Rick Roth

FL Senate — District 26

South Palm Beach County — Open seat

Challenger

★★★☆☆

110 / 165 points

Integrity & Legal Record

Professional & Business Transparency

Policy & Platform Consistency

Community Engagement & Character

Campaign Transparency

Issue-Based Positions

Challenger (third-generation Everglades Agricultural Area farmer; President of Roth Farms, Inc.; former FL State Representative, HD-94, 2022–2024, and earlier terms dating to 2016)

Last updated: 2026-08-21

Every candidate is researched identically across six categories using only public records and candidate-submitted information. No candidate is endorsed. Read the full methodology.

Integrity & Legal Record 25 / 25

Criminal History

No criminal charges, arrests, or convictions found. An exact-name search for "Roth, Raymond" returned 22 records under the consistent identity "Raymond Richard Roth" / "Raymond R. Roth Jr." — all traffic infractions spanning 1995–2026 (one still open, filed 7/29/2026), none criminal or adverse.

Sources:

PBC Clerk of Courts eCaseView — exact name search "Roth, Raymond" — 2026-07-30 — 22 results, all traffic infractions under confirmed identity
Nationwide Google/news search: "Rick Roth" Florida Senate arrested OR convicted OR indicted — 2026-07-30 — no adverse matches

Civil Court History

No adverse civil litigation found under his confirmed identity. Two unrelated same-surname records appeared in the raw search — a 1998 business contract dispute ("New Hope South Inc. v. Vinegar Bend Farms Inc.") not naming him individually, and a 1997 probate matter for "Mary Hooker Roth" and a 1986 probate matter for "Raymond R. Roth" (likely his late father, given the "Jr." suffix on the candidate's confirmed name) — neither is adverse nor attributable to the candidate as a party against him. Separately, national reporting (ProPublica) has covered the political/policy irony that Roth supported a 2023 Florida immigration enforcement bill that created labor-supply difficulties for other farms, while his own operation had already transitioned to the H-2A visa program years earlier — this is a policy/political story about legislative consequences, not an allegation of any legal violation, lawsuit, or fine against him or his farm, and is not an integrity-relevant finding for this category.

Sources:

PBC Clerk of Courts eCaseView — same search as above — 2026-07-30
ProPublica — "Rick Roth's Support of Florida's Immigration Bill Had Consequences. But Not for Him." — 2026-07-30 (reviewed for context; no legal violation alleged)

Ethics Violations

No ethics complaints found via news search or the PBC Commission on Ethics complaint archive, across his multiple terms in the Florida House or current campaign.

Sources:

Google/news search: "Rick Roth" Florida Senate ethics complaint campaign finance violation — 2026-07-30 — no relevant results
Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics — https://palmbeachcountyethics.com/complaints.htm — 2026-07-30

Campaign Finance Violations

No Florida Elections Commission violation records found across his prior House campaigns or the current Senate run.

Sources:

Florida Politics campaign coverage (multiple articles on fundraising) — 2026-07-30 — no violations reported
Florida Elections Commission — https://www.fec.state.fl.us/FECWebFi.nsf/pages/Violations — 2026-07-30 (no name-search capability from landing page)

Residency Confirmed

A PBC Property Appraiser (PAPA) owner-name search confirmed an exact, homesteaded match under "Roth Raymond R Jr &" at 15385 Enstrom Rd, Wellington, FL 33414 — consistent with his documented residency in the Loxahatchee/western Palm Beach County farming community (Wellington and Loxahatchee are adjacent, both within the Everglades Agricultural Area region).

Sources:

VoteSmart / campaign biographical sources — 2026-07-30 — describe residency as Loxahatchee
PBC Property Appraiser (PAPA) Advanced Search — https://pbcpao.gov/AdvSearch/AdvanceSearch — owner "Roth Raymond R Jr" — 2026-07-30 — exact match found, homesteaded

No adverse findings under Category 1. Note for future categories: national reporting on the political consequences of his support for a 2023 immigration enforcement bill (relative to his own farm's already-established H-2A visa usage) may be relevant to a future Category 3 (Policy) or Category 6 (Issues) pass, but does not belong in Category 1 as no legal violation is alleged.
Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate per the roster, and the CIVICS Disclosure Survey PDF answers have not yet been extracted/indexed per-candidate in general.

Professional & Business Transparency 20 / 25

Business Ownership

Roth is President of Roth Farms, Inc., a family-owned agricultural business in Belle Glade, FL (Everglades Agricultural Area), founded 1948 and incorporated 1962, producing sugar cane, rice, and fresh vegetables; he is a founding-family member of the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative and was named 2020 Florida Farmer of the Year. `[Sunbiz primary-source confirmation of Roth Farms, Inc. and any related entities NOT COMPLETED — search.sunbiz.org unresponsive this session]`.

Sources:

Roth Farms company website (rothfarms.com) — "About Us" — 2026-08-21
Sunbelt Ag Expo — "Raymond R. 'Rick' Roth Jr. Named 2020 Florida Farmer of the Year" — 2026-08-21
Farm Progress — "A heritage of success: Rick Roth's roots go a lot deeper than muck soils" — 2026-08-21

⚠️ REVIEW FLAG — Sunbiz confirmation not completed; recommend a manual recheck of Roth Farms, Inc. and any related entities (the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative membership and scale of operation suggest additional related entities are plausible).

Financial Conflicts of Interest

As a sitting/former state legislator representing the Everglades Agricultural Area while personally owning a major sugar/vegetable farming operation in that same region, Roth has a direct, structural financial interest in state policy areas he has legislative influence over — water management district policy, Everglades restoration funding, agricultural regulation, and farm labor law. This is a documented pattern already noted in Category 1: national reporting (ProPublica) covered that Roth supported a 2023 Florida immigration enforcement bill that created labor-supply difficulties for other farms, while his own operation had already transitioned to the H-2A visa program — insulating Roth Farms from the labor-supply consequences the bill created for competitors. This is not alleged to be a legal violation, but it is a documented, voter-relevant example of his personal agribusiness interests intersecting with his legislative policy positions.

Sources:

ProPublica — "Rick Roth's Support of Florida's Immigration Bill Had Consequences. But Not for Him." — 2026-08-21 (see also Category 1)
Roth Farms company website — H-2A program usage described — 2026-08-21

⚠️ REVIEW FLAG — Direct structural overlap between his agribusiness ownership and his legislative influence over agricultural/water/labor policy affecting that same industry; the ProPublica-documented H-2A/immigration-bill example is a concrete instance of this dynamic, though not itself a violation.

Bankruptcy History

`[NOT FOUND]`. No personal or business bankruptcy filings located.

Sources:

CourtListener (courtlistener.com) — search "Rick Roth" "Roth Farms" bankruptcy — 2026-08-21 — 0 results

Tax Liens

`[NOT FOUND]`. No federal or state tax lien records located. Per this project's standing methodology, tax liens are inconsistently indexed online, so this absence of results is not presented as a confirmed clean record.

Sources:

CourtListener (courtlistener.com) — search "Rick Roth" "Roth Farms" tax lien — 2026-08-21 — 0 results

Board Memberships

Roth is a founding-family member of the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative (an agricultural trade cooperative, not a government body), consistent with his farm's crop mix. No other outside corporate or nonprofit board membership was identified via web search.

Sources:

Farm Progress; Sunbelt Ag Expo — biographical background — 2026-08-21

⚠️ TOOLING BLOCK: Sunbiz unresponsive this session; recommend a manual recheck of Roth Farms, Inc. and any related entities.
⚠️ REVIEW FLAG: Structural overlap between his agribusiness ownership and legislative influence over agricultural/water/labor policy, with the ProPublica-documented H-2A/immigration-bill example as a concrete instance; not a violation, documented for voter awareness.
Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate per the roster.

Policy & Platform Consistency 9 / 20

Voting Record

Roth served in the Florida House (HD-85, 2016–2022; HD-94, 2022–2024). A specific, documented voting-record inconsistency: Roth supported a bill (approximately 2019) requiring heat-illness protections for student athletes, but by 2023, when the Legislature considered extending similar heat protections to outdoor workers (a category directly encompassing agricultural laborers in his own industry), he opposed the measure — reporting characterizes his position as having "grown shaky." The Legislature's rejection of outdoor-worker heat protections preceded a March 2024 OSHA finding that a Belle Glade company employing H-2A workers had failed to adequately protect workers from heat, resulting in a farmworker's death. This is a distinct, specific finding from (though thematically related to) the Category 1/Category 2 ProPublica story on his immigration-bill support.

Sources:

Yahoo News (syndicated) — "Burned: Florida lawmakers cast aside efforts to protect outdoor workers from heat" — 2026-08-21
ProPublica — "Rick Roth's Support of Florida's Immigration Bill Had Consequences. But Not for Him." — cross-referenced from Category 1 — 2026-08-21

🔴 PRIORITY — Roth supported heat protections for student athletes but opposed extending similar protections to outdoor workers, a category that includes agricultural laborers in his own industry, shortly before an OSHA finding connected a lack of heat protection to a farmworker's death at a company employing H-2A workers. This is a specific, well-documented voting-record inconsistency directly relevant to his own economic interest as EAA farm owner; recommend the operator review this section directly alongside the existing Category 1/2 findings.

Position Consistency

See Voting Record above — the heat-protection inconsistency (student athletes vs. outdoor/agricultural workers) is the specific documented item. This sits alongside the already-documented pattern (Category 1) of Roth's positions on immigration/farm-labor policy evolving in ways that reporting has connected to his own agribusiness interests.

Sources:

Yahoo News (syndicated) — "Burned: Florida lawmakers cast aside efforts to protect outdoor workers from heat" — 2026-08-21

None beyond the Voting Record PRIORITY flag above.

Flip-Flops

The heat-protection inconsistency documented above (supporting protections for student athletes, opposing them for outdoor workers) is the specific flip-flop-adjacent item identified this pass. `[No other documented reversal was identified — searched: nationwide Google/news search "Rick Roth" flip-flop reversed changed position — 2026-08-21]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-21 — no additional matches

None beyond the item already documented above.

Endorsements

Received: At least one documented endorsement for his SD-26 Senate bid (per social media promotion); a comprehensive list was not independently compiled this pass. `[Endorsements given — NOT FOUND — 2026-08-21]`.

Sources:

Instagram (campaign-affiliated post) — "ENDORSED: Rick Roth for Florida State Senate (R, SD-26)" — 2026-08-21

⚠️ REVIEW FLAG — A comprehensive endorsements-received list was not compiled this pass; recommend a follow-up if needed.

🔴 PRIORITY: Roth supported heat-illness protections for student athletes (~2019) but opposed extending similar protections to outdoor workers (2023), a category including agricultural laborers in his own industry — shortly before an OSHA finding tied a lack of heat protection to a farmworker's death at a company employing H-2A workers. Recommend the operator review this directly alongside the existing Category 1/2 ProPublica immigration-bill finding, as both point to the same underlying pattern.
⚠️ REVIEW FLAG: A comprehensive endorsements-received list was not compiled this pass; recommend a follow-up if needed.
This category does not re-litigate the Category 1/Category 2 ProPublica H-2A/immigration-bill structural-conflict finding in full.
Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate.

Community Engagement & Character 14 / 25

Community Involvement

Roth, raised in Belle Glade (graduated Belle Glade High School, 1970), has documented community involvement including work with the Central Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Belle Glade Rotary Club, alongside his industry-organization board service (Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, Western Palm Beach County Farm Bureau, already likely documented in Category 2). This is layered on his FL House record dating to 2016.

Sources:

LegiStorm — "Former State Rep. Rick Roth" biography — 2026-08-24
Vote Smart — "Rick Roth's Biography" — 2026-08-24

Veteran / First Responder Service

`[NOT FOUND — no military or first-responder service background documented — searched: nationwide Google/news search "Rick Roth" military veteran — 2026-08-24]`. No claim of personal service was found in his official or campaign materials.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-24 — no matches

Faith-Based Involvement (scored on character consistency)

Confirmed Presbyterian; documented as a founding member of Truth Point Church in West Palm Beach — a specific, sustained, in-person faith commitment (church founding), not merely stated attendance. On character consistency: this documented faith-community leadership role is weighed alongside the existing Category 3 PRIORITY finding (supporting heat-illness protections for student athletes while opposing similar protections for outdoor/agricultural workers, shortly before an OSHA finding tied a Belle Glade-area farmworker death to inadequate heat protection) — the operator may wish to consider that finding relevant context for an overall character-consistency assessment, without this section re-litigating it.

Sources:

Vote Smart — as above — 2026-08-24

⚠️ CROSS-REFERENCE — See the existing Category 3 PRIORITY finding for context relevant to an overall character-consistency assessment; not re-scored here.

Debates / Town Halls

`[No documented debate/town hall invitations or appearances for the 2026 general election against Silvers were found this pass — searched: nationwide Google/news search "Rick Roth" SD-26 debate 2026 — 2026-08-24]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-24 — no matches

⚠️ REVIEW FLAG — No debate coverage found; recommend a follow-up closer to November.

Social Media Presence & Consistency

Active campaign presence via voterickroth.com. `[A full manual review of his last 90 days of posts was NOT performed this pass — 2026-08-24]`. No inflammatory personal-tone content was surfaced in general search.

Sources:

voterickroth.com — 2026-08-24

⚠️ REVIEW FLAG — Full manual 90-day audit not performed; recommend direct platform review if full certainty is required.

⚠️ CROSS-REFERENCE: The Faith-Based Involvement character-consistency assessment is scored in light of the existing Category 3 PRIORITY heat-protection inconsistency finding, not re-litigated here.
⚠️ REVIEW FLAG: No debate coverage or full social-media audit completed this pass; recommend follow-up closer to November.
Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate.

Campaign Transparency 17 / 25

Top Donors / Donor Composition

``` DONOR COMPOSITION: Total added since leaving office (through Q1 2026): $349,000 Self-funded portion: $250,000 (personal bank account) Q4 2025: ~$165,000 added, all but $15,000 from his own bank account Q1 2026: $56,175 raised, all but $6,175 self-loaned ``` Overwhelmingly self-funded from his own agricultural-business wealth (Roth Farms, Inc.), with minimal external donor reliance. Reporting notes his limited outside fundraising has depended significantly on agricultural-industry sources specifically.

Sources:

Florida Politics — "Rick Roth adds $165K to SD 26 war chest in Q4 with big boost from his bank account" — 2026-08-26

⚠️ REVIEW FLAG — While self-funding avoids third-party PAC influence, the scale of personal wealth deployed by a sitting agribusiness owner is worth reading alongside the existing Category 2 PRIORITY unverified-business-history finding.

PAC / LLC / Funneling Structures

`[PAC NOTED — FAPSC PAC (Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges) — $2,500 in Q3 — Fully disclosed — Florida Politics]`. This is essentially his only documented PAC contribution; no LLC, dark-money, or foreign-adjacent funding was identified.

Sources:

OpenSecrets — Rick Roth Jr. Top Contributors — 2026-08-26

None beyond the standard PAC-notation format above.

Advertising Spend

`[Specific ad-spend line items NOT independently itemized — searched: Florida Division of Elections expenditure reports — 2026-08-26]`. Spending is self-funded and proportionate to a competitive state senate race.

Sources:

Florida Politics — as above — 2026-08-26

Grassroots Engagement

`[No documented door-knocking, phone-banking, or in-person voter-contact ground game located — searched: nationwide Google/news search "Rick Roth" SD-26 campaign volunteer 2026 — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Donations to Political Figures

`[NOT FOUND — searched: Florida Division of Elections, nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

⚠️ REVIEW FLAG: Heavy self-funding from his own agribusiness wealth is noted alongside the existing Category 2 PRIORITY unverified-14-company-business-history finding; self-funding avoids PAC influence but the underlying wealth's transparency remains an open question per Category 2.
Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate.

Issue-Based Positions 25 / 40

2A Rights Score

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: NRA, GOA, campaign website (rickrothforsenate.com) — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Pro-Life / Pro-Family Score

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: SBA Pro-Life America, campaign website — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Fiscal Conservatism Score

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: AFP, Club for Growth, CATO, campaign website — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Parental Rights Score

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: Moms for Liberty, campaign website — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Election Integrity Position

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: campaign website, nationwide news search — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Housing / Insurance Position

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: campaign website, nationwide news search — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Education / School Choice Position

`[NO STATED POSITION FOUND — scored 3 per protocol — sources searched: Parents Defending Education, campaign website — 2026-08-26]`.

Sources:

Nationwide Google/news search — 2026-08-26 — no matches

Environment / Everglades Position

[UPDATED 2026-08-27] Roth's own farm operation (thousands of acres of vegetables, rice, and sugar cane south of Lake Okeechobee) was directly subject to the phosphorus-runoff lawsuits that came to a head in 1988; he and the broader agriculture industry subsequently worked with the South Florida Water Management District to develop best-management practices (BMPs) to control phosphorus runoff from farms — a genuine, if industry-collective rather than personally-sponsored, engagement with Everglades water-quality stewardship. No personal legislative sponsorship of water-quality bills was located this session.

Sources:

Orlando Weekly — "GOP Florida Rep. Rick Roth is a farmer who spent 30 years fighting to keep his immigrant workforce" — 2026-08-27

None — cross-reference resolved with a modest positive finding.

⚠️ CROSS-REFERENCE RESOLVED (2026-08-27): follow-up confirmed direct industry-wide BMP engagement on Everglades phosphorus runoff, stemming from his own farm's involvement in the 1988 lawsuits. Environment score revised from 3/5 to 4/5. See the FOLLOW-UP ADDENDUM below for a separate, newly-surfaced immigration-policy finding relevant to Cat3.
Survey cross-reference could not be completed this pass — no survey response is on file for this candidate.

Other candidates in this race — FL Senate — District 26

David Ryan Silvers (DEM)View the full FL Senate — District 26 race page →

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