If millennials are looking for their generation’s future political leaders, it’s likely that they’ll find them in Florida’s 1st Congressional District — where there are five Gen Y candidates running in the primaries.
Since Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) announced his retirement last month, three Republican and two Democratic millennials have stepped up to the challenge of filling his shoes.
Rebekah Johansen Bydlak, Matt Gaetz, and James Zumwalt are running in the Republican primary, while Amanda Kondrat’yev and Steven Specht are running for the Democratic nomination.
Gaetz is the only candidate running with previous experience as an elected official. The 33-year old has been a member of the Florida House of Representatives since 2010, and has become known for his defense of the Second Amendment and his attempts to implement “open carry” laws in Florida.
Even though Gaetz is the only elected official, Bydlak and Zumwalt both have experience working in politics.
If elected, Bydlak would be the youngest member of Congress. She has spent several years in Washington D.C. working as the outreach director for the Coalition to Reduce Government Spending, and before that she was the Florida State Co-Chair of the Young Americans for Liberty. Her priorities include tackling the debt, repealing Common Core, and repealing Obamacare.
Zumwalt, a decorated Navy veteran, also has some political experience. According to FloridaPolitics.com, he served as a military-oriented legislative aide to the outgoing congressman, and has made national security and veterans’ issues key parts of his platform.
On the Democratic side, Kondrat’yev is a proud Bernie Sanders supporters and single mother. While she doesn’t have an issues page on her website, Kondrat’yev has stated that she wants to tackle income inequality, pollution, and “oppressive school-to-prison pipelines.”
Specht, the other Democrat in the race, is a military veteran who served in Iraq. He’s promised to fight for reinvesting in infrastructure, tackling the national debt, and increasing job creation. The 33-year-old is running without a clear ideology, saying that both liberals and conservatives have good points.
“There are merits to limited government and there are merits to big government,” Specht told The Pulse Gulf Coast. “However, no matter what government we have, we need to pay for it. The last two presidents both doubled the national debt while in office, destroying a budget surplus brokered by a Republican Congress and President Bill Clinton. Fifteen years of foolish fiscal policy will saddle my children and my grandchildren with a burden they didn’t earn if we don’t act sooner than later.”
