PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — Two military veterans, both with impressive service records – but with starkly opposing political views – are battling over Florida’s newly redrawn Congressional District 21.
After the redistricting based on the 2020 census, Republican Brian Mast, who is serving his third term representing Florida’s 18th district in Congress, will face off against Democratic newcomer Corinna Balderramos Robinson over the 21st district. U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, who’s currently representing the 21st district, is challenged by Republican Dan Franzese in the redrawn 22nd district.
AMERICA FIRST CANDIDATE
Brian Mast is a highly decorated Army veteran – a Special Forces explosives specialist who served with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). He was in the Army for more than 12 years and even remained on active duty after losing both of his legs to an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. He later received a degree from Harvard.
Mast is an America First candidate who strongly supports the Second Amendment, the right to life, law and order as well as “draining the swamp.” Although a veteran and strong on defense issues, he doesn’t support Washington’s “endless wars.”
He is also a fierce opponent of the Democrats’ agenda here at home.
“Recently, they’ve sought to manipulate the federal election system to funnel taxpayer dollars into their own campaigns, turn Washington, D.C. into a state, raise taxes, spend trillions of dollars we don’t have and force their radical social agenda on all of us. I strongly oppose their embrace of socialist policies, and I’ll do everything in my power to stop it from happening,” Mast writes.
AGAINST CENSORSHIP
At a time when Big Tech and government collude to limit free speech, censor citizens and designate facts and opinions that don’t fit the preferred narratives “disinformation,” Brian Mast has taken a stand for freedom of speech:
“Disbanding the ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ was disinformation - this Administration and its Big Tech allies work to silence speech they disagree with. This is why @HouseGOP made a #CommitmentToAmerica to confront Big Tech in the digital town square,” Mast recently wrote on Twitter.
WANTS TO TAKE GUNS
While also a military veteran with long and distinguished service, Mast’s opponent in the congressional race – Corinna Balderramos Robinson – represents policies that couldn’t be further from Mast’s. She is pro-abortion and wants to strip civilians of the right to own “mass-casualty weapons.”
Balderramos Robinson joined the U.S. Army at 17 and retired as a major with 25 years of service. Among her merits are commanding counter-terrorism teams and high-level support roles during the U.S. occupation government in Iraq. She holds a doctorate degree in Homeland Security Management from Colorado Technical University.
“Service to my community has been a priority for me my entire career, be it as a soldier in the U.S. Army, as Legislative Affairs director in Iraq, or as leader of the Anti-Terrorism and Force Protection Directorate at the Pentagon; with my students as a professor, or simply by lending my neighbors a helping hand. I have always worked to make the lives of those around me better,” Balderramos Robinson writes in a statement on her website.
SAYS MAST “INCITES VIOLENCE”
Balderramos Robinson is endorsed by Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried, Leftist news outlet Palm Beach Post, gun control group Moms Demand Action – and powerful, radical union organization AFL-CIO.
In a campaign video that blends images from Robinson’s service with the U.S. military with pictures from the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Balderramos Robinson states:
“For decades, on the battlefield, Pentagon, Capitol Hill and serving worldwide, I defended our national security and the freedoms we hold dear. Extremists, like my opponent Brian Mast, incite violence and fail to unite our country.”
Corinna Balderramos Robinson has also retweeted posts that call Congressman Mast an “election denier.”
Neither Mast nor Balderramos Robinson responded to The Florida Standard’s interview requests.
