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🗳️ Brand new US Congressman Jimmy Patronis represents Northwest Florida from the Alabama line to Walton County in the east. Replaced Matt Gaetz and Congress after a series of special elections earlier this year.
The following is the transcript of the interview between Mid Bay News’ Collin Bestor and US Congressman Jimmy Patronis (R-FL-1).
Collin Bestor: “We’re joined by Congressman Jimmy Patronis from Florida’s First Congressional District. Jimmy, how are you doing today?
Jimmy Patronis: “Great. Thanks for having me.”
CB: “April 2nd, you were elected as the newest representative of Florida’s first district, replacing former Congressman Matt Gaetz. It’s been a while since you and I have talked, but since that time, how is it being a freshman in Washington?”
JP: “So, one, thanks for having me. And I tell you, I think my expectations have been surprising. The people up here are actually a hell of a lot nicer than I was expecting. I specifically mean the members and also the committee staff, the White House, which is incredibly responsive when we’ve got issues that our constituents are having with one of the various federal agencies, a policy issue.
Literally, there are weekly wellness checks from the White House to the members of Congress just to make sure that we’re getting what we need as responses and answers and dealing with our constituent needs. So I tell you, I’m loving it.
Like I said, I’m having a heck of a lot more fun than I thought I was going to have. I think my expectation is that it was going to be a little more hostile up here, but you know, we’ve got an opportunity to change this country for the good.
[The] President’s doing right by the citizens of Northwest Florida with his agenda and how he’s leading.”
CB: “We’ll get to the President working with him in a bit. You were Florida’s CFO before Congressman Gaetz. What are the differences, and are there any similarities in the two jobs?”
JP: “You know, I really think there’s probably a lot of similarities. As the CFO I’m essentially an executive. I’m managing an office of about 3000 employees, and we will execute the laws that the legislature passes.
Up here, and I’m going back and putting my old legislative hat on. We’re actually filing legislation based on what our constituents are telling us or what we are feeling is important to us that we learn on the campaign trail.
And then we’re having the chance to write those laws again. So it’s nice having everybody on the same page between The House and The Senate and the Executive Branch.
But I’m loving it. My whole entire team that I have up here, they all volunteered to come and be a part of this new chapter in our public service. And so I’m very proud of the team we’ve assembled. Just glad to get our district offices open. They’re still under construction.”
CB: “I hope you get those up and soon so that way the constituents here in Florida’s First District can actually come see you and you can come talk to them.
CB: But you’ve hit the ground running so far. You’ve introduced two bills so far. One, I’ll start with the clean water bill. I think that’s one that’s very interesting to me. What was so important to you about that? And if passed, what do you think that could do for not only constituents here in Northwest Florida, but for the country as a whole?
JP: “So, an unintended consequence, and I’m gonna get a little nerdy on you, but in Florida, we got a delegation of authority by the Army Corps of Engineers to issue dredge and fill permits. Now, those permits aren’t just for schools and churches or like water treatment plants, but reservoirs, so you name it. There’s not many things in Florida if you’re going to develop a site for any purpose, public good, for profit, that’s not going to require a dredge and fill permit. So the delegation of authority was given to the state of Florida saying, ‘you know what state of Florida? you’re sophisticated enough to handle this on your own.’
A couple other states, I think Michigan and maybe Massachusetts also have this delegation.
A lot of responsibility, but because Florida had the maturity to handle it, we were given that authority by the federal government. So, as we are going and processing these permits, they were typically done by the Army Corps of Engineers. Now the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is handling that permitting process.
There was a court ruling where a federal court was challenged down in the Collier County area where it said, ‘This permit is not taken into consideration the Endangered Species Act.‘ So now [the court ruling] threw the whole permitting process into a legal challenge.
So now we’re in a dilemma where the Army Corps of Engineers has gotten out of processing those permits. But the courts are saying, ‘all right, you’ve got to get back and process those permits again.’ They don’t have the staff, they don’t have the resources, they don’t have the manpower to do something that they had delegated to the state of Florida several years ago.
So now what we’re trying to do is get the laws focused in Florida to allow that delegation to come back and let Florida do what we were doing very well, in my opinion. So, you know, my bill is to help streamline it.
In order to try to get us back on the same page, to be able to allow that authority to exist in Florida again. So we’re just trying to create some predictability in the timeline. I’m a big advocate for, you know, [the rules that require people to] pull the permits. But, just have them predictable.
You know, if I’m willing to do everything by the letter of the law, Florida statute, federal law, you name it, just, you know, allow me to have some predictability. And this is all we’re asking, unfortunately.
Government sometimes does not move as fast as we would like it to. And sometimes permits for even well-intended projects like a stormwater plant, you name it, gets bogged up with years’ worth of soft costs like engineering work in order to fulfill some obligation that may be overkill, but just because the permitting process can be so burdensome.”
CB: “Is part of it by filing this so early?”
JP: “We are in the early throes of hurricane season. If this bill is passed, this could help out communities along the Gulf Coast, especially here in Florida where hurricanes are not gonna say when they’re gonna come, but it’s a matter of if they come. Yeah, mean, it really could. I mean, this permit has such far reaching implications.
Like I said, you can’t build a school without a dredge and fill permit. You can’t build a water treatment plant without a dredge and fill permit. You can’t build affordable housing without a dredge and fill permit. And now we basically said Army Corps of Engineers who abandoned this process years ago to the state of Florida.
Now the federal court saying, you know, Army Corps of Engineers, now you got to do this all over again. Like I said, they just weren’t built to do They’ve actually been bringing resources in from other states to manage how heavy of a workload it is. So it’s really frustrating. And this is where, you know, I just, I’m not a believer in activist judges that, you know, want to go and change the laws because they got their own agenda. You know, that’s, that’s Congress’s job.
If a constituent has a problem with something, go get your Congressman to change the law. But a judge snapping his fingers and bringing, you know, any type of good quality development to a grinding halt is very problematic.”
CB: “Moving on to the second bill, and this seems the most partisan. You introduced legislation to investigate Joe Biden, or President Joe Biden, his cognitive mental decline that we’ve seen during his first term, first and only term.
Why do you think that was so important to you this early in your tenure as a Congressman to get that bill filed?
JP: “Well, again, we’re just coming off of an election in November and now we have all the actions that have been taking place over, say, the last year that I think there’s a certain amount of doubt in some people’s minds of the cognitive abilities of the previous administration and how they made their decisions. Well, then you have all of these staffers that are from the previous administration. They’re either changing parties to independent or writing books, and they’re starting to talk about the challenges or the lack of oversight in that administration and how they did business.
That’s concerning to me.
Look, hopefully the inquiry that we’re pushing forward, you know, comes back with nothing. Hopefully it comes back that we’re asking a bunch of questions and everything was done via standard operating procedure. But if it wasn’t, that’s a problem. That’s a real problem. And that means we don’t have enough oversight over the most powerful office on earth.
And so look, I’m not trying to clip the wings of a president, but if there were actions, executive orders, pardons that were done without the cognitive understanding by that individual who was in office or maybe even handled by somebody else who had access to the auto pen, that’s a real problem. So, it may mean you change protocols or you change policy on how a device as powerful as the auto pen is administered, and who has the authority to have any operational use over it.”
CB: “Moving on to some local issues, have there been any, in your mind, anything that you want to push since becoming onto the role as a Congressman that you want to fight for for Florida’s First District?”
Obviously, this is a heavily militarized area, A lot of people from NAS Pensacola, Eglin Air Force Base, Hurlburt Field, a lot of those people live here. A lot of retirees also live here, too. What are you going to be doing for the current military mission here in Northwest Florida and also the veterans who after their military tenure is done, decide to call this place home?”
JP: “Yeah. So with the VA issues, those are something that are near and dear to my heart, especially when you have somebody who has served their country with distinction. And now here is a side effect of something that has been discovered later in life that was a direct result of them serving our nation.
So look, I want quality of life as much as anybody in whether we’re gonna continue to expand community care where our veterans can get their treatment from their local hospitals, their local administrators. And then the federal government picks up the tab, whether we explore the options of expanding a full-blown hospital in Northwest Florida, or we just re-engineer where the decisions are made that affect Northwest Florida when it comes to our service area with the veterans hospitals that we have in Biloxi, New Orleans.
All these things, ultimately to me, are important because that’s a quality of life for the people that I get to represent. had a good visit with Secretary Doug Collins last week. I formally invited him to come and pay us a visit in Northwest Florida. And it’s not just Northwest Florida, it’s all over the country. This administration knows how important our veterans are, but it’s something that, unfortunately, in my opinion, has been neglected over the last four years.
You know, the Biden administration just had other issues that were more pressing to them, like $7,500, know, tax incentives to buy EVs. And I just think of how many dollars were given out as a tax incentive to buy EV where those dollars could have been pivoted in order to, you know, more significant, you know, quality of life issues with our vets and our military. So again, you know, rolling up our sleeves, making inroads with those decision-makers in this process and trying to bring back as much respect and dignity as possible to those who have served and sacrificed so much.”
CB: “And speaking on that quality of life issue, this is very interesting because we talked about this previously when you’re on the campaign trail, but now you’re a congressman, I feel like it’s a little bit more interesting because your words now have action. And for people like me, teachers, other people who aren’t affiliated with the military mission, affordable housing is one of those things that affect all of us. And now that you actually have sort of power and you can introduce legislation, what can be done about affordable housing in Northwest Florida?
JP: “Sure. This is why, you know, I appreciate how much the President has been pushing for relief when it comes to interest rates. You know, one thing that I learned in Florida and it’s what it is to make a house affordable. You know, there are those cost drivers, inflation and interest rates.
And when you have higher interest rates, that also hurts inflation. So the President has done a good job of trying to get his arms around inflation to drive it down.
One of the greatest drivers in that, which does not make up the inflation rate, is fuel costs. So where we have seen oil is now, I think, around $60 a barrel, we’re starting to see a lower cost per barrel. Unfortunately, it does not roll out to the average gas pump as quick as we’d like it to, but it starts to change the trajectory of how people invest and where they will put their money. And housing to me is the greatest economic engine that you can ask to diversify the economy in Northwest Florida. mean, housing is huge, military is huge, our tourism economy is huge, but the housing creates stability in our communities. And when somebody owns a home, things change in their life. They show up to work, they think about raising a family.
They take care of their yard. They get involved in their community. They then start paying attention to local government issues. They pay attention to their tax bill. They start thinking about the safety and security and the importance of law enforcement, first responders. You don’t have as much of a passion about those issues unless you own a home. Home ownership is to me is one of the best forces for good. But when we have those issues, it makes home ownership not as attainable and not as affordable.
To me, we’re losing an opportunity to create a stronger community, a community that is more family focused. So again, those things just don’t move overnight, but they are moving in the right direction.
There’s some market indicators out there right now that I’m not thrilled with, but there’s an average home price right now in Northwest Florida, about half a million dollars.
There are not many brand new families that can afford to buy a half-million-dollar home. And unfortunately, you’re starting to see people buy their first homes at age 36 or 38.
And that’s that’s not what we would hope. You’d hope somebody be able to make an investment earlier in life, then they have the ability to add-on to that investment, you know, create that investment and then upgrade their home.
Maybe they want to go from a two-bedroom house to a four-bedroom house because now they have kids and they don’t want their kids to sleep in a room together.
Well, if you can’t let them get their foot in the door by their first house, it’s just a much more painful, longer task in order to pull it off. you know, I, you know, I just think where the President’s going and pounding on Jerome Powell about interest rates. These are all things that will help the affordability of homes in our market.”
CB: And one last question on local issues for move on to some other things. You mentioned military, you mentioned workforce and one of the legs of Northwest Florida is tourism. And I want to get your reaction to Governor Ron DeSantis signing Bill SB 1622. Do you think this is a net win for tourism in Northwest Florida or do you feel something different about it?
JP: “So, you know, I haven’t read the bill of how much it pairs back what the original law was. But I know this, people come to Northwest Florida to enjoy the beaches, when they vacation down there.
So, when you have an environment where the beaches are not as accessible, it’s disappointing, you know, and you’ve got those families that maybe they can’t afford to rent a hotel on the beach or a condo on the beach, but you know, they’ll get something a few blocks off the beach. They just want to be able to have access to the beach. So I think, you know, what the governor has signed is at least putting the direction of enjoying our most beautiful natural resources back in the hands of the taxpayers of Florida and they get to have an opportunity to enjoy that resource a little bit more. And you know, and the beautiful thing about the Florida statutes are if there’s unintended consequences with this legislation, well, you just call your state legislator and you ask them to file a bill. I do think the bill that Governor DeSantis signed was the right bill or at least the right idea as plans going forward to enjoy this incredible Gulf of America that we get to call home.”
CB: “And now let’s move on to some national issues. Over the weekend, we saw, I guess, America defend Israel’s interests. I guess that’s a fair way to say, by taking out Iran’s nuclear facilities. You called them necessary and calculated. What is your sort of overview of the whole situation that we saw over the weekend with America’s airstrikes on the country of Iran?
JP: “I think there was a number of issues in play. Think when the President made the trip through the Middle East a couple of months ago, and he met with all those different heads of state. I think there was also a listening tour that the President was undertaking. You know, ‘look guys, I want you to be more engaged with the US economy. I want you to invest.’ So the President was really touting those investments from those Middle Eastern countries into US companies or new growth.
So I think also part of that conversation, I would be shocked if it didn’t entail, ‘what are your concerns about the environment in the Middle East?’
I think the instability that Iran was creating in that market, that environment was really top of mind. I think all those Middle Eastern countries, as much as they want to point the finger at Iran, they didn’t want to deal with the drama that Iran was bringing to the table. Back in 2019, when I met with Netanyahu in Israel, he told us when President Trump tore up the Iran nuclear agreement – It did more for solidifying, you know, countries that weren’t necessarily as much buddies or allies, but it brought them all together because they all had the same frustrations with Iran. Little things like allowing flyovers by commercial jets across Saudi Arabia into Tel Aviv from other countries around the world. Prior to President Trump, that wasn’t even being allowed. President Trump tears up that agreement. They all start coming together. And I think, you know, what President Trump is remembering and reflecting on is how good times were back in 2019. Okay. And COVID was just one of those black chapters in our nation’s history, but he was remembering how good times were in 2019 and trying to go back, revisit with those players around the table and how we can deal with it. Unfortunately, the Biden administration unfroze I think about $12 Billion worth of resources to Iran.
You had the Obama administration giving them billions of dollars in cash on pallets. So you had this concern about where were they going to take nuclear and nuclear development in Iran and more and more, you know, why would I bury centrifuges, you know, hundreds of feet under the ground if I wasn’t trying to do something with it that may be of a concern or possibly even not fully transparent with what may be weapons down the road. I think there was a concern amongst that whole part of the world that Iran does not need nukes. The President agreed, Israel agreed. so then you had Israel start off with their bombing. I think all this goes back to October 7th, but you Israel start with their bombing, taking out radar systems, those different concerns for any type of future conflict in the area. And then the President gave Iran plenty of time to say, ‘hey, if you want to just formulate nuclear for energy production, we’re good with that. Come to the table, come to the table.’ And there was just so much, I think probably hard feelings by what Israel was doing to Iran that the President finally, his patience got short.
He did a little bit of a misdirection by sending bombers from both directions, leaving the United States. And then he went ahead and closed any concerns of the world might have with nuclear development out of Iran. And so now we’ve got the ceasefire. know, it’s still, look, a ceasefire, think, is going to be a little bit of a hope and a wish. But, you know, trying to bring these players back to the table, I do think the President is the absolute master of leverage. So I mean, as he is sitting here, you have a country that has been devastated by multiple, you know, sophisticated military operations over the last 12 days. ‘And can we please stop doing it?’ Here’s the most important thing I think that we’re not talking about is everybody else in the world, whether you be Russia or China or Venezuela, you’ve just gotten a wake up call that there’s a brand new sheriff in town and the President is not going to tolerate your foolishness of trying to screw with a stability we have in our world.
And I think the President, all he wants, he wants people to make money. He likes prosperity. He likes safety. He doesn’t like putting our military men and women in a harm’s way where their lives can be in jeopardy. And so it’s a different way of capitalism that he is trying to do it. And I think he definitely understands peace through force, like, you know,
probably we haven’t seen since Ronald Reagan was in office.”
CB: “Now, and the, I guess the criticism from this, from your colleagues on the other side of the aisle is that Trump should have sought congressional approval before bombing Iran. Even your colleague Al Green introduced impeachment articles, yet that failed on the House floor today.
Do you feel like that should have happened? Do you think Trump should have just even briefed or just notified Congress before the attacks happened? Or do you think he was justified with his presidential power?”
JP: “So the President did try to reach out to Hakeem Jeffries. Hakeem Jeffries did not answer his phone. You know, it does happen. Sometimes people don’t pay attention to their phone. My understanding, the President did talk to Chuck Schumer. He did speak to Speaker Johnson.
I’m assuming he spoke to [Senate Majority ] Leader [John] Thune. didn’t hear that part of it. But I think some boxes were checked. But, you know, the Obama administration did these exact same actions, I believe it was eight times during his administration. So again, I think this is rhetoric. This is a strategy by the Democrats to try to do anything they can to knock the President off balance as he’s trying to, you know, secure our world because it had been neglected for the last four years.”
CB: “And as a congressman from a military, heavily military district in this country, how do you balance national security interests and ensure that constituents, because the members from Hurlburt Field, there are special operations guys, how do you sort of balance decisions knowing that you could potentially be on the vote of possibly sending constituents to a war zone?”
JP: “Well, I just know that the military from Northwest Florida, this operation that took place this past weekend, it could not have been as successful if it wasn’t for the expertise and the training that comes right out of Northwest Florida.
The F-35 pilots that flew and escort, they were trained right at Eglin Air Force Base. So, I mean, got chills just saying that to you because I know that we’ve got the best and brightest. I was visiting with a buddy of mine over the weekend who used to fly F-15s and fly F-22s. And he was talking about the caliber of the international pilots from other parts of the world. And as he was telling me, ‘You have no idea how good our pilots really are.’ He says, ‘We’ve flown from pilots from other parts of the world, and they just do not have the understanding, the expertise, or just the skills to be able to manage the type of equipment that we have in America.’ So I think, one, it was very important that we led with that mission this past weekend. I think it was also appropriate how the President handled it. There was plenty of notice given to Iran that this day was coming. So I mean, it’s not like they were going out there to try to target any type of civilian or military targets. We told them no nukes, and this is exactly what the mission was intended to do. No nukes in an environment that’s unstable in our world.”
CB: “Thank you again for taking time out to talk to me. I know you’re busy. You have a house floor vote today, the Al Green’s impeachment vote. I know you voted no on that. Has your life ever been more hectic than it is right now running around Washington, D.C.?”
JP: “No, look, I think it’s different. My boys are still young enough where they’re 14, 16. They’re still under the roof with Katie and I. I know that I get to make decisions that will keep our country in a better place. feel like every decision I’ve made so far since I’ve been here has been in the best interest of our kids and our neighbors’ kids and our communities’ kids and our seniors that have sacrificed so much. So yeah, look, I feel like this is an opportunity that I’ve got to fight for the people that care about the American way of life.
And this is exactly why November’s election outcome was the way it was. The public was done with the chaos and uncertainty that the last four years had dealt us with. So I think you got to trust President Trump right now. You got to give the guy a chance to do some of the things and let him make some of these decisions. And this is exactly what we’re doing in the big, beautiful bill that we’ve already voted out.
and that the Senate is dealing with, you we’re going to bring that in for a landing. It’s going to provide significant tax savings long-term for our citizens in Northwest Florida. And I know the President feels the same way I do. The people of Northwest Florida spend their money a hell of a lot better than Washington, D.C. does.”
CB: “And Congressman, final question to you. You are a first-term Congressman. When we talk again next April or next June of 2026 – What does success mean to you in your first year?
Obviously next year approaching another election cycle, but what is success in your first term for you?
JP: “Well, I feel a little slighted that you don’t want to talk to me again until two years from now.”
CB: “I hope to have you every quarter.”
JP: “Okay. All right.*laughs* You know, success is just taking care of people. Jimmy is not a show horse. Jimmy’s a workhorse and I liked fixing people’s problems.
But you also got to be reasonable. I’m very open about my social media and I encourage people to DM me. so people will send me, they’ll say really hateful things on social media. And if I can tell they’re from the district, I’ll send them direct message and say, hey, can I answer your questions? And it’s amazing how they’ll kind of back up behind their fake name as they’re talking trash on social media, being empowered with their 500 followers. But when they realize you’re just a real person that cares about what’s important to them, you know what Democrats, independents, Republicans, conservatives, liberals, all they want is to be listened to. And that’s what I intend to do. But I, but I will tell you if, if you’re disrespectful to this process or to your neighbors, to your community, if you are just an agent for hate, then you know what? I don’t have any time for you because there’s too many good people that call Northwest Florida home that I love fighting for every single day.
So I tell people, and I give out my email address out to everybody. said, look, email me when you need me. But if you put me on a mailing list, I’m going to block you because I want to be able to respond to people’s problems.”
CB: “Well, on the campaign trail you were giving out your phone number. And I just wanted to know if that ever bit you in the rear end, giving your phone?”
JP: “No, no. I because I mean, look, it doesn’t bother me because I did it. So I tell people all the time, I’m going to be expected to be accessible to people because I put my name on the ballot. The day that my name is no longer on the ballot, that’s the day I feel like I’ll get my privacy. So, you know, I just don’t call me after midnight, you know.”
CB: “Well, Congressman Jimmy Patronis, thank you so much for joining us. I like I, it might sound like a joke, but I hope to have you on more as your first term goes on.”
JP: “Sure. Yeah. I just want to make you feel guilty for just, you know, shaming me for, you know, a two year interview from now. So.
CB: “It’s OK.”
JP: “All right, well look, if anybody wants to find me, I’m on X @JimmyPatronis. Real easy to access me and I appreciate you having me on today.”
CB: “Thank you, Congressman”
JP: “See you buddy.”
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