Weil’s campaign to turn Congressional District 6 blue

Photo: Democrat Josh Weil opposes Republican Randy Fine in the U.S. House of Representatives District 6 special election on April 1 [Josh Weil for Congress].

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article described Josh Weil as a resident of District 6. It has been corrected to reflect that he lives in Orlando and is registered to vote in District 11. 

As the April 1 special election for the U.S. House of Representatives District 6 seat quickly approaches, only two candidates remain to fill the vacant position that represents much of central Florida.

Democrat Josh Weil and Republican Randy Fine won their respective primaries last month to compete for the congressional seat left vacant when Michael Waltz left to become President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser.

“The people in this district deserve someone who works tirelessly for them to make sure that they’re receiving everything they deserve, everything they need in this community,” Weil told the “Gazette.”

U.S. House District 6 encompasses parts of Volusia, Lake, Flagler, Marion, Putnam and St. Johns counties.

Weil opposes Fine, a recently elected Florida state senator in District 19, which covers from Titusville to Sebastian. Fine was encouraged to run by Trump for Congress in District 6, which is about an hour away from his home in Melbourne Beach. Before entering politics, Fine worked as an executive in the gambling industry.

Florida’s special elections have the potential to change the national demographic of the House, and Weil hopes to be part of giving the Democrats control.

After the November general election, the House was 220 Republican seats to 215 Democrats. Republicans have since lost Matt Gaetz, Michael Waltz and Elise Stefanik due to resignations, bringing the ratio down to 217 to 215.

“In these upcoming three special elections, winning two out of three can give us essentially a deadlock in the house. Winning three out of three allows us to take the house completely,” Weil said.

Weil has raised $225,470 in contributions to his campaign. All of Weil’s donations come from individuals as he pledged in his campaign to not accept any funding from political action committees.

Weil lives in Orlando and is registered to vote in Congress’ District 11.

Weil has worked in public schools for the past 13 years, primarily in Title I schools with at-risk children, he said. He holds a master’s degree in teaching from the University of Central Florida and has completed a postgraduate program in educational leadership from Stetson University.

For the past seven years, he has worked as a math teacher at Kissimmee Middle School. Three years ago, he joined the school’s leadership team to oversee the math department, professional development, school intervention programs and community engagement.

If elected to Congress, Weil said he would prioritize funding for education. While in recent years the state has implemented mandatory pay raises for teachers, funding for full-time students has not increased, he said.

“Our school has 75 teachers, and when you give every teacher a mandatory $1,000 raise that means we have to do $75,000 in cuts,” he said. “We lose paraprofessionals, we lose security, we lose deans.”

Weil emphasized that teachers deserve more raises like those recently implemented, but that schools also deserve more full-time equivalent, or FTE, funding to keep schools secure and provide necessary services.

“It’s always been my belief that we’re here to serve all students. Every kid has a right to a free and appropriate public education,” Weil said.

Weil also touts a five-part plan to set off the effects of inflation and benefit homeowners, dubbed the “American Dream Economy for Florida.”

Weil said he would push legislation to extend $50,000 down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, increase child tax credits by $5,000 per dependent, offer $20,000 business loan assistance for development, make cost of living adjustments more frequent for senior citizens, and provide an additional insurance payment to families and businesses where a natural disaster has occurred, according to his campaign.

“Every last person that was cut into the boundaries here deserves access to their representative and deserves to be represented in good faith in the halls of U.S. Congress,” Weil said.

“I’m in this race for everyone, and my opponent appears to be in this race for himself,” Weil said. “Choosing to dedicate your life to running a casino is a little bit of a different intrinsic motivation than dedicating your life to educating children in the community.”

Early voting will be open from March 22 until March 29. The polls will be open on election day from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.