Fighting to Keep Tampa Free in a Competitive Florida House Race

0:00 Speaker 1 Well, let’s go to Florida to find out what is going on. And running for congressional seat in Tampa, we have Mike Beltran, and he’s going to give us an update. Well, Mike, is the sun shining down there?

0:14 Speaker 2 It’s a little overcast today, but things look sunny for the campaign. We’ve been working since May when they redrew the maps, and we’re out at early voting sites waving signs. We were knocking doors all weekend and, of course, fundraising.

0:28 And we had a really good debate against my opponent on Friday. She’s dodging TV debates, but we did get her at a forum, and we won that. So we’re feeling really good with just over two weeks to go.

0:43 Speaker 1 Understood. Now, I mean, we’re down to, what, 15, 14, 13 days. I mean, it’s unbelievable. Tell me about Florida. Florida, there’s a lot of people have moved down to Florida in the last three, four years. I mean, tons of people have moved down. And if they’re escaping other states, is their intentions honorable? In other words, they want to

1:10 keep Florida safe? Yeah, absolutely.

1:13 Speaker 2 That’s why we’ve seen a redshift in recent elections in Florida, and that’s why Florida is different than the rest of the country, especially in terms of people predicting a so-called blue wave. People are moving to Florida, and it’s not the people who like the way that the blue states are governed. Just by way of example, in Florida, we

1:34 spend half what blue states spend per capita. New York’s budget is twice ours, and they have fewer people. And we have a better standard of living here in Florida.

1:45 Speaker 3 It’s safer. The roads are better.

1:47 Speaker 2 Certainly the weather is better, and we’re a lot better governed. We’ve done a lot to control health care costs. Obviously, our housing costs are a lot better than up north. I mean, you and I are both originally New Yorkers. Obviously, you have some interests in Florida, and I decided to move here 17 years ago for individual liberty and economic opportunity,

2:08 and that’s what I found, and that’s what millions and millions of other folks from up north and a lot of blue states are finding in Florida.

2:16 Speaker 1 Well, my wife’s father and mother moved to St. Petersburg 40 years ago, and I’ve been going to St. Petersburg ever since, and And we finally decided to invest in St. Petersburg, and it was a great investment. We built the greatest building in the west coast of Florida.

2:33 Speaker 2 Yeah, I saw it back in the spring when you did the ribbon cutting.

2:37 Speaker 3 It was very nice. I don’t like the politics in St. Pete.

2:40 Speaker 2 There are certainly some nice restaurants. But over here in Tampa, you know, we really believe in family values, individual liberty, separation of powers, limited government, making sure there’s not inappropriate materials in our schools or inappropriate topics discussed in the classroom, making sure that we limit the government to its rightful role and allow... local governments and private businesses the room

3:06 to do what they need to do. And of course, you know, protecting religious liberty and so forth as well.

3:11 Speaker 1 Have you learned to say to the people up north, come on down?

3:16 Speaker 3 Well, I’ve said that to my parents.

3:18 Speaker 2 My parents actually still live in New York, and I always, they come down a little bit, but I always urge them to move down to Florida. I think they’re staying put for now, but... But, yeah, look, Florida is a great place to live.

3:32 Speaker 3 I was very.

3:32 Speaker 2 Deliberate when I moved 17 years ago. And, you know, for the last decade or so, I’ve been involved in, you know, making Florida great. And I think what’s worked here in terms of our government that’s caused people to move here by the millions can work in Washington.

3:46 Speaker 1 Now, you’re running for Congress in Tampa. Give us your website of people who want to help you. Sure.

3:53 Speaker 3 It’s BeltranForCongress.com. It’s B-E-L-T-R-A-N.

3:58 Speaker 2 And you can find more information and then please donate. We’re doing our final ad buys this week and we’re neck and neck with the last Democrat on the Florida Gulf Coast. We’re in a good position to take her out.

4:11 And especially with the help of your listeners, we can definitely get across the finish line. So please go to BeltranForCongress.com, check out the content and please donate.

4:22 Speaker 1 Thank you so much, and we’ll catch up with you again real soon.

4:26 Speaker 3 Thank you so much for having me. Great to be on again. Thank you.