State Representative Dana Young (R-Tampa) ostensibly skipped a Tampa Tiger Bay club forum to attend the funeral of Louisa Lykes Ferguson, a matriarch of one of Tampa's most influential families, and the subsequent reception.

But Democrat Bob Buesing, probably her most formidable challenger in the race for the newly drawn state Senate seat to which she aspires, said Young stayed away from the forum because she doesn't want to answer questions on her voting record.

"She will lose to me if she debates me," Buesing said at the start of the debate, because her views aren't in step with voters of a district that was not drawn to favor Republicans.

So, rather than have to explain why she says she doesn't support fracking (even though she voted to open the state up to the controversial practice) or did support a 24-hour wait period for women seeking an abortion — neither of which is likely to go over well in Senate District 18, a swing district — her campaign and an associated PAC would rather launch a multi-million-dollar attack ad blitz against her opponents, Buesing said.

The audience even chimed in. Former Florida CFO Alex Sink, an outspoken Democrat, said she too had attended Lykes Ferguson's funeral, and would be attending the reception as well, but was was able to squeeze in the forum between the two events.

'You all have been talking to voters in this district," Sink said. "How are you communicating with them about another candidate because she feels entitled that she doesn't have to show up and because she has the most money, she thinks she is going to win?"

(Young has agreed to participate in a Nov. 2 forum hosted by the University of Tampa Student Government, a spokesman for her campaign noted.)

For the most part, Buesing was in agreement with the other two candidates onstage, independents Joe Redner — known for political outspokenness and adult-oriented businesses — and Sheldon Upthegrove, a U.S. Air Force intelligence official based at MacDill.

Upthegrove disagreed with the two others on gun control. While he agreed with them about open carry having no benefits, he compared the gun death rate in Chicago — which is in a state with stronger restrictions on guns — to that of cities in Texas, a state with very few gun control laws.

Redner took issue with that comparison.

"That's just because [Chicagoans] can go across the border to Indiana," he said, a state with much looser gun laws than Illinois, where they can easily obtain guns.

Buesing went after Young's high rating from the NRA.

"She hasn't found a single NRA [bill] that she hasn't found a little extreme," he said.

The candidates were also relatively in sync about the Public Transportation Commission, which has tried to impose stringent rules on Uber and Lyft, but has been found to have a cozy relationship with the taxi companies that face competition from ride-shares.

Young has been out in front on the issue, and has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the PTC.

Buesing said he supports abolishing the agency if it means Uber and Lyft can operate like they do on the other side of the bay. Redner and Upthegrove each said they'd be willing to consider it.

The issue that seemed to take up the most time was the environment.

Young has positioned herself as pro-environment, citing past experience as an environmental lawyer.

Buesing sought to poke holes in that notion, pointing to her past support of a pro-fracking bill (which we dissect here).

Redner, who launched his campaign over the summer, said he'd push for an overhaul of the state's environmental protection policies.

"I will write and introduce the most ambitious environmental [bill] the State of Florida has ever seen," he said.

Noting the influence of Big Sugar on Florida lawmakers (including Young, whose campaign and PACs have accepted tens and thousands from the industry), Redner made a bold proposal: Get rid of Big Sugar entirely; let Cuba grow it.

After all, the stuff doesn't grow easily here — it requires extensive fertilization, which has since caused dangerous algae blooms in the state's waterways.

Buesing most certainly got a boost from President Obama's endorsement earlier in the day. The president's office announced it was supporting Democrats in several legislative races in Florida — a key swing state — including Tampa area House District 63 contender Lisa Montelione and Ben Diamond, who is running for Florida's District 68 seat, which covers the eastern half of St. Petersburg and a few surrounding suburbs.

UPDATE: after the event, we reached out to Young's campaign to address a couple of key points made during the forum. Here are some of her responses, sent to us via spokesman Chris Spencer:

On the Lake Okeechobee releases: 

"Representative Young is a strong proponent of addressing the serious water storage issues that have resulted in massive freshwater releases by the Army Corps of Engineers from Lake Okeechobee. She believes the legislature should absolutely consider incoming Senate President Negron’s proposal to purchase land south of the lake, in addition to completing the full list of CERP projects and increasing the use of other water storage alternatives, such as disbursed water storage. Representative Young believes that science, not politics, should be the basis for legislative action on water storage releases from the lake." 

On the Second Amendment:

"Representative Young is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, and is not afraid to admit that position. Mr. Buesing may be surprised to find out that many voters in this district share the position of Representative Young on this issue."

On missing the forum:

"Louise Lykes Ferguson, who passed away at 104 years of age, was a great woman, and a true leader in this community. She was also Representative Young’s constituent, along with many members of her family. While Ms. Sink obviously felt it was okay to shorten her appearance at the funeral service, Representative Young takes a more somber view of the occasion and felt it was important to pay her respects to a great woman, rather than attending the Tiger Bay lunch."

This article appears in Oct 20-27, 2016.