Dr. Trei McMullen on Safety, Security, and the State House Race

Tonight on “The People’s Voice,” we sit down with Dr. Trei McMullen, a candidate for the Florida State House in District 2, combat veteran, and security professional who has built his career around one core mission- keeping people safe.

McMullen runs a security business focused on protecting communities, businesses, and schools. His work is centered on real solutions that help keep children and families safe in everyday life. He has worked in high risk environments overseas and now brings that experience back home to serve his community in a different way.

He says this campaign is about bringing real world experience into government and making sure families feel safe where they live, work, and raise their kids. From school security to community protection, his focus is on practical solutions that people can actually feel.

Blair Castro and Thomas Jenkins sit down with Dr. McMullen for a straightforward conversation about what needs to be done, what is working, and what is not.

👉 Learn more about his campaign at: https://www.treimcmullen.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Good evening. Welcome to WFUZ TV's the People's Voice Podcast. I'm Blair Castro, and I'm here with Thomas Jenkins in the studio. And we have a special guest, Dr. Trey McMullen, who's joining us today. He's running for Florida House District 2.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

SPEAKER_03 0:15

Thank you. We'll get right into it and ask a little bit about your background and why you decided to run for this seat at this point in time.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

So how what motivated you to run for this seat right now in 2026?

SPEAKER_01 0:31

So there was a point, I would say April 17th, 2025, I got a call from my daughter, and she told me, Dad, there's an active shooter at the campus. And every tough guy bone in my body, everything that I had ever planned for, it just went out the window. And I immediately began to pray. Call my mom, said, Mom, call the prayer warriors, text them. Um, Bella has a uh, you know, an active shooter on the campus. As I start to make my way there, she called me and said, Dad, it's I'm good, I'm safe, I'm back in my apartment. And my heart just wouldn't stop fluttering. And that really bothered me because I protect a lot of people. I own a security company, uh, Soyota C L C Soyota stands for CU on the other side. Um, and we'll get to that. But three weeks later, my son goes to a small Christian school and they had a bomb threat. So having just finished up my doctorate, I'm the only doctorate of global security in the state of Florida. And then with the knowledge, skills, and abilities that I have, I felt that God was really trying to nudge me. And I basically, you know, that that question came up, if not now when, if not you, then who? And I'm always the type of guy that says, send me. So, you know, I stood up. Um, I was kind of I at first I was a little weary of it. Um, and then I said, you know what? I'm gonna do this. And here we are today.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

That's funny that you mentioned that if not now when, because when I ran for city council here in Gulf George, we talked about that too, and that was exactly what I said. I was like, well, you know, I don't really want to, should I really do this? But like it felt like nobody was stepping up, and it felt like it was something I just had to do. And even though I didn't win, like so many other opportunities opened up after that, and I learned so much, like I would totally do it again. So it's good to hear that call sometimes and take that chance, even though it is not easy. No man, it's not so going back to your background. Um, I know that you have a background, I believe, in law enforcement, definitely in the military, a strong military background, and then your education. How did uh let's go into just tell us a little bit about your background there and how that plays into your platform?

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Um, so I'm originally from a small place outside of Cleveland, Ohio, youngest child of six. Um I'm PK preacher's kid. Um my older brothers, they have uh they served in the Marine Corps, so service was always there. My mom's the head of the Usher board. And you know, I'm I was always kind of her shadow and just watching her serve and how much it brought her so much joy. Uh, this was already in my DNA, but it really started to come forward. Um, and I like to see people have a good time. Uh so joining the army, uh well, let's go back. I had a moment my senior year where my parents lost our house. And it was the most humbling experience, embarrassing at that time of my life. So I never wanted anybody to go through that. Uh there was no money for college, and I really enjoyed when my siblings came home from the Marine Corps that how people treated them. You know, they looked up to them, they admired them. Um, they used that they always had money. Um, they were able to self-sustain, and they just seemed happy in doing what they were doing and serving their country. And that's what I chose to do. Uh so joined the Army back in 2006, joined a delayed interest program in 2005. Um, started off as a military policeman. That took me to Fort Linwood, Missouri. I did about 21 weeks there at OSAP, means one station unit training, which means you have the same drill sergeants for the whole entire time. Uh, after that, I was stationed in Germany, Kaiserslawden, uh, went and served a 15-month tour in Iraq. We came home, switched duty stations, was reassigned to Fort Bidding, Georgia, jumped out of planes, joined a SWAT team, became a breacher, won a competition, and that allotted me the opportunity to be questioned. What do you want to do? And the thing that I wanted to do was deploy. Um, so I said, go talk to that sergeant major over there. And I went and went and talked to him, and he says, Hey, I could use you. I need a squad leader out in Hawaii. And I was like, wow, Hawaii. And so uh PCS moved to reassign to Hawaii. Once I got to Hawaii, we immediately started training, deployed to Afghanistan for a year. I looked around where my superiors were landing, and where they were landing was not necessarily where the career fields that I wanted to get into once I was out. So I knew that there need I needed to make a change. So I reclassed to counterintelligence. Um, that took me to Fort Wauchuka, Arizona. Um, and I became a counterintelligence special agent, federally badger and credentialed. Um, I really, really enjoyed this. It was surveillance, it was investigations. Um, you really got into the psyche of human uh behavior, and these are things that I really enjoyed as a person. Um, so this was the first time that you know I kind of made a decision on who is Trey? What does Trey want to do, and where do I see myself going post-military? I was already kind of setting myself up at that time. I was an E6 staff sergeant. Um, so it was time to make some decisions that I felt that were going to be best for me and my family and where I was going. Uh, I was assigned to Seventh Special Forces Group. That brought me to Florida uh 2013, and I've been here ever since. Uh I was medically retired out due to uh burn pit exposure that I had gone through during my tours. And, you know, I went through the same thing that every veteran goes through, applying for the 100 jobs a night, uh, phone falling out of my hand, getting the emails back. You're either overqualified and uh or underqualified. And at that time, ego wouldn't let me understand what they meant. Now, looking back, having been in the business for 11 years, I get it. I understand what they were saying. Um, and because the military and the civilian world is very different from the writing to the people, uh, to the surroundings to the environment, it's completely different. So I started my company, Styotis LLC. Uh my sergeant major called me and says, Hey, Mark Tebow, great guy. He calls me and says, Hey, how's it going, Matt? And uh I said, uh, Sergeant Major, it's actually going really rough. Um, I'm not being able to find a job. And he says, Well, let me see if I can make some phone calls for you. He made a phone call two weeks later. I was in training. Um, I was selected for a TS program that would take me to Afghanistan for 60 to 90 days at a time where I was able to feed my family. Um, and also I was able to front my payrolls. Um, so I did that for five years. Um, it was really enjoyable. And then I had my son, and I really had to make the decision because every time I was coming home, I would have these great conversations for business. Hey, this, this, that, and the third. And people would, and then I would leave and come back and I would go try to rekindle it. And a lot of people would say, you know, Trey, we love you, you know, we love your service, but that was a need that we had 60 to 90 days ago. So I had to start, and after so many times appearing that, I got tired of it. Um, so I knew that, and then also, you know, being medically retired for ulcerative colitis, my uh my GL gastro doctor, you know, he says you're killing yourself. And I told him, you know, if I was to die in the combat zone, then so be it. Um the biggest thing for me was to protect my family, feed my family, and to serve my country. And if it meant me giving my life for it, then that was something that I would totally be willing to do. Um, so after I finally finished, stop that, I got my we're gonna go deep. So uh my first actual contract was for Puerto Rico. They had a hurricane out there, and I remember getting a call, and they said, Trey, we need a hundred, you know, special operation guys to come over and to you know protect all the leadership that we have here. And I said, Okay. So me being on program and being around the vest that this world has CAG, Delta, all the colors, SF, Rangers, the SEALs, the best of the best. You know, I recruited a hundred of my teammates. We went through the motions, I brought in the people that I needed, and you know, everything was all the T's were crossed, all the I's were dotted, everything looked good because this was my first experience. So I wanted to make sure that everything was good. Everything was good. Took my staff out there. This is the contract where I was loud, I'm throwing away the phone. I told you guys, this is me, I knew it, I knew I was gonna make it. And two weeks before the contract was supposed to kick off, and I was sending my advon out there, which means my advanced party, um, people that you send ahead of the main body to set things up, logistics, communications, and so forth and so on, they called and said, Hey, Mr. McMullen, we want to let you know that the government's decided to cancel that contract. I spent all my money, and I remember standing in my kitchen and I said, Well, ma'am, is there any way that, you know, this contract could potentially be renewed? Um, I know how the government works. She says, Well, sir, if it does, it'll get rebid out and you'll have to go through the rebidding process. So I said, Okay. And me being green and just getting out the military, I said, Well, where do I send my receipts to get reimbursed for my expenses? Because this is very much military. Um, and she says, Sorry, sir, there's uh there's no recourse for that. That comes at sellers' loss. And I remember I told her, I said, Well, I'm not selling anything. And she said, Uh, you're selling security services, sir. And I said, Well, that's it. You know, it's over. And she said, Yes. I walked outside. My program sat on top of my picnic table. My program manager called and he said, Did they call and tell you? I said, Yes. He says, Okay, well, we're gonna get ready to start making notifications to the guys to get them informed. And I said, No. I said, I asked all hundred of them. I'm gonna call all hundred of them. So the next day I bust that yellow piece of paper out, notebook pad, and I called every single one of them. And it was the hardest thing that I'd ever had to do. Um I immediately after that I called my scheduler and I said, Hey, listen, ma'am, I need to I need to get downrange. You know, I've spent all my money, I'm in a bad place. It's okay, we'll get you in Afghanistan next week, Trey. Gets the family out the door. While in the air, I remembered that majority of the people that I had asked were deployed. So I was going to see these faces of all the people that I thought I had just let down. Once I had got there, my uh C1, which is the country lead, um, become, you know, goes by easy. And uh, which happened, he happened to be my COO for that contract. And uh I walk into the D fact, which is the dining facility, and uh he said there, everybody's at the table, and they said, Hey monster, what's going on? That's my call, son. And I said, What's going on, man? And they said, you know, I was like, I got a hot plate to go. I was gonna go back to the chew and you know, just sit there and continue to lick my wounds. And uh he says, What's wrong with you? He gets up from the tables, I'm walking away. He says, Let me talk to you. And I said, Uh honestly, I'm really embarrassed. Um, I opened my mouth really big. Uh, you know, this is the one that I told people I was so cocky and egotistical at the time, 27 years old. And I I just felt really embarrassed. And I felt that I let everybody down. So he says, Let me grab, let me put my stuff in a hot plate. We're gonna go back in your room and talk. So we went back to my room and talked. We got there, and I began to tell him my solid story, and he says, Stop. He says, Let me tell you what we did. He says, Before you came back here, we sat down and we had a conversation. He says, You're the youngest guy on the team, and he said, You're the first guy that's brought something back here for us to do where we don't have to come over here, where we get to stay at least in America, and make a decent wage. He says, So, not only do we want you to keep going, he says, every time you throw something at the wall, we're gonna be there to make sure it sticks. And that kind of reshaped everything for me in that moment. A year later, I got the call for the first federal contract that I had, FEMA, RK Michael was coming. I was on the range teaching an NRA class, getting ready to go back to Afghanistan again. And um, you know, the District 5, everybody's on the phone. And my program manager was like, you know, just say yes. And I was like, yes. And I remember calling him back after that, and I was like, what did I say yes to? He was like, You said yes to one of the largest federal contracts in Florida history. You're gonna protect all the people, places, and things during Hurricane Michael. And I remember sitting there thinking, wow, this hurricane is really coming. Um, you know, as we know here, um the wobble really, really matters. And there's two categories of people: either you're barbecuing or you're preparing for disaster. And at that time we really didn't know um which way that was gonna happen. Um, so I packed up my stuff, put the whiteboards in there, head to Tallahassee, um, and I recruit 130 Floridians. Um, I said, hey, you know, at that time, I will not lie and say, oh, I did it for um, you know, to later be able to use it in a punchline for politicals. I did not. I did it, I hired all Floridians because I felt that we needed it. And I know how it felt to be overlooked by somebody from outside of the area coming and taking work that I had the knowledge, skills, and ability to do. So I wanted to make sure that that was solid. So that way, when this opportunity came, also the people that were affected, when you're going through a complete loss, um, you know, uh viewers ask you to think about every memoir, photo album, blanket, cup, bell, spoon, everything that that reminds you of family being taken from you, and it's not your fault. It was the loudest cries and sobs that I'd ever heard. And the regret of not uh being able to have insurance, because it's expensive, let's be honest. Um, you know, hurricane insurance is very expensive for the average American. And choosing not to get that, uh, or maybe not choosing, but not being able to afford it. And seeing them come out holding a check for a tenth of what their house was valued at to say, here, restart your life, it moved me in a way that I'll that I thought Afghanistan and Iraq did, but this was way different. These people had no decision in this. And it it really bothered me. You know, they asked, hey Trey, you know, because we would protect the leadership when they came in, Governor DeSantis, we got a great governor. Um, I wish he didn't have to go. But um he says, uh, you know, he came and he did his thing, but a lot of people ask, you know, because we protected from Pentacle all the way to Siesta Key. And, you know, people would ask me, Hey, where's our local leadership? You know, where's our local leadership? And at the time, I'm really apolitical. You know, in the military, we only care about who gives us the highest raise. Um because we're gonna execute the mission regardless. So I uh I kept going, went through the ebbs and flows of that, uh, ups and downs, learning lessons. All I knew at that time was operations. I remember the government coming to say to me, says, Trey, you're doing a good job, but you gotta send us an invoice. We gotta pay you. And I said, Oh, yeah. I was just so 140 people clothe them, equip them, you know, there's no fuel, there's no showers, there's not a lot of living quarters, you know, we're everywhere that FEMA is. Um, it was a lot to navigate, but I was able to successfully do it. A year later, I got a call for the GOPs to protect all the GOPs in the state of Florida. Something had happened at one, and they said they called and said, Hey, Trey, we heard you the guy down there for making stuff happen for security. And I said, Yes, I can make it happen. And they said, Well, we got a contract. We need somebody to go protect all the GOPs in the state of Florida. Um, initially very humbled, um, thankful and grateful. Um, I needed that at that time. Um, so I said, uh, they said, well, let's let us tell you about it. I said, well, tell me about it. I said we gave this to a guy about five months ago, and he's only been able to staff 30% of it. The next question immediately was, what's the price point? How much am I able to, what's how much am I able to pay my guys? What's the you know, the overhead? Uh, fully loaded rate rather. And they said this, and I said, Well, I was thinking in my mind, like, why was he having such a problem? And that lets me know that he was being greedy. Um, he was taking more than he was willing to give. And that's not what I believe in. When people put my uniform on, I want them to feel pride, and I want them to know when their children ask them, Dad or Mom, are you going to work? Yeah, I'm going to work with someone that actually values me. That's why we pay one of the we're one of the highest paying security companies in the state of Florida. Because I want people to feel valued. So the lesson in that was just keep going. If I would have given up after Puerto Rico, I would have never had the Hurricane Michael contract. If I would have let that beat me down, I would have never had the GOP contract. That's why I was cutting myself, polishing myself for this endurance run. And I was being shown that in business, you can put 110% in every day. You have to understand that the results do not necessarily match your effort. Always. There are seasons in business. You're gonna go through a winter. That's when you prepare because spring is coming. But it took me 10, 11 years to really come to that, to really understand that it's not about how much I'm putting out. There's just ebbs and flows of business, and you have to understand that. I hope that answered your question.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

So, how how do you plan to parlay all of that training and experience into your seat and what is your biggest goal uh that you hope to accomplish if you're put in office?

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Absolutely. So, you know, being able to well, the first thing, you know, in the military, I'll use that for an example. The first thing we do once we land anywhere, once we get outside of anything, we get somewhere where we don't know the surroundings, we secure it. Um if I ask people, um, I ask your listeners, I ask you to take a second right now and name two children that have died at one of the school shootings over the last couple years. Most likely you won't be able to name one because it's became a social norm. I promised to people as they took their last breath that if I was always willing, able-bodied minded, that I would stand up and support the Constitution and never let these things come back to the homeland. When my daughter called me, and then I saw the bomb threat at my son's school, that was my turning point. And I said, okay, God. He said, don't forget this promise you made. Because I may have forgotten, or it wasn't on my forefront of my mind. But being in the security industry and actively protecting schools in the state of Florida now, um I felt that I was doing my part. But he said it needs to be bigger because there's ways to protect these kids. We just had a school stabbing. Uh you know, I uh I credit the law enforcement, but I have to ask, in 2026, how do you get a knife in when there's metal detectors? You know, there's gotta be sensible controls put into place to be able to protect these children. It's not making it look like a prison, it's not making it look like this. And we feel that way because we're outside looking in. But the first pillar of my platform is children. We have to protect them, then educate them, and then advance them all the way through adulthood because children are more fearful of a school shooting than failing the SATs. It's more of a reality for them. And you can't say, oh, it won't happen here.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

We keep getting shown it will happen here. Yeah, so a highly debated topic on that subject. Do you do you feel like arming teachers as a tip of the spear would be something to move to move in a positive direction on things like that?

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Um, I think that's a very uh liability-heavy uh situation for the city and the county to arm teachers, um, especially not knowing, you know, they're going in, they're being prepared to teach kids, not necessarily there to protect kids. So I'm not necessarily for it or against it. It's got to be in the right scenario.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

What if the teacher just retains the option to be able to do so and get that training?

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Um I think that there should be some, you know, what I've seen is some schools, you know, they look at some of their teachers, hey, you're prior military, you're prior law enforcement, you know, and they equip the couple throughout the school. I think that's good. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because um Yeah, if they've had that prior training already, then yeah, good to do that. Yeah, for sure. Because when bullets start flying, you don't care about any of that. Right. When children start dying, you don't care about any of that. The parents will definitely not be upset that that teacher had a weapon and because of it, their child is now alive. 100%. So, you know, but the question comes post why don't they? So, you know, we got to be proactive with some things. So I really appreciate that question.

SPEAKER_03 24:51

So following up on that, what are some ideas you have for helping secure schools better while also, you know, preserving the Second Amendment rights? I know it is such a an issue. Like is the is the solution, everybody's been debating it forever. Is it, you know, if we build something within the school, like safe rooms, is it having third-party contractors there kind of on site? Like does it depend on the school? What are some of the solutions you're kind of you know bouncing around?

SPEAKER_01 25:18

It's got to be a multi-layered effect. Um, you know, there has to be, you know, local law enforcement, they do drills and stuff like that. One of the biggest things is we have to stop trying to protect our children from something that they're experiencing because we feel uncomfortable. They feel uncomfortable already. You're trying to protect them from something that is a reality for them. We don't, as adults, that's not a reality for us, and we're trying to act like we understand what they're going through. We don't. This was school shootings were not happening when we were kids. We had Columbine, we had a couple others, but then it was not a regular occurrence like it is. And don't think they're not seeing time go by and people not be able to remember two weeks ago from from right now, there was a school shooting. A couple months ago, FSU, a couple years ago, Parkland. They're able to see that people maybe aren't taking them as a high priority because they're forgetting it. Um, so I'm all about community-driven effort and community-driven programs. Every program may not fit in every neighborhood. It may not fit in every school. So you have to bring the teachers, the parents, law enforcement, your county commissioners, your state representatives, everybody's got to come to the table. Fire department, EMS. And we sit down and we say, hey, listen, if this happens, what does the plan look like that if it goes wrong, we're able to say, you know what, we did our best. Because not having a school protected, not having even metal detectors, some schools can't even afford research resource officers, is not something that we're gonna be able to live with when you're putting one of those little four-foot caskets in the ground.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Yeah, I I actually did patrol in a uh very small town under a thousand and excuse me, and there were no resource officers. It was just me, you know, stopping in, checking in. Absolutely. Best case scenario, and that that's not okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

No, not at all. A lot of people live in the it will never happen here, and we have to wake up as Americans because everything that we've seen has shown us it can happen here. It's happened in churches, it's happened in movie theaters, it's happened at football fields, it's happened at schools, it's happened everywhere that you can think of. Everywhere. Churches, there's everywhere. So we have to wake up and live in the reality of the situation. It's never going back to mom yelling out the door when the street lights are coming out, going off. Time to come home. It's never going back there. And we need to accept it and we need to move forward and prepare for the future.

SPEAKER_03 28:09

And I think that even, in my opinion, goes beyond weapons. We need to secure our schools and these community places from fentanyl and from you know drugs as well, because that's getting in as contraband just as much as the weapons do. And I think it's an issue that people it is, it's hard to find it and track it, but that's something I hope that you know you keep in mind. And I'm sure a lot of people have brought that up already, especially in Scambia County. There's a huge problem with fentanyl.

SPEAKER_02 28:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:36

And I just hate seeing people I know lose kids to overdoses and the kids aren't even aware they're taking fentanyl a lot of the time. It's, you know, crazy to me how that issue was something when I was young was not an issue, and now it is like the issue, I feel.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I've done uh a lot of ride-alons with law enforcement and you know, in a scambia, you know, luckily I've heard, you know, fentanyl has really kind of slowed out. You know what I mean? Um, it's not they have seen a decrease as of late. Um, and that's took a lot of law enforcement pressure. Um, that's took, you know, stopping these drug channels to funnel this stuff in to kill us. You know, so I am I can report that there's been a decrease in that, but it hasn't stopped it all. You know, and is it possible to stop it all? You might miss some. So it that comes with education. You know, I made my daughter write a paper on fit and all when she was in like ninth grade. It wasn't even a big thing then. Scared the crap out of her. You know what I mean? So maybe you gotta scare the crap out of your kids. Um, because this is something that they won't come back from. And that needs to be told to them straightforward. Hey, this is not a party drug. Hey, this is not a drug or a drug you want to do. This is gonna harm you. You don't want to do any drugs, but you definitely don't want to do this. You know what I mean? Like this will take you out of here and take you away from us. And I need you to understand that this is not something to play with. I need you to be able to stand up for yourself. I need you to be able to face peer pressure, and I need you to know that we love you and we support you. So no matter if you look cool or uncool to them, you can always come home and you'll be the coolest person to us.

SPEAKER_03 30:26

So I wanted to ask a little bit about your other platform points. Um, and you mentioned the safety of the schools and the education and then the kind of like cradled career, like from birth to workforce, we want to prepare the next generation. Um, what are some other platform points that you have?

SPEAKER_01 30:42

So, you know, I always say uh children are my first priority. And, you know, some people that have came out have heard me expand upon that. But if you're 45 and you pass away and your parents are still alive, they're still gonna call your parents and say your child has died. We're always somebody's child. So it doesn't matter if you're zero through 18, you're always somebody's child. Um, the village concept, you know, it kind of stops when you're 18, and I wish you didn't. Because it always takes a community. Um, and I wish we could get back to that. I wish we can get back to being America, and it doesn't take a terrorist attack. It doesn't take something to rock us to the cradle where we feel we're about to lose or something like that. You know, I I would love to see that again. So getting them, you know, K through 12, once they get there, presenting them like in April uh 10th, 11th, and 12th, we're having a STEM week, and then the next month we're having a trades week. Everybody's not gonna go to school. You know, and then and does college hold the same weight as it did years prior? Do we have certainty that a lot of the career fields or programs that are available for kids going to college are even gonna be here in 10 years? If you look at some of the leading AI and technology CEOs, they're saying the opposite. Meanwhile, the Department of Education is saying the complete opposite as well. And I think that the guys that are and gals that are in these positions, I don't think they're lying. I don't.

SPEAKER_03 32:22

I've done a lot of research on that too, with AI taking over jobs and it's taking over a lot of my work and a lot of things too, especially if you're into marketing and editing and stuff. Um and, you know, there's definitely a decrease in the quality in some of it, but it gets better and better every time. And I read something that said, you know, by the year, it was a 2032, we're gonna be kind of in our second Great Depression with people being out of work because they're gonna be replaced by AI all across the board. So I think we need to prepare as a society for what we're going to pivot to and what kind of skills we have. And I think we need to be, we're in Alabama, so you know, we care a lot about rural areas and farming and being able to sustain yourself without relying on foreign nations buying up the land or you know, giving you your food. I think we need more self-sustainability throughout the country, really, and we need to be able to be prepared for when that time comes when we're kind of in that second Great Depression, because I do think it's around the corner.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

Absolutely. Which brings me to my second um platform, you know, second topic of my platform, which is we have a huge unemployment problem. Not just unemployment, but underemployment. So we have people working underemployment means you have people working with advanced degrees, certifications, and they're not getting paid with what they're worth. Unemployment is just what it is. A lot of people unemployed. So my term is only two years. A lot of people like to get up here and throw these grand O ideas. That's not gonna work. I'm not gonna lie. That's impossible to get done in two years. So, what can we do immediately? So I will start crafting out a plan. The first thing that I'm gonna do is look at where all the city-state contracts are going. Are they going to other states or are they going to our district where they're servicing? You know, when President Trump said something, and I think there was an implied task in that, hire America, hire America, buy America, well, if you take that to the lowest level, it's buy district two, hire district two. And, you know, he's not gonna come through and tell each person that you got to listen for what he's saying. And so if we pull back the carpet and we say, hey, listen, these are all the contracts that we're giving to people that don't live here, and these are the categories of the career fields that those jobs are in, and we would like for you to start businesses in those career fields and we'll help support you, then I think that's the fastest way to boost the economy because those people will spend those dollars locally. They will hire locally, and that's the quickest way to boost the economy because if when people have more money in their pockets, they spend more, they start more businesses, they feel secure, and the economy flourishes.

SPEAKER_03 35:16

That goes for so many different industries too. Besides, you know, I've had a couple government contracts with like county and city, and I remember the frustration of going through the bid process. As you know, the bid process is like a job of itself. You have to present a huge thing, and then you get your bid lost to somebody from Washington, D.C. That happened to me all the time. I was like, I just need to get a Washington, D.C. phone number and pretend I'm in DC because they just see that. They're like, oh, they're nationally no, and they're from DC. But you could be putting that money into your own people here in your area, but you're choosing to be enamored with the optics of something bigger, which it really isn't. They're any no less, you know, qualified or capable, but they just they see it, and that's what seems to draw people in. I never really understood that. And that goes, you know, even in even in music, even in videography. Yeah, oh, this big company from so and so big city. And it's like, oh, that does not mean that they are better at what they do. Absolutely. I think we all need to be supporting each other, and we all need to be um getting away from in terms of consumerism. I'd like to see less chains of things, and we're really gonna like support our own. We need to support things that aren't nationally big chains, I think.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

Absolutely. You know, I understand like, oh, they're able to outfit us. Um, it's because their company's so big and people keep doing what you're doing. Um, but if you give the people an opportunity there locally to flourish and to grow, and you say, hey, you know, you show them because, hey, listen, the statement of work is there, the scope is there, if this is a contract that's been going on, price past price points are there, past performance is there. Um, you're able to see all these things. And, you know, being able to go and scour um, you know, your local for vendors that could help you complete that contract, everybody wins because what are you paying these people with taxpayer dollars?

SPEAKER_02 37:05

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 37:06

Even for city-hosted like concert series and stuff they do here, they bring in people from like Michigan. They're not even like celebrities or anything. It's just like, oh, we okay, we have somebody here that could do this. Like it always puzzled me. And in terms of bids as well, it puzzled me. People get told, you know, with me, I would get told, well, you haven't don't have as much experience as this person. So the same person who's been doing it for 50 years gets the bid over and over again. It's like, okay, but I've been doing it for 15 years, if that's not good enough for you. You want the 50-year person? And it's like, how do you become that? Get over the hump of being told you don't have the experience as much as them, but they get you like to the final two, and then they always pick the person who's been doing it for ages. Like, how do you break that and have opportunities when it feels like it's being gatekeeped so much?

SPEAKER_01 37:54

You know, for me, um, somebody's got to be willing to take a chance on you. And, you know, if you present yourself appropriately, you know, you present a good product, um, it needs to be taken into consideration, um, even if the price point may not be the lowest bidder. If it's within a dollar, two dollars, you know, or something like that, you know, give that local person the opportunity because you know who they're gonna hire. A lot of times when these big companies, one of the big jobs of state rep is bringing new business to the air. But when I'm gonna ask these businesses to come here, I'm gonna say, I need you to hire locally because usually they want to bring their own people. You know, I I got love for Alabama, but we're tired of all the defense contracting and stuff like that going to Hunterville. We live in the biggest per capita of active duty military in the United States, back in my district. So we have the minds, we have the people, we have the military spouses, we have the the regular Americans that have the knowledge, skills, and ability as well. We would like to see some of that come to us because we stand ready as well, and we want to be able to support and we want to be able to live a good life and enjoy the things that we have here.

SPEAKER_03 39:10

I want to ask a little bit about development or overdevelopment and infrastructure. Um, I know it's different in Pensacola than it is in Alabama, but they are experiencing both are kind of experiencing growth and a resurgence. And, you know, from where I lived, I lived in West Pensacola, like in the Perdido side.

SPEAKER_02 39:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:27

Um, kind of near Power 98 Bower Road. And I moved a year ago. It looks totally different. You know, they've got like their every plot of land is being bought up and developed into a subdivision, or you know, they're just adding and adding and adding. And I feel like they're getting to the point where the traffic is getting really bad and it's unmanageable. You're not really able to keep up with, you know, definitely some of the road repairs, especially Gulf Beach Highway. I still think it's the worst road in the history of roads. Yeah. But what are some things in the state rep that you can do to kind of uh pace, I guess, development some?

SPEAKER_01 40:01

Um, so you know, roads is a big thing for a lot of people. Um, I've went and got with FD. A lot of people don't know that that they have a five-year plan. Um and in that plan, they have certain levels of things on importance. So being able to, especially like Blue Angel Park, all those different roads, you know, I've gone back to Rento Road, you know, I've talked to the people, and it's on the, you know, it's in the plan. Um so all we can do is advocate and continually ask them and show them um, you know, the damage that's there, ask for a re-evaluation to begin change uh the level of uh importance to critical, um, and just continually stay on them. Uh, you know, bashing them or doing whatever doesn't necessarily help. Um, but being able to show them the facts and based upon their guidelines and their curriculum and say, hey, listen, this is the problem. You say if these boxes are checked, then you will move it up in priority to make it a priority. We've now have checked all three of these boxes. We now need you to do your part. And can you please let me know when you'll get it done so I can go allocate or obtain funds to be able to support you? And you know, I don't know if that's happening or not happening, um, but that's what I plan to do.

SPEAKER_03 41:26

Why should people vote for you over the other candidates in your race?

SPEAKER_01 41:31

Um, why should people vote for me? Um, so we initially started off with four candidates, two have conceded to me to support me. Um I'll primary against one, um, which he's not an enemy, he's an opponent. Um, I I remarked him for his military service. Um, you know, I tell him it's like, hey, this is a PT test. You know, when you line up on your platoon and everybody takes off, everybody wants to win. Um, but at the end of the day, you know, we're still in this district two family. Um, and his voice and his family are still a concern to mine. And I hope that my family is still a concern to his whether one of us win or lose. And I told him if, you know, if you were to win, I'll come there and raise your hand that night. And if I win, I hope that you're there to help raise my hand and we can support each other and continue to grow. Um, because this is not necessarily something that I want to do for the rest of my life. Um, it's very ugly in here in the swamp. Um, I want to come, do what I'm supposed to do, make change with the people. I'll stay a while. Um, I don't know how long that'll be, maybe one, two, three times, who knows? Uh, maybe go on to an appointment or something like that. I'm not sure. Um, but I want to be able to focus on the people. And the difference between me and other candidates running is I want you to have a seat at my table. Um, other candidates may have people at their table that are gonna influence them based upon business ventures, um, self-sustaining things. I want you to have a seat at my table because I want to know how I can help keep your lights on. How can we help lower um this and that for you? Hey, Trey, I'm having problems with that. It's not what I want to do, it's what would you like me to do? My vote is just as important as yours. I will privately go cast my vote at that polling site just like you will. What I do in Tallahassee is what the majority of what my constituents want. And for a lot of people, the majority of their constituents are only basing their opinions on business and they're wealthy and they may not be of the people. Um, because some of the problems that they're having are not the problem that the people are having. They may not have walked into a store and been Fearful of it declining in 20 or 30 years. I got people that are fearful of this every week. You know, I got TSA workers in my district that are selling plasma. You know, I got Coast Guard guys and gals that are, you know, being affected, which that's a whole nother topic. But I don't know why we would have a partial, well, during these partial shutdowns, we take away the security from the one place that could heavily impact us and cause us to have another 9-11. So you're taking away the air security. And then also the Coast Guard is the water security. So if we take away those two things, and people are being susceptible to being paid, or because it's not about, oh man, I want to go buy a mansion. It's oh man, I can't afford to feed my family. Oh man, I can't afford to pay this bill, and I have a great job, and I haven't gotten paid in 42 days now. So the reasons you should vote for Trey McMull is I'm of the people for the people because I am the people. And my background has shown that every time I've had the opportunity, I've always hired Floridians, um, being in this type of seat, and you're getting handed a big checkbook. And I think if you haven't ever managed one that you had to work for for yourself, um, if you've never experienced missing a payroll, if you've never experienced, if you don't have the energy to get up, somebody else is not going to get fed directly, and not your family, someone else's family, and you're gonna be in charge of 200,000, 300,000 people, then how can I expect you to have the knowledge and the seasoning to be able to do it now? I'm asking, I'm asking too, that would be asking too much of someone. And we wonder, you know, why these some of these people, legislators, tenants or whatever, are being swayed. It's because they just don't have the experience and the wrong people come grab them by the hand and they take them for a walk. And, you know, I'm grassroots, I don't take money from everybody. I've had even in business, you know, I'm do many investments. I've witnessed, stood in front of billionaires and millionaires and asked for millions of dollars before and been told no. Great idea, Trey. Love it, can't support it right now, not good timing. You know, I've gone in and they've said yes. You know, you have to be able to understand all of those things before you're gonna be in charge of the masses. And I've got that experience. I'm your only doctor of global security in the state of Florida. I care about your prized possessions, your children. Because my ulterior motive is I care about mine. And I want to make a way for them and Lua, make a way for yours. My saying is never above you, never below you, always beside you. And I will always be beside you.

SPEAKER_03 47:09

Tell everybody where they can find you at online to learn more, to donate, and win your primary election is.

SPEAKER_01 47:15

Absolutely. So you can find me online on Facebook, Trey T-R-E-I, McMullen M-C-M-U-L-L-E-N. Uh you can also go to the website if you would like to donate, support, put a yard sign up, host a party, whatever you would like. www.tray tr-e-i m-c-m-ul-l-en- dot com. And I would truly appreciate your support. It takes a community effort. I want you to have a seat at my table because we're worth it.

SPEAKER_03 47:48

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 47:49

Thank you guys so much.

SPEAKER_02 47:50

I appreciate the time.