Hollywood - Republican Congressional candidate Casey Askar highlighted his business background in his pitch to win the District 22 GOP primary while speaking to The Floridian during the Sunshine State Showdown at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
"I would do exactly what I've done my entire career is build jobs and create opportunity. That's what I do," Askar said. "I do it from the grassroots up. I'm a big advocate of government staying out of our pockets, controlling taxes, so that way the free markets can do their thing and flourish. I live that. I do that."
Askar is the chairman and CEO of Askar Family Office, a company specializing in franchising, commercial real estate, energy, and construction in South Florida. Askar also runs businesses across two dozen states in the country.
"I can tell you this within this district, and throughout here in South Florida, I employ 2000 people. These are jobs that I've created, and I plan on continuing to do that now through government, through policy that's business friendly," Askar continued. "Small business is the biggest employer in the country, so we've got to make sure - they don't even want us to help them. I'm telling you directly, small business doesn't want governments help, they just want government to stay away from them, and that's really what I want to do."
Askar also mentioned having a seat on the House Appropriations Committee to allocate funds back to the district, which includes parts of Collier, Hendry, Broward, and Palm Beach counties if elected. CD 22 was redrawn by the Florida Legislature during the state's special legislative session in April.
"One key committee that's very important to me is appropriation. I want to make sure that we are - my job is to bring as many resources to my district which by the way bring them down to my district it echoes throughout South Florida, cause it's all one big ecosystem," Askar said. "These are things that will help as people are moving into Florida continue to be able to have infrastructure and job creation. It's all about the economy, and nobody knows how to do it better than the business guy."
On that front, Askar emphasized improving the district's quality of life. The district includes many Hispanics, who as a majority sided with President Donald Trump in Florida in the 2024 presidential race.
"I think number one for all of us. I don't care if you're Hispanic, I don't care what you are - it's they want to have good lifestyle, they want to have a future for their kids, they want to be able to put food on the table, they want prices at the pump that they can afford, in the grocery store, and they want to have jobs," Askar said. "They want their job protected, and they want to create more jobs. That's first and foremost, that's what we all want."
Askar further noted President Trump's importance to the Hispanic community, including bringing hope to Venezuela after removing President Nicolas Maduro in January that brought shockwaves to the region. A similar move in Cuba could be next.
"Then obviously the Hispanic community that's connected to Cuba, that's connected to Venezuela, has roots there, has family there, they have loved ones there, so this is very important to them that President Trump what he did in Venezuela was amazing. No president's ever done that in our lifetime, not in my lifetime," Askar expressed.
"We need to make sure that we continue driving that in Venezuela and clean out that regime and get rid of communism and bring prosperity to that country. The country has resources; there is no reason why people should be living like that," Askar continued. "With Cuba, same thing, Cuba is the cancer of our hemisphere that's spreading that. So, I think it's very important to the community to clear out communism in those two countries and keep it from spreading from Brazil and so forth."
Askar is in a Republican primary with Michael Carbonara, Belinda Kesier, David Burck, Michael Thompson and others.
The primary is Aug. 18.
