Jim Schwartzel, founder of a conservative talk radio station and media publisher, recently announced his candidacy for Florida’s 19th Congressional District seat, potentially replacing Republican Congressman Byron Donalds.
Schwartzel is a Southwest Florida native and graduated from Bishop Verot Catholic High School in Fort Myers. The district includes Naples and Fort Myers in Lee and Collier counties.
In an interview with WINK News, he outlined one of his top priorities if elected to replace Donalds.
"I believe it's our infrastructure. We need to fix it. We need to be a great place to live because that's why people come here," Schwartzel said. "I feel the way we are allocated federal funds doesn't work. We're in one of the fastest-growing areas of the country, but federal funds are set up and allocated based upon census, which is done every ten years."
"Our population changes dramatically over a ten-year period of time. So we're always far behind and have been far behind for decades on our funding," Schwartzel added.
Schwartzel owns and operates 92.5 FOX News and Trump County 93.7 Radio in Southwest Florida. He also owns Gulfshore Life Media, which publishes the Naples Press, a weekly newspaper covering Naples and Collier County.
To avoid unfairness or bias, Schwartzel said he would buy his own ads and not stop other candidates from running theirs on his media platforms.
The seat will open after Congressman Donalds announced he would not seek re-election and instead run for Florida governor. Schwartzel, a self-described non-politician, praised Donalds for his work in the district.
"I think Byron Donalds has done a wonderful job, so I would be fully supporting him, and I would like to pick up the torch where he left it off and keep running," Schwartzel said.
He also said he would be "eye-to-eye" with President Donald Trump on his agenda. Both Collier and Lee counties went for Trump by 66% and 64% margins, respectively, in the general election last November.
"He's America first policy. And I believe with the tariffs, he's trying to bring jobs back. He's a businessman. He's negotiating," Schwartzel said. "And so I think in the long-term picture, you're going to see jobs come back. You're going to see fair trade, and fair trade is what the United States needs."
CD 19 is considered a safe Republican seat. Last November, Donalds defeated Democrat Kari Lerner in the district by nearly 33 points.
Schwartzel joins Republicans Jim Oberweis and John Fratto for the seat. Howard Sapp is the Democrat in the race.
The general election will not occur until November 2026.
