By Stephanie Bechara With a little over a month left before Election Day, News 13 is hosting a town hall meeting today with Democrat Darren Soto and Republican Wayne Liebnitzky. The town hall will air tonight at 7 with Soto and at 8 with Liebnitzky. Tune into News 13 or watch on our BHTV app. We recently sat down with the two candidates running in Florida's 9th U.S. Congressional District seat to learn more about them and their platforms. Democratic candidate: Lawyer and current State Senator Darren Soto in town hall at 7 p.m. Republican candidate: U.S. Navy veteran, businessman Wayne Liebnitzky in town hall at 8 p.m. Need more election info? Check out our Florida Decides Voting Guide In November, voters will choose between Democrat Darren Soto and Republican Wayne Liebnitzky. Soto is a former attorney who has previously served in the Florida House of Representatives and more recently in the Florida Senate. Liebnitzky is an engineer, a U.S. Navy veteran and a businessman. The two candidates have very different priorities they wish to pursue should they win the race for the seat vacated by Alan Grayson. "Fighting for immigrants, fighting to protect our environment and, of course, fighting for higher paying jobs, which is key as well as healthcare, and access to high quality education," said Soto. Liebnitzky, on the other hand, said he wants to focus on veterans and seniors. "We have people that have defended our country," said Liebnitzky, "and we have people that have built our country, and we treat them like second-class citizens. That's not how I plan to represent this country." Soto said what drives him is the satisfaction of helping people. He's been a public servant for the past decade, and wants to continue serving his community. "I believe that my experience and my hard work over the last 10 years would distinguish me for voters in this race," Soto added. Liebnitzky, who won the Republican nomination back in August with more than 60 percent of the vote, calls himself a veteran with a voice, and asks voters to jump on board. "I am not going to be able to fix all the problems," said Liebnitzky. "If anyone says they can fix all these problems, stay away from them -- they're a liar. But I am going to go up there and do the best I can."

By Steven Lemongello The candidates in the U.S. Congressional District 9 race, Democratic state Den. Darren Soto and Republican businessman Wayne Liebnitzky, differ on most key issues but do agree somewhat on others. "Higher paying jobs are the biggest issue in the district," Soto said of the district that includes Osceola and parts of Orange and Polk counties. He supports a $15 federal minimum wage and removing the income cap on Social Security, in which the maximum taxable income stops at $118,500. Soto also is against the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, or TPP, because it "doesn't have parity between wages here in America and those [countries] we're trading with. If Americans can compete on the same level playing field, I believe we'll be competitive with anybody. But we have to makes sure that's in any deals." Liebnitzky opposes a $15 federal minimum wage, which he said would cause unemployment to go up because "businessmen will be innovative and figure out ways to do more with less." He also wants an increase in the cost-of-living adjustment for seniors and veterans. The Republican also opposes the TPP, calling previous trade deals like NAFTA "a disaster." On immigration, Liebnitzky said that the country needs to "seal the border," but that he's "not exactly opposed to a path to citizenship," especially for children who came to this country but did not break any laws themselves. Soto supports comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship, adding that he also thinks there should be smaller reforms to ratify the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, or DACA, which allows some undocumented immigrants who arrived before the age of 16 to work and be exempt from deportation. He calls for a similar policy for parents of Americans and permanent residents as well. On gun issues, following the Pulse nightclub shootings Soto called for a special session of the Legislature to close what he called the "loophole" that allows people on a terror watch list or suspected of terrorist ties from buying guns. The Democrats did not have enough votes to call a session. "My philosophy is that the Second Amendment provides a right to have personal weapons, but not military-style weapons," Soto said. Liebnitzky said he opposes the terror watch list ban because of due process issues and that no new gun laws are necessary. He also did not want to critique the military's response to fighting terror because as a private citizen he has not been briefed, though he added he felt that the Obama administration should listen more to its military advisers. Soto said the U.S. needs a "nimble and capable" military to respond to terrorist threats around the world, though he said Americans should not be spied on without warrants and that "ultimately, I would be concerned about about ever dispatching major ground troops to these conflicts."　　 Soto said he was a strong supporter of Obamacare, which has led to more than 2 million Floridians getting health insurance. He also called for expanding Medicaid in Florida so that the 800,000 Floridians who fall into the gap between the exchanges and qualifying for Medicare. Liebnitzky called Obamacare "a pilot program" that has problems that need to be corrected, including allowing insurers to cross state lines to form compacts to create better rates. "Whatever is put in place is going to go through the same growing pains," he said. On abortion, Soto supports abortion rights and full funding to Planned Parenthood, while Liebnitzky is anti-abortion. The two differ least in their assessment of education. Liebnitsky is against the "common core" testing systems, saying that education should be returned to the states, counties and municipalities. Soto said that the federal government's primary role should be funding and not "increasing high-stakes testing requirements."