James T. Martin

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I'm proud of my service in the United States Coast Guard. I chased drug runners and human traffickers, served overseas in combat zones, protected our maritime border, and advised our leaders in the White House.

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Whether it’s ending reckless tariffs driving up the price of groceries, using antitrust laws to break up the corporate consolidation that is squeezing consumers at every turn, or expanding access to capital for small and minority-owned businesses that have been locked out of economic opportunity for too long — James is laser focused on the cost of living crisis hitting working families, small businesses, and retirees on fixed incomes across the Treasure Coast and Northern Palm Beaches.

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James’ path to public service in the U.S. Coast Guard started with a deep love of wild Florida — particularly its water. In Congress, he will relentlessly seek to end the Treasure Coast’s clean water crisis. That means completing Everglades restoration, cleaning up Lake Okeechobee, stopping toxic discharges to the St. Lucie Estuary and Indian River Lagoon, and never compromising or curtailing bedrock environmental laws. Florida’s fishermen, farmers, families, and tourism economy can’t afford half-measures anymore.

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James is committed to getting big money out of politics, banning members of Congress from trading stocks and making bets on insider information, and closing the revolving door between Capitol Hill and the K Street lobbying corridor. James is dedicated to returning government to the people it’s meant to serve. James is also committed to quarterly town halls with constituents, bi-annual round tables with local elected officials and business leaders across the Treasure Coast, and he will make his schedule publicly available. Public office is a public trust, and James will treat it that way.

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James believes healthcare is a human right — but he also believes that if you like the coverage your union or your employer provides, you should keep it. That’s why he supports a public option: a pathway to quality, affordable healthcare for every American who wants it, without taking away what’s already working for millions of families. He’ll also take on the pharmaceutical middlemen and pharmacy benefit managers that drive up costs while delivering nothing but profit to themselves.

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James knows better than most what it takes to secure America’s borders — he spent years in the U.S. Coast Guard protecting America’s maritime border. Like most Americans, he believes we need to overhaul the immigration system: one that is safe, fair, transparent, and humane. That means investing in immigration judges to clear asylum backlogs, ending the use of immigration enforcement as a political weapon, creating a workable path to legal status for long-term residents who’ve built their lives here, and fixing a broken visa system that leaves families waiting decades. Smart border security isn’t just theater, and James has spent his career doing the real thing.

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James’ mother taught in Florida’s public schools for over thirty years. His neighbors are retirees who built this country and veterans who defended it. He will never vote to cut Social Security, Medicare, or veterans’ benefits. That means opposing any effort to raise the retirement age, privatize Social Security, or gut the Department of Veteran’s Affairs under the guise of reform. The promises this country made to its seniors and its veterans are not line items to be balanced on the backs of the people who earned them.

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After spending nearly ten years protecting the United States from enemies foreign and domestic, he’s running for Congress because Brian Mast is failing Florida families. James is laser focused on the economy and cost of living to put more money in the pockets of hardworking Floridians. From curbing chaotic tariffs, to combatting skyrocketing property insurance, ending the clean water crisis, and lowering healthcare costs, James is running to make the economy work better for everyone — Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike.

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James holds a commission as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve and is a proud life member of the Society of the Cincinnati, the nation’s oldest patriotic organization composed of direct descendants of Continental Army and Navy officers who served in the American War for Independence. James carries forward a deep legacy of defending freedom and putting country before self. Now he’s continuing his commitment to public service in Congress, where he will work on behalf of all Florida families with the same character and dedication he brought to his military career.

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Protecting Social Security & Veterans' Benefits

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James Martin is Supported by

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Yes. In Florida we are living through a property insurance crisis. Families here pay three to four times the national average, seniors are being priced out of homes they've owned for decades, and climate-exposed properties have already lost billions in relative value. When storms hit, coverage often pays only a fraction of rebuilding costs. Beyond insurance, stronger storms and hotter summers strain our roads, bridges, and power grid; we've seen blackouts in our own district. The answer is to invest in resilient infrastructure, diversify our energy sources to keep the grid stable, and stop pretending the bill isn't coming due. Every year we delay, the cost lands harder on working and middle-class families. That isn't an abstraction to me. It's what I hear at every door I knock across the Treasure Coast.

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First, the cost of living crisis. It is the number one issue on the minds of Treasure Coast families. That means reining in reckless tariffs that raise the price of everyday goods and squeeze small businesses owners. We also need to confront the property insurance crisis head-on. If Tallahassee won't stabilize rates, Congress should create a federal backstop to Citizens Insurance so young families can buy homes and seniors can keep theirs. Lastly, part of addressing the cost of living crisis is ensuring quality healthcare options are available to all Americans. Second, clean water. Our economy and way of life depend on the St. Lucie Estuary and Indian River Lagoon. I will fight for federal infrastructure dollars to finish the EAA reservoir, accelerate septic-to-sewer conversions in coastal zones, and stop toxic discharges from Lake Okeechobee. Moreover, I will defend bedrock environmental laws like NEPA which are being gutted right now to benefit special interests at our expense.

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I spent a decade in uniform under an oath to support and defend the Constitution, so this question is not academic for me. Freedom of speech means the government cannot punish you for criticizing it. It is how voters hold officials accountable, how a free press does its job, and how every major reform in American history got its start. It also means defending speech I personally disagree with, because a First Amendment that only protects popular opinions protects nothing at all. What worries me now is watching officials treat these rights as a political weapon by rewarding friends and punishing critics. That is not what the Founders intended, and it is not what I swore to defend.

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Both, by design! Congress creates federal agencies, funds them, and can investigate them; no agency can lawfully act beyond the authority Congress gives it. The chief executive of the Executive Branch (the President) runs them day to day (or delegates their management), sets policy priorities, and appoints their leadership. The Constitution splits that power deliberately so neither branch controls the government alone. Having served in the military for more than a decade—including at the highest levels of our government at the White House—I saw how this works in practice: we carried out the President's priorities, but we answered to Congress for our budget and our conduct. When one branch tries to shut the other out, whether by stonewalling subpoenas or refusing to spend appropriated funds, that is not efficiency. It is a breakdown of checks and balances, and Congress has a duty to push back no matter which party holds the White House.

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Requiring documentary proof of citizenship sounds simple until you look at who it shuts out. The SAVE Act failed in the Senate this June, but its backers have vowed to keep pushing it, and I will oppose it at every turn. Millions of eligible Americans, especially women whose married names don't match their birth certificates, lack easy or affordable access to a passport or certified records. Military families like mine would face the same paperwork every time they move and re-register. It also disproportionally disenfranchises working-class Americans and rural voters who lack access to these documents too. If a proof-of-citizenship requirement ever becomes law, I would fight for federal funding so states can issue certified birth and marriage records at no cost, document-assistance programs to help people locate their records, and acceptance of a broader range of documents, including military IDs. I would work to repeal it as well.

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I am the son of a longtime Florida public school teacher, so I grew up seeing what teachers give and what they are paid. The federal government's job is to fill the gaps states leave, and that starts with teacher pay. As the father of a two-year-old, I know firsthand the prohibitive costs of preschool and daycare. I support universal pre-K with real quality standards, because early education closes gaps that last a lifetime. For higher education, Florida's Bright Futures and Prepaid programs show what is possible, and federal dollars should help every state build pathways like them, including two years of free or reduced-cost community college. Education is the great equalizer in our society, and Washington should treat it that way.