Later this week, the Orlando Sentinel will begin publishing its endorsements for candidates in the 2024 primary. There's a lot to cover – this year, there are more than 50 races on the ballot in the primary alone, including congressional, state assembly, county and city races, and we'll be making endorsements in 30 or more of them. We're seeing the kinds of races that rarely appear on the ballot; for example, three of our local congressmen (Dan Webster, Maxwell Frost and Cory Mills) are running against challengers from their own parties. We also have some extremely rare open primaries, such as the contest for Orange-Osceola public defender: Because both candidates are Democrats, the primary race is open to all voters, including Republicans and independents.

Given the variety of races, it is critical for voters to prepare for and participate in the August 20 primary. There is something for every voter on this ballot – including many high-profile races that could be decided in the primaries.

Before we start printing our recommendations, we thought it would be a good idea to inform our readers about how these critical (and often very difficult) decisions are made – and what resources we offer to everyone, whether you agree with us or not. These include videos of candidate interviews as well as questionnaires that give you basic, comprehensive information about each candidate in their own words.

You also have the opportunity to voice your opinion about the races on this year's ballot.

This is how we proceed step by step:

We choose our battles

Even when our editorial staff was double the size, we didn't endorse every race. This year, we're focusing our efforts on candidates who primarily represent residents in Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Lake counties. We'll have to skip some smaller towns, as well as any special district races. But we'll do our best to cover county-level races, as well as judges and state races for the House and Senate, and of course Congress. For now, we're only focusing on races that appear on the primary ballot.

We invite candidates to

In most elections, we invite candidates to meet virtually with members of our editorial board. These meetings are structured as interviews, not debates, and are designed to give viewers the best insight into the candidates' opinions and aspirations. We do our best to make sure each candidate gets an equal amount of time to answer the same questions, and we post the entire videos online for readers. Our interview policy is to interview candidates as a group in each race. This is a scheduling challenge, but we believe it makes it easier for voters to see where the candidates stand.

Some candidates decline an interview invitation. In this case, the editors usually only interview those candidates who agree to speak with us. Declining an interview does not exclude a candidate from our recommendation – but this year it probably won't be as big a factor. Most of the candidates we've reached out to so far, including some who declined in the past, say they will participate.

We dig deeper

Working with the editorial board, the Sentinel's newsroom will deliver campaign coverage that meets its usual high standards. It is important to note that the opinion section operates separately from the newsroom; the Sentinel's reporters and news editors usually learn who the editorial board supports at the same time as our readers. We will share some information – including questionnaires and standard background checks – but the editorial board never seeks to influence coverage. This “separation of church and state” is upheld by most newspapers, and the Sentinel will never compromise.

We make our decisions

That's the hardest part. In our decades of journalism, members of the editorial board have come to understand the amount of hard work, passion, commitment and sacrifice it takes to be a serious candidate for public office. That's something you just can't respect. In many elections, we begin the decision-making process knowing that any of the contenders could be an excellent public servant. The flip side of that is far rarer: a campaign where we can't bring ourselves to support a candidate.

Here's what we consider when making this important decision. First, we evaluate candidates' positions. In each race, we look for the candidate whose values ​​and priorities most closely align with the interests of the constituency they seek to represent. We also consider candidates' experience, including previous public service positions, and the unique perspectives they bring as a result of their profession or community involvement.

Editorial board members — Editor in Chief Julie Anderson, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoint Editor Jay Reddick — discuss each decision. In some cases, other opinion writers may also participate. Each recommendation lists the names of the people who made the decision.

Our most important task

That may sound like a lot of work. And it is, even before we mention the big role played by Barbara Jay, who coordinates and schedules the video interviews and makes sure everything goes according to plan. But it's worth it. We're not doing it because we want to dictate to our readers: We're doing it to take a closer, more comparative look at the political hopefuls, juxtaposing their strengths and weaknesses from our perspective. And we want to make sure readers have access to as much information as possible, coming directly from the candidate.

Florida's Democrats appear unusually well organized in the 2024 elections | Commentary

That's why we conclude each interview with the editorial team by asking our readers not only to use our opinion as a source of information, but also to educate themselves about the candidates and their positions and to choose the one that best fits their own values.

Now it's your turn to speak

We hope readers will consider going one step further. If you have strong opinions about a particular candidate, feel free to share your thoughts in a letter to the editor. In an upcoming issue, we'll publish a campaign letter guide that explains the exact rules. But we plan to give readers' opinions as much space as possible, and we hope you'll consider playing a role — especially in local and state elections, which won't get as much attention as the epic showdown between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

This will be one of the most tightly packed and exciting elections in recent history. Many American voters feel like they are being swept into a whirlwind of unprecedented events beyond their imagination, let alone their control. Yet every election is a chance to remind our politicians who they work for. The Orlando Sentinel will do its best to help our readers exercise the basic freedoms of democracy – with the understanding that the final decision is yours.

The Orlando Sentinel editorial staff includes Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Managing Editor Julie Anderson and Viewpoint Editor Jay Reddick. Contact us at [email protected]