This will be the year for Jeffrey “Doc” Solomon, a Pinecrest chiropractor who’s run for state House three times in District 115 and is finally on track to a win.
The evidence is not just in the internal poll that has him 
practically tied with the better-financed Republican transfer Vance Aloupis in the race to replace termed out State Rep. Michael Bileca. Or the fact that Hillary Clinton won this district by 10 points two years ago. It’s also in the barrage of negative mailers that have called Solomon a lobbyist and a tax dodger saying he “isn’t trustworthy.”
Like in the state races in Hialeah, these negative attacks — really huge reaches in the dark — stink of last minute desperation. Ironically, or as expected, the attacks are what’s not very trustworthy.
He never registered as a lobbyist because he was not paid to lobby. Solomon, a chiropractor who has worked on TV sets, served as president of the Florida Chiropractic Association and advocated in Tallahassee on the organization’s behalf. He was an industry advocate in his role as the group’s spokesperson.
And after his business manager was found guilty embezzling $180,000 from his mobile practice, Solomon found that his business had failed to pay taxes from 2002 to 2004 and he immediately corrected it.
He did the same thing with the campaign documents that the Republican Party says he withheld. He was a first time candidate then, his own treasurer, and 
submitted the paperwork as soon as he learned it was missing. That is why he was never fined for the unintentional violation.
These details don’t matter to Aloupis, a time-groomed GOP poster boy who engaged in the same type of scare tactics against Jose Fernandez in the four-way primary but has since run from his Republican roots in an attempt to get the make-or-break NPAs in this race.
Read related: Vance Aloupis fails to mention GOP as required, courting NPAs in the general
Independent voters had a significant impact on the poll, done by the Solomon-connected Kitchens Group. While voters are pretty much split 45-45 on whether they want to keep the seat red or turn it blue more NPAs are siding with Solomon, 46-30 percent.
That might be because part of his platform is having Florida become an open primary state. He is the only candidate who openly talks about it on a regular basis and it makes this old NPA at heart feel warm and fuzzy inside. Certainly it is making many NPAs feel like they could have a friend in Tallahasee with Solomon.
When the choice was head to head between the two candidates, Solomon came out on top with 47% to 42% for Aloupis, with 11% undecided. The numbers are pretty close and well within the 5.5% margin of error, but represent a victory already for Solomon, who has been outspent by more than 5 to 1.
Aloupis raised $415,500 and spent $357,163 through October 12, according to campaign finance reports. Meanwhile, Solomon spent $65,434 of $87,757 raised.
“I’m running like I’m behind,” said Solomon, who lost to Bileca twice — first in 2012 and then again two years ago, losing 54-46. That gives him more name recognition: Only 37 percent of the voters polled said they didn’t know who Solomon was, while almost half of them don’t know Aloupis.
That could also be because Aloupis — an attorney and the $175,000-a-year CEO of The Children’s Movement of Florida — just moved to the area from Aventura, specifically to run in a seat he and the GOP believed he could more easily win.
The poll also showed a five-point lead in the district for gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum — and unfavorable numbers for Donald Trump.
Maybe Aloupis ought to stay away from the Trump-like attacks on his opponents.
NPAs key in HD115 close call with Doc Solomon vs Vance Aloupis added by Ladra on
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