TAMPA, Fla. — Florida congressional candidate Dan Weldon on Thursday sharply criticized incumbent U.S. Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor, accusing the long-time lawmaker of inaction and prioritizing private monetary achieve over her constituents.
Showing on Florida’s Voice Radio with host Drew Steele, Weldon, a Republican working in Florida’s 14th Congressional District, pitched his marketing campaign as a grassroots motion aligned with the White Home’s agenda forward of the Aug. 18 main.
Weldon, a former College of Florida soccer participant and prosecutor, claimed that Castor has a skinny legislative monitor file regardless of her prolonged tenure representing the Tampa-based district.
“Individuals simply don’t know a lot about her to even start with,” Weldon stated. “We’ve paid her over $3.5 million of taxpayer cash, and what we’ve acquired out of it’s two publish workplaces renamed. That’s it. Not even kidding.”
Weldon additionally focused Castor’s private funds, alleging a pointy disconnect between her wealth and the financial struggles of on a regular basis voters within the district.
“Throughout that very same time, she’s elevated her web value from about $600,000 to over $15 million with over 100 inventory trades,” Weldon stated. “Whereas individuals are struggling each day simply making an attempt to make ends meet, we have now a congresswoman right here who’s not simply opposing the president’s agenda, she’s opposing the individuals inside her personal district.”
Weldon said that his marketing campaign is closely targeted on a direct voter-outreach technique to flip the blue-leaning district. He famous that he has already knocked on 1,500 doorways and has set a purpose to hit 10,000 properties by the first election date.
In accordance with Weldon, financial nervousness and housing affordability are the dominant issues among the many voters he has encountered within the Tampa space. He highlighted company house shopping for as a vital native concern, supporting a proposed federal ban on institutional patrons buying single-family properties.
“In Hillsborough County alone, corporations that personal 100 or extra properties personal over 4% of all of the properties in all of Hillsborough County,” Weldon stated. “It’s one thing that’s an especially well-liked concern.”
Weldon argued that present congressional management—together with some members inside his personal social gathering—has did not successfully codify the administration’s platform into legislation. He pointed to current main challenges throughout the nation towards incumbent Republicans as proof that voters are punishing lawmakers who don’t absolutely again the chief department’s coverage objectives.
Particularly, Weldon referenced the current main problem towards U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, who confronted backlash after breaking ranks on key legislative packages, together with Trump’s “One, Large, Stunning Invoice Act.”
“We will take away all of the speaking factors, however on the finish of the day, that’s what it boils right down to: individuals on our facet not stepping as much as the plate,” Weldon stated. “Saying that they’re pro-Trump, MAGA this, MAGA that, however they’re not really dwelling it with regards to going as much as Washington.”
Florida’s 14th Congressional District, which encompasses components of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, has been represented by Castor since 2007. Weldon urged voters to go to his marketing campaign web site to affix what he described as a significant effort to safe and broaden the Republican Home majority.
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