First-time Democratic candidate and family law attorney Marsha Summersill, 52, of Altamonte Springs, is running to unseat Republican State Rep. Doug Bankson of Apopka in House District 39 in the Nov. 5 election. The district includes Apopka and Winter Garden and parts of Seminole County. House members serve two-year terms and earn $29,697 annually.

Early voting will take place Oct. 21- Nov. 3, daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 7. Mail-in ballots must be requested by Oct. 24 and received by the Supervisor of Elections office by 7 p.m., Nov. 5 at 119 Kaley Street in Orlando.

Summersill was driven to enter the race after her brother, Ramon Jaime Perez III, died in 2023 from wernicke encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disorder caused by a thiamine deficiency, and wet and dry beriberi, which affects the cardiovascular and nervous systems. When his private health insurance lapsed, he went on Medicaid, but couldn’t get the treatment and care that his complex medical condition needed.

“Unfortunately while on Medicaid, he had an extreme lapse and a decline in care,” Summersill told VoxPopuli. “That was the big catalyst for me to actually do something in order to hopefully help others who are in situations where loved ones need intensive or long-term care, and they lose their private insurance or don’t have it, so that the proper coverage is provided.”

After her brother’s death, Summersill began advocating publicly for the expansion of Medicaid and price transparency for common procedures and treatments from healthcare providers and insurers. Access to quality healthcare is an important plank in her campaign platform, which also includes protecting women’s reproductive healthcare rights and finding solutions to the property insurance crisis. She said it’s important for the state government to ensure that it has sufficient funding to cover medical needs for those on Medicaid.

A strong advocate

Born and raised in Apopka, Summersill spent 18 years working with survivors of child abuse. She’s also a survivor of what she’s described as “severe physical abuse.” When her grandmother, Edna Summersill, discovered that she and her sister Stephanie were being abused, Edna quickly intervened and adopted the girls, raising them with her own six children. However, Stephanie didn’t survive. She shot herself in 1988 when she was just 19 and Summersill was 16. Stephanie’s suicide sparked a desire in her younger sister to protect and help children in similar circumstances, she said.

Summersill has worked as an investigator and a forensic interviewer for the Department of Children and Families (DCF); the community-based Child Protection Team that works with DCF and sheriff’s offices in Orange and Osceola counties to evaluate child-abuse allegations; and Children’s Legal Services for both those counties. She’s a family law attorney in private practice at The Orlando Law Group where she is a certified mediator for county, circuit and family courts and a guardian ad litem, a person appointed by the court to look after the best interests of a child.

“If I can do something to help kids understand that they can still prosper, they can be successful, they can still have lives and not be stuck in a cycle where they continue those types of behaviors, then I would take advantage of the positions that I had and really encourage kids to do well,” Summersill said.

Lessons from grandma

Summersill has canvassed the district because she said she’s interested in listening to concerns from everyone — Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters. She said constituents talked about affordability, particularly the costs for rent and insurance, worries about inflation (which is just starting to ease) and reproductive rights.

She supports women’s reproductive health decisions and bodily autonomy, something she learned from Edna, who was widowed in the 1960s and became a fierce fighter for women’s rights and independence as a result.

“Learning from her as a very strong, independent woman who was way before her time, and learning how important it is for women to have autonomy is one of the influencing factors for me,” Summersill said.

She added that legislators should not impose their personal beliefs on constituents but should protect the welfare of all citizens in the state.

“They’re developing laws that are so invasive into the most intimate part of a woman's life,” Summersill said. “It’s absolutely inappropriate.”

In 2022, the state enacted a law banning abortion after 15 weeks. Last year, the Republican-dominated legislature further restricted abortion after six weeks, which also blocked physicians from prescribing abortion pills via telehealth. That 6-week law was on hold while the Florida Supreme Court debated and then upheld the constitutionality of the 15-week ban. The 6-week ban went into effect May 1.

Summersill recalls working as a forensic interviewer in the 2000s on a case involving a 13-year-old girl who had been raped and impregnated by her stepfather. The girl got an abortion through a private nonprofit that assists child sexual battery survivors.

“Knowing that that child would not have received proper medical care because of the law that was passed in our state absolutely appalled me,” Summersill said. “There’s so many nuances when it comes to women and reproduction and sex. There’s no such thing as legislators coming up with an exhaustive exceptions list.”

This November, a ballot measure called Amendment 4, or the Right to Abortion Initiative, is up for a vote. It would amend the Florida Constitution and allow for abortion up to viability, about 24 weeks, without government interference. The amendment would not affect the law requiring minors to receive parental or court approval before receiving an abortion.

A shocking rate hike

Homeowners insurance is another major concern for Summersill, who said she was “shocked” after being personally hit with a premium of $8,800, up from $2,200. Stronger storms, together with a deluge of fraud schemes and lawsuits have combined to drive out insurance carriers and drive up rates. As a result, some homeowners are going without key insurance components like wind coverage, or ditching coverage altogether.

Summersill said she wants to focus on lowering premium rates by bolstering regulations in the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. She wants to tighten the rules that determine when insurers can increase rates and she wants more disclosures from insurers about why increases are needed. “The disclosures we have are insufficient,” she said. “There needs to be more information about why they need these increases.”