In Brief:
- 🗣️ Florida congressional candidate Gay Valimont met with Niceville residents, stressing the importance of local representation, reducing political division and listening directly to voters’ concerns.
- 🏠 Valimont highlighted voting rights, affordable housing and rising insurance costs as top priorities, outlining proposals to expanding housing options.
- 🇺🇸 She pledged strong support for veterans, criticized government dysfunction and encouraged attendees to talk with others about voting.
Florida congressional candidate Gay Valimont held an open discussion at Tango 3 Coffee Roasters on Saturday, inviting residents of the area to share their biggest concerns and considerations they’ll take to the polls on Nov. 3.
Running for Florida’s 1st district, encompassing the western panhandle, Valimont lives in Pensacola.
“All over the state now, with all the redistricting, people are running in different districts that they don’t live in,” Valimont said. “I don’t understand how you do that if you don’t understand the people, and understand the grocery stores, and the banks and the churches.”
By finding out what matters to Floridians, Valimont said she wants to take political stress out of their daily lives.
“If I had one dream in the world, it would be to take politics off of your plate,” she said. “I want you to trust me enough to let me take that weight.”
Valimont said she’s not interested in “political hate,” and invited those who disagree with her campaign points to come together instead.
“I have been through the worst that there is to go through in life and through that experience, it teaches you what’s important and what’s not. Arguing with the other side and keeping a division between us is not helpful to Northwest Florida. I believe that we need somebody just like us to stand up because there are things that we need here, and we’ve never had a representative to bring those things.”
One of those issues, Valimont said, is voting rights. She said the first action she’d take if elected would be to pass the John. R Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
“The John Lewis Voting Rights Act makes sure that everybody has access to the ballot box, and we [currently] have no federal legislation that says that everybody should have access,” she said. “… If we have nothing else, we have our vote, and that’s how we get control.”
Participants in Valimont’s discussion raised concerns about the price of housing and its associated costs, specifically in Okaloosa County.
“Because we live in Florida and because the insurance companies know that we are in a climate crisis, they get insurance for their insurance policies,” Valimont responded. “That adds a 25% increase on what we already pay. That’s why our insurance has gone up trifold in the last ten years. What I’m suggesting is that 25% of reinsurance goes back to the federal government and is covered under FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency]. … Jared Moskowitz has already presented this bill in front of Congress. Because our Congress is so worthless and has abdicated their power and their job, it hasn’t been voted on yet. We could immediately see a 25% decrease if we could pass that bill, and it would, I promise you, it would pass in Congress.”
Valimont also endorsed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.
“We build more houses, build more apartments, we build more affordable housing, we give people tax breaks to build on existing structures; and we, our teachers, our service industry workers, have somewhere that they can live and afford,” Valimont said. “We have to pass that act to be sure that we can build more housing.”
With nearly 32,000 veterans in Okaloosa County, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Valimont said taking care of former military members is also a campaign priority.
“Veterans really come out for me, and it’s because I care. I’m not trying to hand veterans off to be somebody else’s problem. … Jason Boatwright is one of those people that just wants to help them, and he’s a Republican. … He knows that if I get elected, I’m going to hire him because it’s what is best for our service members.”
Valimont said her biggest concern about the federal government is that it’s becoming too self-serving.
“It looks like a big playpen in front of the White House. It looks like one of those things that babies lay in and hit the toys. I think that is the thing that angers me the most. Of course they’re taking away Medicaid. Of course they’re destroying our education system, but the blatant self-enriching right now — Republicans always want to talk about national debt when a Democrat is in office, but our national debt has gone up to $39 trillion under this president that said he was going to lower prices, cut inflation and do all this other stuff.”
Valimont believes the federal government is also self-enriching when it comes to foreign affairs.
“Iran has more power than they’ve ever had before,” she said. “They control the Strait of Hormuz and they’re making ships pay a tax right now. They’re making money, so they’re in no hurry to come to the table, and our Supreme Leader talks about how he’s bored of the war now. He doesn’t want to solve it and he doesn’t care about inflation.”
Tina Rae Harris is a Niceville resident and veteran of the U.S. Air Force. She said Valimont has her vote because of the respect and care she has for Northwest Floridians.
“She’s an ally and she’s pro-immigrants,” Harris said. “She doesn’t call us illegal aliens. People are hardworking migrant farmers, construction workers, roofers — I mean, they contribute to our society, to our community, not just with the hard labor they do with low pay, but they also buy into our economy. … [Valimont] is just for everything good and I feel like I have to 100% support her.”
By inviting open and honest discussion at her “Meet Gay Valimont” event, she hopes Floridians will follow her example to solve the issues brought up.
“I’m asking you to leave here today and go talk to 10 people,” she said. “Go talk to 10 people that don’t believe voting works for them, that don’t believe that things are going to get better with their vote. Talk to them. Register somebody to vote.”
