Kelly Kirschner

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Washington has been sold. It's time to take it back. Kelly is running for Congress to lower costs, defend health care, and bring opportunity home to the Gulf Coast.

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Government is supposed to solve problems for the people it serves. My first priority is, lowering the cost of living for Gulf Coast families — and protecting the healthcare and retirement security you’ve already earned. On day one, I will get to work on:

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Protect Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay, and our coastline by prohibiting offshore drilling, stopping open-water fish farming, and enforcing the Clean Water Act.

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You should be able to afford a home, a college education, quality healthcare, reliable insurance, and a secure retirement. Young people should be able to stay and build their future here. Veterans should have every opportunity to build the next chapter of their lives close to home. Small businesses should have the confidence to invest and grow.

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Protect every patient with a pre-existing condition.

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It costs marriages, sleep, and sometimes limbs and lives. We owe our veterans a VA that answers the phone, a crisis line that works at 3 a.m., and a government that doesn’t make them fight a second war just to get their benefits.

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He is asking for your vote and for your support.

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After earning his bachelor's and master's degrees from Georgetown University, on a full scholarship working as the head manager of the men's basketball team, Kelly chose a different path than his classmates. In 1999, he joined the Peace Corps, spending four years in northern Guatemala helping Mayan farming families reach new markets and grow household income. It was measurable, lasting work — not press releases.

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Lowering insurance, healthcare, and prescription drug costs by creating an insurance backstop, repeal cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, and allow government to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices.

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Keep public lands public. Invest in more conservation land upstream to protect our water and wildlife, and stop the push to privatize state and federal lands for golf courses, development, and additional resource extraction.

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Restore the workforce opportunities our Manasota region lost by supporting nursing, teacher preparation, veterans’ education, workforce training, apprenticeships, and affordable four-year degree pathways.

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Expand affordable housing and stop Wall Street from buying up single-family homes and gouging renters.

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Oppose federal funding that rewards states for dismantling successful public institutions through political patronage. Federal investments should strengthen communities—not political agendas, nor line the pockets of the well-connected.

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Protect people with pre-existing conditions, and keep Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, the promises they’ve always been – an earned right.

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Protect the Gulf Coast that powers our economy. Clean water, healthy beaches, and resilient coastlines protect tourism, commercial fishing, home values, and thousands of local jobs.

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Invest in affordable energy that lowers your bills.

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Support affordable, reliable alternative energy that lowers utility bills, strengthens our electric grid, and gives families and businesses more certainty.

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Give small businesses, farmers, manufacturers, and commercial fishermen stable, predictable rules so they can invest, hire, and grow with confidence.

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Whether you’re raising a family, starting a career, serving our country, building a business, or enjoying retirement, you should be able to build a good life right here in our community.

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Workers deserve protection. Consumers deserve rights.

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Whether you’re a small business owner in St. Pete, a farmer in the eastern part of the district, or a commercial fisherman on the Gulf — I will be your voice.

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Want a story? [email protected]

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Restore the Veterans Crisis Line to full 24/7 operation.

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Our broken immigration system has created victims of congressional failure: families who want a secure border, people who have lived, worked, and raised families here for years, those who followed the legal immigration process, employers trying to do the right thing, and communities frustrated that Washington keeps choosing politics over solutions. I support reforms that secure the border, enforce the law firmly, fairly, and humanely, speed up legal immigration and asylum cases, create an earned pathway to legal status for long-term undocumented residents who have contributed here, and hold employers accountable when they knowingly exploit undocumented workers. We can’t keep spending billions on political spectacle while employers who knowingly profit from illegal labor walk away clean. We can protect our borders without abandoning our values. Government exists to solve real problems, not create new ones.

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Yes. Call it climate change or risk management, Gulf Coast families are paying the price. Our economy depends on tourism, agriculture, fishing, and real estate, and every one of those industries is absorbing the costs. Insurance premiums are skyrocketing, families are losing coverage, hurricanes leave communities rebuilding for years, and our farmers and fishermen face growing financial risks from stronger storms and changing conditions. This isn't tomorrow's problem; it's today's bill. As Mayor, I held Florida Power & Light accountable, and I've seen firsthand what happens when families are left waiting for insurance payments and federal help after a hurricane. Government's job isn't to debate reality. It's to respond to it. In Congress, I'll fight for a national reinsurance backstop to lower insurance costs, a fully funded and proactive FEMA, disaster and crop insurance that work when families need them, and investments that make our communities more resilient before the next storm.

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Government is supposed to solve problems for the people it serves. My first priority is lowering the cost of living for Gulf Coast families. That means lowering insurance and healthcare costs, reducing prescription drug prices, expanding affordable housing by increasing the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, preventing Wall Street investors from buying up single-family homes, and restoring competition by enforcing antitrust laws so dominant corporations can’t use their market power to drive up costs for families. My second priority is protecting the healthcare and retirement security people have earned. I’ll work to make healthcare more affordable and accessible, protect people with pre-existing conditions, strengthen Medicare and Medicaid, restore recent healthcare cuts, protect a woman’s freedom to make her own healthcare decisions with her doctor, and ensure Social Security remains a promise kept. Congress should be solving these problems, not making them worse.

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Freedom of speech protects every American’s right to question those in power without fear of government retaliation. That protection matters most when the speech is unpopular, critical, or uncomfortable. As Mayor, I welcomed tough questions from residents, neighborhood activists, and the press because accountability makes government better. It should never matter whether I agree with what someone says because that’s exactly when constitutional rights matter most. I also believe every citizen’s voice should matter more than unlimited money in politics. That’s why I led the successful passage of Florida’s toughest municipal campaign finance reform law. I’ll bring that same commitment to Congress by working to overturn Citizens United and restore the principle of one person, one vote. Freedom of speech means the government can’t punish you for your political views, your criticism of those in power, or your peaceful dissent. Full stop.

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Congress. Oversight isn’t about protecting Congress or limiting a President. It’s about protecting us. The Constitution gives Congress the responsibility to ask hard questions on our behalf because executive branch decisions affect our families, our freedoms, and our future. When Congress stops asking those questions or demanding answers, we lose one of our strongest protections. Today, Congress too often refuses to do that job. Representatives should ask: Is it lawful? Is it constitutional? Is it serving the public? Is anyone using public office for private gain? When there is credible evidence, Congress must investigate and follow the facts. Those aren’t partisan questions. They’re the job. As Mayor, I held Florida Power & Light, developers, and my own city government accountable because accountability matters. I’ll bring that same commitment to Congress, regardless of who is President. That’s what representation means.

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Every eligible American should be able to vote, and every legitimate vote should count. If Congress considers new proof-of-citizenship requirements, the first question should be: does this improve election integrity, or does it simply make it harder for eligible citizens to vote? Government exists to solve real problems, not create new ones. If government creates a new requirement, it has a responsibility to make compliance free, simple, and accessible. It shouldn’t pull the rug out from under people by changing the rules right before an election. That means no-cost replacement of vital records, straightforward ways to resolve name changes, extended timelines so no one loses their right to vote because of a paperwork backlog, and a secure process for eligible voters to resolve documentation issues without being disenfranchised. The goal should be protecting both election integrity and every eligible citizen’s constitutional right to vote.

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Every child deserves access to an excellent education that opens doors, regardless of how much money their family has. Opportunity shouldn’t depend on wealth or political connections. The federal government’s role is to expand opportunity and protect the public institutions that serve students. I’ve dedicated much of my career to that mission. I co-founded UnidosNow, which has helped more than 1,000 first-generation students earn admission to the nation’s top universities debt-free, and I built workforce and lifelong-learning programs at Eckerd College. I’ve also seen what happens when politics supersedes students. Our community recently lost nursing, teacher education, hospitality and veterans’ programs when USF Sarasota-Manatee was dismantled and its campus transferred to New College. Education funding, whether state or federal, should expand opportunity, not be diverted for political patronage. I’ll fight to ensure education dollars serve students, families, and communities.

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“I am proud to stand with the working men and women of Florida. It is a true honor to be endorsed by the Florida AFL-CIO and the West Central Florida Labor Council, the Florida High School Democrats, the Democratic Environmental Caucus of Florida, the Sierra Club, the Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus, and the National Organization for Women. I am committed to fighting for, and protecting, everyone's rights in Congress.” – KELLY KIRSCHNER