Oviedo, FL - This week Republican voters in Florida's 7th congressional district got the chance to hear what the candidates had to say for themselves on the issues in a debate-style format. The topic of congressional bipartisanship came up, to which many just about all of the Republican candidates said they would work with Democrats in Congress.
The moderator, Publisher Javier Manjarres, asked the five candidates if they would be willing to work across the aisle if elected to congress. Combat veteran and businessman, Cory Mills (R-FL), kicked off the responses by clarifying, "It is not an unwillingness for conservatives to work with others. It is an unwillingness to work with people, and how could we work with people who are intentionally trying to destroy America, intentionally trying to undermine our constitution?"
Mills added, "Bottom line is, I'm going to work with the Republican party to make sure we pass the right bills to protect America, protect our children, protect our constitution."
Mills was then followed by Rusty Roberts (R-FL), who claimed, "I'm not going to Washington to fight Republicans, I'm going to Washington to fight Democrats." Roberts added, "If you complain about other Republicans all the time, and not the other party, you're going to get nothing done."
Contrary to Roberts' remarks, Scott Sturgil (R-FL) took an alternative route and bashed Republicans who would be considered RINOs, stating, "I think there's a couple liberals in our party and one of them is retiring and one is going to get beat next Tuesday in Wyoming." After a short pause for applause, Sturgill said, "absolutely, I can work across the aisle, and I can work with all the factions of our party."
"If we as Republicans, as Conservatives, are not able to form dialogue and ask questions about people, who maybe don't see everything exactly we individually see them, we're going to lose. We have to actually learn to converse with people that see things differently because in the SEAL teams if you think you're done learning and you have learned everything in tactics, the enemy has got the upper hand. We have to be willing to have conversations," said former Navy Seal and Pastor Brady Duke.
Ted Edwards (R-FL), who landed some crucial shots on Democrats, stated, "We're not going to be able to work with the woke progressive left," which was met with applause from the audience and opponent, Cory Mills. Edwards continued, "Democrats want the same things we want. They want secure borders, they want deficit reduction, things like that. You work with who you need to work with to get 51%. Hopefully, we'll have that and won't need the Democrats."
With the primary now just days away, a public opinion poll conducted at the debate this week showed that Cory Mills leads the field Republican candidates in the race.
