Naples—The first debate or candidate forum for the Republican congressional nomination in Florida’s 22nd District took place this past Saturday, and the event was nothing less than a 2-hour political snoozefest.
The debate, which was put on by the Collier County Republican Executive Committee shortly after the slated qualifying period in Florida ended, drew over 100 attendees, who hoped to learn more about the qualified candidates and their positions of pressing issues.
The newly-drawn district, which is currently represented by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D), who left to run in the majority-minority district in District 20, leans Republican.
The moderator of the event did ask substantive, softball, Republican-friendly questions, but failed to ask important questions about current events.
Those expecting to see fireworks come out of the forum were disappointed. Every candidate on the dais sounded the same, and all put their best foot forward in playing the Trump card, promoting and talking up the America First agenda that President Donald Trump has put forth.
Popular State Rep. Yvette Bennaroch (R) was one of those attendees who appeared to have been looking for a more colorful forum or debate between the candidates,
“I think it was it was great for the people of the county to be able to learn a little bit more about the candidates,” said Rep. Bennaroch to The Floridian. “We probably needed a little bit more fireworks, you know a little bit more controversial questions, but you know, I think it was a good debate.”=
Rep. Bennaroch added that she believed that voters “learned a little bit more” about each candidate.
A couple of interesting questions that were asked and answered were those of congressional stock market trading and members of Congress having dual citizenship.
All the candidates agreed that stock trading by members of Congress needs to be stopped, and that only American citizens should be elected to Congress.
The Candidates
Belinda Keiser, Casey Askar, David Burck, Michael Thompson, Terri Hasdorff, Michael Carbonara, and Richard Evans.
Richard Evans— An accountant living in Ave Maria, appeared to favor clean energy over oil production. “Save the Water. Save the aquifer,” stated Evens. While Mr. Evans talked up and regurgitated Republican talking points, he came off like a talking parrot on crack every time he went over the allotted time each candidate had been given to speak. It was annoying to watch. Probably just nerves.
Terri Hasdorff—A small business owner and former Capitol Hill legislative staffer, was very articulate. Again, she said all the right things, answered all the questions as any good Republican candidate would, and should answer.
The issue of Foreign Policy has hardly addressed, but Hasdorff managed to address the growing threat of Socialism. “Socialism is at our doorstep. It’s a cancer,” she stated.
The big issue for Hasdorff is, will she be able to raise the money needed to win?
Casey Askar—A businessman from Naples and U.S. Marine veteran, Askar kicked off the forum but immediately stumbled when he tried to use picture props to outline his deep ties President Trump, V.P. JD Vance, and other Republican leadership. Askar quickly recovered and focused on his “business acumen” when he answered the ensuing questions asked of him.
He ran for congress in 2020 and narrowly lost the ugly Republican primary race in Florida’s 19th District. Askar is considered one of the three favorites in the race because he is well known in Collier County, having recently received the endorsements of Collier Sheriff Kevin Rambosk and Rep. Gus Bilirakis, and because he can self-fund his campaign.
Michael Thompson— The long-time Republican activist and former Lee County GOP Chairman touted being from the district as his advantage over the rest of the field. The controversial Thompson is all about MAGA, but like most several of the candidates in the race, raising the cash need to win will pose to be his biggest obstacle.
“I am this district. I am from this district,” Thompson asserted.
Thompson made a dig at Askar at the end of the forum, referring to someone on the dais as being an immigrant. He is right. Askar is an immigrant. Belinda Keiser was born in the Philippines to an American father so she was an American citizen at birth even though she was born abroad.
This is the case for Senator Ted Cruz, who was born in Canada to an American parent.
Belinda Keiser– She is a well-known and respected staple in Florida Politics, in particularly in municipal and state-level politics. Her apparent ability to self-fund her campaign has raised curious eyebrows and has positioned her as one of the aforementioned favorites to win the Republican nomination in CD 22.
“I am an America First policy person,” said Keiser, who also touted the congressional endorsements she recently received, including those of Rep. Jimmy Patronis, Vern Buchanan, and Randy Fine.
Keiser’s campaign is based on supporting President Trump. No surprise here, considering that is what every candidate is doing. Interestingly enough, Keiser stated," All my life, I have been a conservative."
She may have been a conservative all her life, but was she a Democratic or Republican conservative?
During her second run for political office against State Senator Gayle Harrell in the 2018 special election in Florida’s 25th Senate District, Keiser, who touts not being a politician, lost the race by 10 percentage points.
Sen. Harrell pummeled her with the fact that she had been a registered Democrat most of her life. Keiser previously ran for office as a registered Democrat in 2000, and over the years, donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats like, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Al Gore, and Hillary Clinton. This will be Keiser’s biggest challenge. She has also donated to Republicans.
David Burck—Burck is also a U.S. Marine veteran. He is also a former police officer and currently a small business owner. Burck came off very well. The married father of a baby boy appeared comfortable speaking in front of a large group, passionately expressing his views on the issues and his beliefs.
According to the latest Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, Burck is struggling to raise the cash needed to compete in this race. Like they say in politics, money talks, cattle excrement walks.
Michael Carbonara—the former New Yorker and lifelong Independent voter, who is also one of the three candidates considered frontrunners in the race —articulated his campaign message in his very distinct New York accent. Fuggettaboutit, oh.
Carbonara comes off like he is President Trump’s mini-me. This is not a dig on his height, even though he isn’t the tallest person in the room, but rather that he is also all about pushing MAGA. He refers to himself as “MAGA Michael Carbonara” for Christ's sake.
The Fintech executive stated that his family escaped communist Cuba. In reality, his wife’s family fled Cuba, not his immediate family. As I said, Carbonara is one of the frontrunners, but his ongoing legal drama, which includes lawsuits alleging that he “condoned the sexual assault of an employee, and that his company, Ibanera, was “wrongfully withholding” millions of dollars of Bahamian Deltec Bank funds, could be problematic for him.
Florida’s primary election will be held on August 18. This race is wide open.
