With weeks to go until the General Election, the region’s most competitive state House race continues to heat up. State Rep. Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota, hopes leadership in her first term impresses voters enough to deliver her a second term representing Florida House District 73. But Democrat Derek Reich hopes anger at Florida’s new abortion restrictions will leave voters wanting change.

McFarland for her part has stressed her commitment to the Sarasota community. An ad that started airing on TV last week covers her biography as a Navy veteran, as well as work she did in her first term in the House where she secured $362.7 million for affordable housing and $200 million for environmental protection. It also shows her raising her two children in her Sarasota home.

The incumbent said the work on behalf of all Sarasota citizens will hopefully be rewarded with a second term.

“I’m proud of what my team and I have accomplished for the district in my first term, and am focused on the work that lies ahead for working families, the property insurance market, and our hurricane recovery efforts,” she said. “There is more that unites us than divides us and I have to hope we all want elected officials who believe that.”

Reich, for his part, focused on rights the Legislature took away this year. In particular, he has focused much of his messaging in the final stretch of the campaign on a new restriction on abortions 15 weeks into pregnancy, a law that offers no exceptions for rape or incest.

“This race is about if you believe a rape victim should have access to abortion services,” he said. “My opponent voted for a ban even in cases of rape or incest. If you believe a woman should have control of her body, vote for Derek Reich. If you believe a government bureaucrat should decide, you should vote for Fiona McFarland. I’m proudly pro-freedom.”

He’s drilling that message in on all of his political signage, and in a set of mailers highlighting the incumbent’s vote in support of the abortion restriction. He’s also sharing his own story, as a teacher angered by House Republican proposing cuts to the school district budget over a mask mandate and deciding to run for office. He has shared the story and stressed his view on protecting access to abortion with hundreds of voters, knocking on up to 200 doors a day after school each day and more on weekends.

For her part, McFarland has stressed her own support for a final budget that spent $4 million more this year on teacher salaries. That notably was signed into law while no proposal for stripping the district of money made it out of the Legislature.

To get her message out, McFarland’s re-election campaign has spent $108,395 through Oct. 7, out of $253,390 she raised to that date. She also has $141,142 cash on hand left in a political committee, Friends of Sarasota.

Reich comparatively has raised $58,885 and spent $37,648 of that in his campaign account. A political committee supporting his efforts also launched, the Freedom First Fund, but that has raised just $1,000 through Oct. 14.