Cannabis probably won’t be one of the central issues in this race, Cano said, but a candidate could use Rubio’s record of opposing legalization against him if they chose to. Most Florida residents support legalizing cannabis. Cano said it’s going to be difficult for a Democrat to defeat Rubio.

“Money in politics continues to be a problem in this election and many others. Young progressive candidates like Allen Ellison will remain hobbled
by the weight of the Democratic establishment tipping the scales towards Val Demings, and Democrats will remain handicapped by the vast Republican war chest that an incumbent Senator in a swing state like Florida will have to run,” Cano said. “This race will be determined by the overall turnout which in off year elections have favored Republicans unless there is a popular ballot initiative like we had with medical marijuana in 2014 and 2016.”