When Michael Waltz resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives to become Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor, he vacated the remainder of his term representing Florida’s 6th congressional district. A special election is set for April 1st to fill out the end of Waltz’s term, before the winner has the chance to run for a full two years in 2026.
With the primary elections over, the race’s major candidates are known: Republican Randy Fine, Democrat Josh Weil, and Libertarian Andrew Parrott. Also running are Independent Randall Terry and write-in candidate Chuck Sheridan according to election records. Each major candidate has been contacted to conduct an interview ahead of the special election. What follows is that interview with Democrat Josh Weil.
Click here to read Randy Fine’s interview
Click here to read Andrew Parrott’s interview
Chris Gollon: Your bio says you live in Orlando, outside Florida’s 6th district. What steps have you taken to familiarize yourself with the issues inherent to the district, and what are your takeaways from that process?
Josh Weil: “We’ve been predominantly in the district since the start of the campaign. I’ve been living in the district while we’ve been working here. We’ve been stationed out of Palm Coast working. It’s not the geographic center because we’ve got the Ocala National Forest, but it’s proven to be the logistical center for us. We’ve got the I-95 corridor going up and down, we’ve got SR-40 going across to Ocala, easy access down to Mount Dora, the Eustis area and Lake County, and up to Palatka. And so we’ve been full-time in this district for over two to three months now and really able to get out in the community and speak to people across all six counties, and get a good feel for how people live here and what the needs are.”
CG: If elected, though you aren’t required to, do you plan on moving to Florida’s 6th district?
JW: “Absolutely. It’s the top priority. You have to live in the community you represent, otherwise how are you going to be able to represent them properly?”
CG: I asked Andrew Parrott, our Libertarian candidate, whether he felt he has a chance to win given the history of Libertarian candidates in America. Given Florida’s 6th congressional district hasn’t had a Democrat come within twelve points of winning at any time in the 21st century, it’s only fair I pose the same question to you: what makes this election winnable for you?
JW: “First off, it’s an open race. It’s a district that has more Republicans, but they’re not over 50.0%. There’s a lot of independents and NPAs out there who typically vote for change. If they’re struggling now, they vote in the opposite direction of whatever the current party is. And you know, it’s only been a month and a half since the inauguration, I mean you can make the argument that Trump’s already had four years’ worth of initiatives and work done in that time. People are seeing and feeling some discomfort.
“Now the other thing is, Democrats have under-performed compared to their representation in the district because there has been no national or state support from the party for these candidates or their campaigns. They’ve struggled to gain traction, build an identity and get their messaging out. You mentioned the twelve points which was Nancy Soderberg against Mike Waltz in his first time running when it was an open seat in 2018…no candidate has had comparable funding or spending to the Republican in that time. And in fact, the most any Democrat has raised over those three cycles was $34,000. We’re right around $8 million today. We’ve been able to build an incredibly large campaign that is able to get the message out to voters, so that way they know who’s out there and who’s running, and what we offer to them.”
CG: You propose an economic plan that provides first time home-buyers a $50,000 assistance, small business owners a $20,000 loan assistance, and an increase in child tax credits by $5,000 per dependent. Your website effectively states that the ends justify whatever means, but no plan is presented on paying for these initiatives beyond ‘finding a few nickels and dimes in the couch cushions’. Do you have a specific plan to pay for this plan?
JW: “First off, if we don’t offer a $4 trillion tax break to billionaires and mega-corporations, we have a lot more money for the people who need it. We don’t seem to really raise any questions about where the money is going to come from when we’re offering billionaires tax breaks, but suddenly when you need to provide daycare assistance for working parents, or we want to spur on homeowners [it doesn’t happen]. The average wealth, and this is a statistic given me by the National Realtors Association when I met with them, the average wealth of a homeowner in this country is $217,000. The average wealth of a non-homeowner in this country is $6,000. No one is able to put that 3% down, you can’t scrounge 3% down on $6,000 for any home anywhere in this country, especially in Florida, especially here in District Six.
“If we want home ownership to be part of the American dream, if we still want people to be able to have control over their economic futures and be able to build wealth for their families for generations beyond them, we need to create a system that supports that. We currently don’t have it, and it should be a priority. You’re gonna have to talk to me like a child to explain why it’s more of a priority to provide tax breaks for billionaires than it is to support working families.”
CG: If elected, you’ll be on one side or the other of a razor-thin margin in the House. In an age of hyper-partisanship, how can you be an effective legislator when Democrats will be a far cry from being able to override a Trump veto and Republicans are virtually guaranteed to oppose policies like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal?
JW: “Again, there’s multiple components here. The first one is not expecting the responses from sitting congressmen past this election to be the same as they are today. You know, we’re already seeing across the country a lot of heat and a lot of criticism from constituents in these red communities. We saw a national call from Speaker Mike Johnson for Republican congressmen to stop holding town halls and stop meeting with their constituents because of how unfavorable those meetings have been. They’re feeling a lot of heat right now, but many of them still believe that the Trump endorsement guarantees them job security and if they stay aligned with Trump, whether it’s in the best interest of their constituents or not, that they’ll still have a job in November of 2026. When we flip this seat that just went for a Republican candidate by 32 points four months earlier, that changes things.
“You know, Randy Fine is running on one point and one point only, and that is ‘Trump supports me’. That doesn’t mean anything if Randy Fine loses. It’s not going to be me, Josh Weil, as the only one who has to consider compromising and better representing their constituents. I’m absolutely willing to support Republican legislation if it’s in the best interest of the people in District Six. I’m here to serve not the Democratic Party, not any Democratic leadership, I will vote in [the people’s] best interest every single time. And I firmly believe that after our victory here in District Six on April 1st, we’re going to see a lot more of that from other congresspeople across the country.”
CG: As of this interview, President Trump has frozen aid to Ukraine in the wake of a heated Oval Office argument with President Volodymyr Zelensky. What can and should Congress do in response?
JW: “A lot of the public concern that we’re seeing isn’t about who’s right or wrong in these issues. As we’re talking to voters out there, whether they’re Republican, Democrat or Independent, there’s a lot more concern about aid and money that they’re seeing going abroad, when they’re asking for help here at home. When people are asking for help with groceries, when people are asking for help with insurance, with the housing crisis that we’re in and the rising cost of housing that far exceeds what people are making and the raises in salaries year-by-year. It hurts when they ask for help and they see it going somewhere else and not to them. So a lot of the concern isn’t about what’s right or wrong. It’s about putting America first. If you’re running on that, America and Americans are first, they expect you to be taking care of them before you’re out getting involved in issues between two other nations.
“Directly responding to the way President Trump has been handling the issue with Russia and Ukraine and with Volodymyr Zelensky, it was deeply disturbing seeing the leader of the free world, arguably the most powerful man in the world, tell the duly elected leader of a sovereign nation that they should surrender their sovereignty. If we’re going to be out there you don’t punch down. I think everyone knows that if you’re in politics, if you’re in government, if you’re in media, entertainment journalism, there’s no need to punch down. No one’s suggesting that Ukraine is an equal world power on the scale of the United States. And so if we’re going to be getting involved with our power and the expanse of our military it should be to preserve the values that we hold sacred here. The values of life, liberty, land, and to help protect that and help other countries maintain their sovereignty when they can’t for themselves.
“Along with a lot of other Americans, you know, my discomfort with what we saw was the President of the United States going the opposite direction from the values we hold dear here in America that we would expect to be supporting when we get involved on the global stage.”
CG: The call to reign in government spending has led to the creation of DOGE, the controversial Elon Musk-led cost-cutting initiative. While I would assume you don’t support DOGE itself, how important is it to you to strive for a balanced budget?
JW: “Very minimally. It’s important for the City of Palm Coast to have a balanced budget, because if they spend more money than they have, they will bounce that check. The state of Florida will bounce that check. The United States government cannot bounce a check. If we’re $4 trillion overdrawn and we pay out a contract it clears. 80% of our long term national debt is to [America in the future]. It’s us spending money that we don’t yet have and balancing it out off of future years’ budgets.
“We have in the current budget debt from past terms and administrations that we’re dealing with, and we continue to raise it in future ones. It’s hard to believe that the current Republican spending plan is designed to balance the budget when they ask for a $4 trillion debt ceiling increase at the same time. It doesn’t seem to be a priority for them either, because before you even get the budget signed, you’re asking to be able to go over by a pretty substantial amount of money. And when you’re overspending by $4 trillion it’s similar to the foreign aid issue, where people want to know why that money is not solving problems here.
“We brought this up in town halls, and when we’re speaking with constituents. So let’s just say, if I gave you $4 trillion to solve any one problem, you could solve the healthcare issue. You could solve homelessness in this country. You could solve the housing crisis. $4 trillion feels like it should be enough money to solve at least one major problem, and somehow we overspend by that year after year, without ever making significant progress towards any of these issues, and that’s where the real complaint is. People aren’t upset that we’re spending money. People are upset that we’re spending money without making a significant positive impact on their lives here in America.”
CG: Donald Trump’s recent tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico have drawn retaliatory action from all three nations. What can and should Congress do in response to Trump’s enactment of the tariffs?
JW: “It’s difficult, because we shouldn’t be imposing tariffs on our allies like this. When you hear President Trump speak about it, it seems that for him it’s a very strong priority to balance the trade deficit. You’re never going to balance the trade deficit in Canada in a way that the American people are happy with, because Canada has a population of 40 million people, and we have a population over 360 million people. Our population is nine times as big. That means that if they were to buy an equal amount of stuff as we buy from them, they’d have to be purchasing at nine times the rate that we do per citizen. The biggest issue with that is that no one likes buying stuff more than Americans do. Americans like buying stuff. That’s why we have as many trade deficits as we do, because we buy more from other people than they buy from us. It’s not a knock on them, it’s who we are and how we’re comfortable living our lives here as Americans.
“Imposing the tariffs attempts to balance the trade deficit by increasing the cost of foreign goods for Americans, it makes access to those goods less affordable so Americans can purchase less of them, which is not the answer Americans are looking for. It literally is a policy that we cannot afford.”
CG: With that being said, are there any specific actions that you would want to take in response to the tariffs from a congressional level?
JW: “I’m not sure on either side how much we could do there, other than continuing to impose public pressure. You know, we as the Democratic Party need to do a better job with our messaging on these things. And I think one of the main things we need to do, whether it’s dealing with tariffs, the Department of Education, or FEMA, is that we need to really help people understand these programs and what we’re paying for and their impact. Because ultimately, it’s the American people who vote for representation, who elect presidents. And public perception sways policy more than anything.”
CG: Trump ordered the tariffs by declaring a national emergency for fentanyl and illegal migration. Any member of Congress can force a vote on a joint resolution to end an emergency order under the National Emergencies Act of 1976. It’s never been done in the context of tariffs. Is that something you might consider doing? You could do it unilaterally, at least to call a vote.
JW: “Yes, because of the emergency status of it you’re absolutely correct. Calling that vote would not be fruitful today. But as I mentioned earlier, I think after this victory on April 1st, you’re going to see a lot more people willing to vote in the best interest of their constituents as opposed to within party lines, and it’s something that we should definitely be pursuing in April.”
CG: Donald Trump and his Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, have both indicated a willingness to reduce or even attempt to abolish the Department of Education. What actions would you advocate for in Congress in response to this?
JW: “We absolutely have to protect the Federal Department of Education. This is the issue that brought me into this race here in Florida, where we have some of the lowest per-student funding of any state in the country. The federal supplemental funding that our schools receive for Title 1 schools for students with special needs makes up a much larger percentage of our budget. We have a governor who has shown that he will pull every last dollar he can from our public schools to give them to privates and charters.
“That [DOE] federal funding goes directly to the schools. It doesn’t go through the district. It doesn’t go through the state. When they abolish the Department of Education, we lose a direct connection infrastructure to over 97,000 public schools across the country, allowing all of that funding to go to the states and be redistributed at the governor’s discretion, which will absolutely destroy public education across Florida.
“Our schools here in District Six rely on that money. They’re barely getting by even with it. We will see massive school closures. We will see schools having to be consolidated and combined. We will see an adjustment to class sizes, because without the federal supplemental funding there is no way we can meet the current FISH codes for class sizes in the state and ensure that we have 18 to 25 students based on grade level in every core class. This is essential funding to operate our public schools, and it’s something that needs to be messaged because I don’t think people realize the impact it’s going to have on their families and their community if it’s something that’s allowed to pass.”
Chris Gollon is a Flagler County resident since 2004, as well as a staple of the local independent music scene and avid observer of Central Florida politics, arts, and recreation.
