The People's Voice
WFUZ-TV | The People’s Voice Podcast
The People’s Voice shines a spotlight on the individuals shaping Coastal Alabama, Northwest Florida, and communities across the Southeast. Each episode features candid conversations with local leaders, public officials, business owners, candidate for office, advocates, and everyday citizens who are working to create meaningful change.
From local politics and policy to grassroots initiatives and community success stories, we go beyond headlines to explore the real issues impacting our region. Our mission is simple: give the microphone to the people, encourage informed dialogue, and highlight solutions that strengthen our communities.
If you care about civic engagement, regional growth, and the voices driving positive change, The People’s Voice delivers authentic conversations that matter.
The People's Voice
Rematch in Florida’s 1st: Gay Valimont Steps Back In
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A rematch is underway in Florida’s 1st District—and this one could get interesting!
On this episode of The People’s Voice, Blair Castro and Thomas Jenkins sit down with Gay Valimont, a candidate for Florida’s 1st Congressional District, taking on current Congressman Jimmy Patronis.
Valimont is running on a platform focused on strengthening support for veterans, expanding access to quality healthcare, and lowering everyday costs for working families. She’s also emphasizing accountability in Washington and bringing a more responsive, people-first approach to representation in Northwest Florida.
We talk about why she’s stepping back into the race, what it will take to compete in one of the most watched districts in the country, and how she plans to connect with voters across the Panhandle.
Learn more: gayforcongress.com
Good evening. Welcome to WFUZ TV, the People's Voice Podcast. I'm Blair Castro here with Thomas Jenkins, and we have a special guest in the studio with us today. It's Miss Gay Valamont, who's running for Florida's first congressional district. Thank you so much for joining us today. Absolutely. Thank you for having me, Blair. Thank you. You were running for the first congressional district in Florida, which I'm very familiar with. I've worked that race for like over a decade now, it seems. It's been a long time. People have been trying to make a difference in that district. It's always, you know, hotly contested. Um, well, not always hotly contested, but it should be. People seem to really care about it, but then it feels sometimes like we can't seem to make a change. When you ran last time, you were very close. You flipped Scambia County blue, which had never happened before, um, at least in recent years. So what motivated you to jump in again and try another time?
SPEAKER_02Well, this time around, um, you know, I said after the last time that I was not going to run again. It was very taxing. And I tried to give space for other people to run. I tried to make sure that if there was some other Democrat that wanted to try their um try their shot at Jimmy Patronus, that I gave them the space to be able to do that. And a couple people called me and said, I'm considering running. Um, we would love for, you know, to sit down and talk. And I would sit down with them and they'd go, I really don't want to do this. And then the second guy was like, please run, and I said, Okay, I will. Um, I just couldn't go anywhere in in Pensacola or or Scambia County without somebody saying, You gave us hope. And so I couldn't let Jimmy run unopposed, and and there are too many down ballot candidates for me to support, um, that we could win win some races.
SPEAKER_00So going back to your background, what got you involved in politics in the first place? Where did you I guess where did this all start? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, I work in sports medicine for real. Um, I'm an athletic trainer, um, and that's kind of where I got my toughness from, I suppose. Um, but working in in predominantly black schools in downtown Atlanta, I found my way to working in gun violence prevention. And that is background checks on all gun sales, red flag laws, things like that. Um, I saw that my black athletes had to live differently from their white counterparts up the road. And so when we moved to Florida in 2015, I became the state leader for Moms to Manager for Gunsons in America. And through that work, I spent a lot of time in Tallahassee with a lot of legislators and found out that people that make our laws don't necessarily understand what they're doing. Um and the political process, the the making laws, the improving people's lives legislatively was really appealing to me. So as many times as people told me to run for office when I had a toddler, I could not I couldn't, there's no way that I could run for office when I had a toddler. Um so after I lost my husband and my son, um I sat in front of the water for six months and I got an alert on my phone that said Matt Gates had filed a federal stand your ground bill. And I knew right then, I stood up and I said, self, um there's nobody better to fight him on this particular issue. When he passed or fought for Stand Your Ground in Florida and passed that bill, our gun homicide rate went up 32%. And I just couldn't see that happen nationally. So I decided I was gonna run for Congress.
SPEAKER_00So let's go into the Moss Band action and the gun, the standard ground bill and stuff like that. For those who might not be familiar with it, we're um from a very pro-Second Amendment place. A lot of people are very scared of people taking their guns that they legally own. Yeah. Um, I remember having to go get a concealed carry, and now you don't even need that in Florida. You can just kind of conceal carry on your own, I think. Um so what would you tell Republicans or moderates who are hesitant about losing any sort of Second Amendment rights?
SPEAKER_02I would I would say that if it's in the Constitution, I'm always going to support it. I support the Second Amendment. I support your right to own a weapon. What I don't support is um domestic abusers owning weapons, um, felons owning weapons. Um I believe that we need a secure background check system that also includes mental health issues to because we all know people that shouldn't own weapons, right? Yes. I mean, um, and you know, I I know family members of mine that shouldn't own a weapon. It's not it is it is it's a process that people should have to go through. Um red flag laws we know save lives. Um for instance, the Parkland shooting. If somebody if the mother was able to remove those weapons from that child before he went to school and shot 23 students, um you know, that's a life-saving policy that we should support. I am 100% for people owning weapons if they can own them, if they can pass a background check.
SPEAKER_01So, what is it about the standard grand law that you don't like?
SPEAKER_02Um, it's it was overused, has been overused, and um overused in what way? Overused in that you know, I understand the castle doctrine. If somebody comes into your house, if somebody is a gonna um is a threat to you being able to use your firearm. I completely and 100% understand that. I think it's way too vague for us to for say something happens in a parking lot, somebody says they feel threatened, or they sell a brandished weapon, or I think it's way too vague of a law for it to be life-saving.
SPEAKER_00I actually have a story about standing around law. So when I was 18 years old, I was pulled into a homicide trial as a witness. A friend of mine was killed, and another friend was almost killed, and the guy was arrested for attempted murder. It was a big loss, it was all over the news. Um, and he his defense that he actually was not killed with a firearm, he was killed with a knife, an illegal 13-inch butterfly knife, and he stabbed these two boys who were 18 years old and he was like 23. Um, and he was a Marine, I believe, a military member, and um was in the bushes. They went to drop off a young girl at her house from a party and he jumped out of the bushes and he stabbed them, and he used a standard ground law to say he was justified in doing that because it was his girlfriend's house and they were dropping her off and he felt threatened. Um so really it was it was interesting that that was a defense. He ended up losing. That defense was not applicable, and he's now serving life. Um, but I can see what you mean, and that people can assert that defense for things where it might, you know, be a little a little much. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01And I guess that's where you can get your wires crossed with somebody that's you know a lifelong Republican, pro-Second Amendment, and all that. You don't you just hear a stand your ground law and you're like, hell yeah, I'm gonna stand my ground, and you don't you don't hear about the vagary of the actual verbiage in the bill or anything.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. And there is due process with all of our laws, there is due process. I just believe that it is in Florida, it's become such a um such a superman cake for um for gun owners um that that we don't look at the the the times that stains your ground is not an effective uh defense for shooting someone point blank.
SPEAKER_00Um how do you feel about people having a medical marijuana card and then also having a concealed carry? Because I remember maybe that's not even an issue anymore, but when I was living there, I had to decide. Okay.
SPEAKER_02It is, and I don't agree with it. I don't believe um I don't agree that you can't own a firearm and have a medical marijuana license. That that doesn't make sense. Those two things don't judge. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You might as well not not let them walk into a liquor store at that rate. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. 100%. Um going back to your other platform points, what are some of the things that people really want to see change that you think are your priorities this election cycle?
SPEAKER_02Well, it is the people are telling me affordability, affordability, affordability. It is the cost of living, the cost of groceries, and now the cost of gas. People are struggling. People are struggling with homeowners insurance in Florida. It's a huge issue. I'm not sure if that's an issue here in Alabama, but it's a huge issue in Florida. Um my opponent took$2 million from the insurance companies instead of regulating them. And so our insurance problems for homeowners insurance has become a huge issue. It's pushing people out of their homes, people homes that they've owned for 30 and 40, 50 years, and now they can't afford their homeowners' insurance. Um, insurance all the way around. Health insurance is the is the second thing that is causing people to um, you know, it's the highest bill that they're paying every month as opposed to their mortgage or their car payment, is health insurance. My personal health insurance went from$250 a month to$1,000 a month, which is unsustainable. Um, there are things and subsidies that the government can provide. And and I realize that the difference between me and Republicans is that I believe in in in social programs. I believe that the federal government could help us with some of those things. Um and and I want to uh preface that by saying we pay our taxes. We pay a lot of taxes to the federal government. We should be getting that money back. We should be getting the services that we need that help us, that are helping our daily lives. So don't I I wish Republicans wouldn't look at those programs as something that um that is being given away to people. It's money that we put in to the system so that we can get something back out of the system. And the third thing is our VA hospital. We have a VA clinic in um in Pensacola that services the entire Gulf Coast. Um we have to send people to Biloxi or Jacksonville if they need surgery. Um we deserve a full service VA hospital because we have the most concentration of veterans of any county in Florida or any other district in Florida, and second in the nation. And my my opponent, Jimmy Petronas, wants to order a study, whether we need one or not, and I can tell you we don't need to waste time on a study. I we know the numbers and we know that our vets deserve better.
SPEAKER_00So wanted to touch on a couple of things, the health insurance part. So I'm a Republican and I think we actually need some sort of universal health care, and that you know breaks me from the mainstream party a little bit. But um it's absolutely insane that we live in a world where people are dying because they can't afford to get care and go to the hospital. And here in Alabama, I feel like it's even worse in some ways. Um, you know, I've never really had health insurance. I can't even remember the last time I did when I was like 25. Um, because you know, once you turn 26, you lose your parents' benefits. And then it's like, in what world does this generation, I guess my generation of millennials or whatever, have the ability to pay a thousand plus dollars a month for insurance? It's just it's not feasible. And then I ended up, you know, getting really sick. I had actually um surgery on my, I had an ovarian teratoma that had to get taken out. I got really sick, had to pay for it all out of pocket, and I had to price shop and go to Louisiana and save up like$5,700 to have my ovary cut open and the tumor taken out and everything. It was insane to me that I couldn't find anywhere in Florida to do it under like$10,000 or in this area, and I had to go there and pay a cash price and like work with somebody independently. It was a terrible process, but it was like either that or die. Like, what is your choice? Exactly.
SPEAKER_02And medical debt is also a huge problem for people. I don't think, and speaking of universal health care, I don't say universal health care because it pisses off Republicans. So the way I describe it is so Medicare has one pay scale. So if you and I go to physical therapy, we both have different insurance, and they give you an ice bag, and your ice bag costs$30, and my ice bag cost$100 because our insurance companies negotiated different prices for that thing. Um that's true of medications, that's true of um emergency room visits, it's true of any kind of any kind of service you get from a doctor. What I'm saying is if if it's good enough for Medicare to be on one pay scale, then why can't all insurance companies be on one pay scale? Because you wouldn't take your car in to get fixed and have the, you know, just say fix it and I'll pay you whatever at the end. But that's what's happening to us. They don't tell us what we, you know, you go in for a colonoscopy and you don't know you have a$300 to pay, or you don't know that the imaging is going to be separate from it at a private radiology company just to read the the colonoscopy. They don't tell you those things up front. We need upfront pricing with our health care because we that it's necessary for transparency to make sure that we can avoid medical debt.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because I've I went to the I've gone to the hospital several times with anxiety thinking I'm having a heart attack because the symptoms are hard to distinguish. And I pay, I came out of pocket$1,200 or$1,400 for the ER for them to say, oh, good news, you're not having a heart attack. But I still got a surprise bill that I didn't even realize that I had received, and it just is on my credit report as I didn't pay after I came out of pocket, had to come up and and beg for money trying to come up with that original$1,400. Well, here's this whole other bill that you didn't even realize you had that's tagged on your credit report for even more. Why can it not just be upgraded?
SPEAKER_02Yep. That is the problem with health care. Um and and we all have to have it. Um we all have to have some sort of health care. And if we don't, we put an undue burden on our our health care system, you know, because if we don't have primary care doctors, if we don't have preventative treatment, then we treat the emergency room like our primary care. If you don't have a primary care doctor or an urgent care, um, which is made for urgent care problems, and emergency rooms are made for urgent problems. I mean for emergency problems. Um but we see that undue um weight on our our civilian health care that shouldn't be there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I have uh my autoimmune disease too, and living in Alabama, even living in Florida, it was kind of bad, but I have to drive to Florida to see the specialist. We don't have any specialists here. Um, I have to pay for the primary to get the referrals, I have to pay for the specialist to get this, I have to pay for the labs, I have to do it all independently, and it's a very high price tag. And to get the meds, the meds I need are$1,700 a month. I actually got them through the pharmaceutical company through a patient assistance like scholarship program because I wrote like a really strong essay about why I needed this for my quality of life. But not everybody's gonna sit there, navigate that, take the time to do that. I just did it because I'm like really motivated to get what I need to have a normal life. But most people don't even know that's an option. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, you shouldn't have to jump through hoops to be able to be healthy enough to to live a life.
SPEAKER_01And pay your bills.
SPEAKER_00And pay your bills. And the homeowner's insurance you mentioned. So last cycle, um, there was a Republican candidate who ran against Jim Patronas. John Michael Montgomery was his name. Michael something.
SPEAKER_02John Johnny Michael Thompson. Yes. Yeah. Youngest brother is running for um as a Democrat this time. Oh, that's interesting.
SPEAKER_00Adam. I liked him. You know, he was young and he um went to Yales very smart, and he was talking about that home insurance issue, and nobody else was talking about that. And I think for some people, because all of us don't own homes, like we're renters and we're like living in this real world. Yeah, it's not like registering with us, but for it was an issue that people brought up. And he um aside from you, you're the second person I've heard mention that. So, you know, I think that's notable. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01How much of that has to do with just being in a strong hurricane zone versus everything else?
SPEAKER_02Well, it has to do with yeah, we we're in, but it affects everybody in Florida, no matter how close you are to the to the coast or not. Um, and the problem with our insurance is reinsurance. So most people don't understand what reinsurance is. Reinsurance is insurance for the insurance companies. And that's why our insurance is so expensive. Um, they have to protect themselves in case we get the big big you know, the big storm. And the thing about insurance companies, that insurance companies employ climate scientists. They know that the big one's coming. They know that it's gonna happen. Our government, you know, would like to think that you know climate science is not real, but the insurance companies should pay for those people to to to to find those things out. Um what my plan is, and what I uh have I agree with Jared Moskowitz on, the federal government should back up that 25% of reinsurance for our homeowners' insurance. So that insurance companies don't have to get their own insurance companies. The federal government backs them. So if we do have the big storm and we and and it costs way too much to fix it, the federal government steps in, which is essentially what FEMA does.
SPEAKER_01So example, Homa, Louisiana is basically dying out as a town because insurance companies are moving out because they just they don't want to insure that area anymore because of all the damage that they get from storms. Are there places in Florida along the coast that are like that?
SPEAKER_02Well, we have places in Florida that are washing away. Um South Florida's really bad. Um the Miami area and their flooding situation is horrible. Um, you know, the keys got hit really bad last time around. Um I don't know if you saw what um oh I don't even remember what storm it was, but it just took Naples out. The last big it might have been in. In. Um, and it took out Sanibel Island and most of Naples, which is a super rich part of Florida. Um, but that just jacks all of our prices back up again.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02Um, and it and the storms aren't gonna go away. In fact, they're gonna get worse.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean it was scary quiet last year, so I'm really nervous for this storm. Yeah, me too.
SPEAKER_02I thought about that the other day when I I got an alert from WEAR that said, and here's your storm information.
SPEAKER_00I'm like, oh rap, is it that time again already?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I worked the um Panama City mayor's race right after Michael, like right after Michael, like the week or so after we were there, and I did drone footage, and I'll never forget it. The drone footage was just telling the Panama City was destroyed after Michael. There was like nothing left. Um it was just really sad.
SPEAKER_02I don't even think Mayor Beach ever read that. As well as as they should have. So because insurance companies only pay out at 49%.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's um a lady here that works in town and she and her family moved from Florida and they lived in an RV because the insurance gave them like so minimal all they could they couldn't get a new house after that. They were just like, we're gonna live in an RV and we're gonna come to Alabama. Like it is unfortunate.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, 49% is what the average insurance company pays out in a big storm. Yep. Yep. So if you if you own your home, you have you have to think about whether you'd rather save your money um instead of pay insurance. Um, you know, you have to have insurance if you have a mortgage, but if you own your home, you might just want to keep that money in a piggy bank. Because it you'll at least know what you can spend, you know, you have to spend.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00So I want to talk a little bit about uh party politics, I guess. Uh we might have had we we have we're almost at um what are we at like 60-something episodes we've had of our podcast now? We're in season two. We've interviewed mostly Republican candidates because that's where we live. Um we have had some Democrats on. Um, and when we do, we sometimes get attacked. And they're like, oh, you guys are it's funny because we interviewed like Congressman Barry Moore and I got called a fascist, and then we interviewed um Chig Martin, who's running for governor. Here's a Democrat, and we got called like uh what do they call us? Crazy Liberal, Demon Kratz, whatever they want to throw out, and we're just pitchards. That's yeah, whatever they want to say. And it's like, why can we not sit down and talk to people of a different party without it turning into some sort of war? I don't understand it at all because I think there's more in common than there is apart a lot of the time. And we try to emphasize that here. And he we were saying the last episode that's um was his idea, but like the color purple is like when red and blue come together because we need more unity. And I think there's just so much division, it's really nasty right now. Yeah. And I absolutely hate it. So, what are some things you're doing to help unify, I guess, within um a predominantly red area?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think that um what we have to achieve to do, and I tell Democrats when I walk in a room full of Democrats, the first thing I tell them is you have to have conversations with people who don't agree with you. That's the only way that we're getting past this um this part in our political discourse that we feel like we can't sit down and have a conversation with each other without hating each other. Other. And that's true of Democrats and Republicans. Each side or faction has deep disdain for the other side for literally no reason other than we have different different beliefs. Now, I don't think that we're that different. I think that we can all agree that we're all going broke, that we need better health care, um uh goods are too expensive, um, and gas prices are too high. Now we may have different ways of solving those problems, but if we don't sit down at the table and and try to understand each other and try to come at it with with both sides of the idea, knowing that neither side is going to lead with everything they want, then I think we can we we can come to some solutions. Um that is the art of the deal is compromise. And compromise is how you get to how you get to making lives better for people. You know, that's all I've I that's the only goal I have is to make life better for the people of Northwest Florida. And that's not I want to make life better for just Democrats. I want to make life better for all people that live in Northwest Florida because that's what we deserve. We live in a beautiful place. I have beautiful neighbors, um, we have a a gorgeous part of the world, and we should be able to figure out our problems together, not against each other. We have to. Yeah. I mean, my father was a Republican, my mother was a Democrat. Um, I've been doing this my entire life. That was Thanksgiving. It was fine back then. I mean, they got divorced, but still.
SPEAKER_03Uh-oh.
SPEAKER_02But still, there's a way to have a conversation about polit politics and policy without hating each other. And I think that, you know, we a lot of the cultural um, you know, hot button issues, transgender athletes and and stuff have taken us far, far away from what we really need to be worrying about. And that's the economy. And that is that is our health care, that is our cost of living. It is about the things that matter to us, the things that truly are gonna make our lives better.
SPEAKER_00And I really hate the government shutdowns when one side's like filibustering the other, and I feel like nobody wins in that case. And nope, it's just unfortunate because you know, I have uh one of my best friends works for TSA, and she's sitting there working without a check, and she's literally having to borrow money and take out loans to live because we're not paying TSA and you know, people aren't getting their benefits, and life just doesn't stop because the government stops. And I I don't care what it takes. I don't like them shutdowns. I don't think everybody kind of feels that.
SPEAKER_02I don't like for our economy to be tied to um a government shutdown. I don't like for our economy to have to hinge on whether people get to go to work the next day and get a paycheck. There's gotta be a better way to do it. Um and when I get to Washington, we're gonna figure it out.
SPEAKER_00So I like my current congressman um here in Alabama more than I liked living in the Ukraine because I got a lot of response when I reached out to his office. Uh, Congressman's Barry Moore. He's one of the most conservative congressmen. Um but I politics aside, I like that I could call his office and get a response on an issue. That's really like as a constituent what we care about. He actually got voted um like out of all the members of Congress, like number one or two for workplace, uh, like what was it, workplace happiness or something. Like he got like quality of the workplace was like really high up there for a member of Congress. And his staff is just incredible. And I think that, you know, sometimes, and I wrote that as a something he wrote online. I was like, Yeah, he, you know, we'll talk with you and not have you, and he responds to you. And they were like, Well, you're just in the Trump cult. So you of course you think that. Of course he replies to you. I'm like, I'm not in the Trump cult. I'm literally just a person who called the office and got a response. And I hate that when we're arguing, everything goes to that. And that being said, I wanted to mention there is a Republican running right now for Congress here who labels himself a moderate Republican, which is unfortunate because to take a primary coming out as a moderate Republican is quite a dangerous game. Um he's getting slammed right now for just saying I don't appreciate that Trump did that Jesus post or whatever, like the post where he was like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01They're ripping him up when they're like all over the comedy. It's disheartening because I'm a lifelong conservative republic Republican, but I never supported Trump from the beginning because I didn't like his divisiveness. But the Democratic Party completely lost me during COVID with mandatory vaccines and masking and the shutdown for however many months. But it and so I'm I'm like politically homeless.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01And and I don't I don't know what the the answer to to come back to.
SPEAKER_02There are more people like you than there are like me, or like Republicans on the other side. There are more people in the middle than we than we like to talk about on either end. And it's it's the people on either side, you know, on the far left and the far right, who get the most uh attention because they make the most noise. Um there are people like you and like a ton of other people, I would imagine that you're politically in tune, but there are a ton of people in this world that aren't tied to the news cycle every day.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02They don't really care. They just want to make sure politics don't affect their lives. They want politics to work for them, not against them. Right. And then when they look at the the discourse between the two parties, they don't want to have anything to do with either side. I totally get that. I 100% get that. And I have to tell you that party, if we're talking about the parties, let me give you my thoughts on the Democratic Party. So when I ran, I ran in an R plus 37 district. Trump won our district by 37 points. And I didn't have much of a shot. I didn't have much of a shot at all. But I went and I put it out there. And you know that I never had I never had people that were evil to me. And I've had people shake their heads at me before, but but I never had, I was never talked down to. But it's possible. It's possible to to have that. Now the Democratic Party did not support me at all. When I said I'm running in an R plus 37 district, and I said I'm running against Matt Gates, I thought because Matt Gates is such a polarizing figure that the Democratic Party was going to swoop in and say, How can we help you? They didn't. They absolutely did not. And then when I ran in the special election, it was the only thing my election in the in Florida 6, with where the two special elections going on in the entire country. And so I would have thought that the Democratic Party, the National Democratic Party, would have come in, thrown me a couple bucks, whatever. Crickets. The State Party only gave me van access. So$10,000 worth of van access. I gave them that$10,000 back. And I didn't need the Florida, I mean the National Democratic Party's money. I needed their surrogates. I needed people like I wanted Raphael Warnock to come to to to Pensacola and hold souls to the polls. That's what I wanted. But I couldn't get any surrogates from the Democratic Party to show up because they don't want to be a part of a losing campaign and they don't want you to take their donors. I don't know what it's like on the Republican side. And and and but it seems like the Republican Party does such a better job of stumping for each other, lifting up other candidates. You know, Matt Gates would go to Wisconsin and wherever else he could to stump for some house race. Um Democrats have to do a better job at that. But on the other side, I think Republicans have lost their way. I think that um and you're probably gonna take some flack for this. I I miss Reagan Republicans. I miss fiscally responsible Republicans. That's what my father was. And I think we need fiscally responsible Republicans to keep Democrats um uh under, you know, so we don't spend so much money.
SPEAKER_01I can appreciate that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I am like a Republican who's leaning libertarian. I'm a small government person, and that I think I keep it consistent. I don't understand the Republicans that say small government, but then they try to legislate everything like that's your choice in life, and I'm figured like, I don't know about that. But you know, I am a health freedom person, and I am a person who appreciates the government not being involved, you know, as little as possible in our lives. And then I see the flip side, like our governor K Ivey makes a law about marijuana, like every chance she gets, she'll this is wrong, this is illegal vape, this is that, but at the same time, at one point she supported mask mandates and all this other stuff. It's just very strange.
SPEAKER_01She called people that were vaccinated normal and said there's a difference between unvaccinated and normal people. I'm paraphrasing, but that was a quote from her.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, um, I think it's it's sad to make you know uh blanket statements about people like that. Um I don't agree with you on the mask. Uh I think that that was the only reason that we got as far as we did because people I'm I still wear a mask on an airplane. I'm one of those freaks because I don't want to get a cold. Um I believe in vaccines, and I know that that uh our new health secretary has done everything to fight against vaccines. Um and I would encourage people to still get your childhood vaccines. If you're an adult and you don't want a vaccine, that's your jam. But like childhood vaccines are necessary so that we can keep childhood death down.
SPEAKER_01Sure, just don't take our jobs over them like yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh I would I would I'm inclined to agree with you. You know, I try to think back to COVID. And I think we've all really tried really, really hard to forget what COVID was like. But that's when our economic downtrad started, right? So our supply chain was screwed up, um, prices went up, our supply chain got figured out, and prices still stayed up. And then the Biden administration came in and we just flatlined. It didn't improve much, and if we did, it was slightly. So people elected Donald Trump thinking that he was, you know, gonna be great for the economy.
SPEAKER_01They wanted that dollar fifty gas again from 2016, and it just has not happened.
SPEAKER_02It has not happened. And then tariffs shot everything else back up, and the Supreme Court has said, well, tariffs are illegal, but our prices went up during tariffs and they still haven't gone back down because they're artificially inflated. And there needs to be a check on companies that that want to take advantage of of the American people.
SPEAKER_01Namely oil. Yes. If if we're claiming that we have the most oil in the world and everybody's coming to us, then why the hell is it still as expensive as it is?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's what Trump says, that we have lots and lots of oil. But if that's the case, then why why is it um I think the I heard the average today was four or twelve gallons.
SPEAKER_01Now, how do you feel about Patronas trying to do the moratorium on the Gulf drilling?
SPEAKER_02Oh, I'm 100%. If that's the one thing that we can agree on, it's drilling in the Gulf. Um I still call it the Gulf of Mexico. You know, the whole reason that the Trump administration changed that is because there is a moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Right. And renamed it Gulf of America. Gulf of America so that they can so that they can drill. Um and I think we all remember I didn't live in Pensacola in 2010, but I drove from Atlanta to come down and help with the oil spill. Because my grandparents managed a hotel out on Gulf uh on Pensacola Beach in the late 60s and early 70s. So I spent most of my time there as a child because my parents were public school educators. And if we ever went into vacation, it had to be there. And that place is so special to me that I felt an obligation to come and help.
SPEAKER_00I will say that of, you know, I worked that cycle a bunch, and I I agree with you that the Democratic Party has maybe put up some questionable candidates to go against Matt. And then later, um, you know, the the couple times before you, I was really kind of disappointed in the quality of candidate, and I feel like they did think that district was a lost cause. Yeah. Um and it really is unfortunate because there is so much we can agree on, and the environment is one right now in Alabama too, so people don't realize like how awesome Alabama is environmentally and how diverse it is. Um, and one of the big issues here is north of the county, they're putting in a huge solar farm. And they're destroying 4,500 acres of wetlands to do that at the Tensaw River Delta, and people are really up in arms about it. And we're in a very red area, but they're all like the company is doing it's called Silicone Ranch, and they're putting in like this is a meta solar farm to like power metal and stuff.
SPEAKER_01They said that they fully expected that reaction out of California, but never Alabama, for the people to come against them like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's what the CEO said. Well, when it's happening in your backyard, you have a completely different take on it.
SPEAKER_00Who wants their wetlands destroyed? And I understand we need solar power. No one's against solar power. I think they're against a huge amount destroying these wetlands in this particular area. And then they're popping up all over the state and other places. It's just the rise of AI and the destruction of our waterways and our environment over that. It's such a double-edged sword because on one hand it's a great tool, but then you know, I use it. I'm guilty of using it sometimes for stuff for research for helping, you know, have arthritis. So sometimes I don't want to type a lot. I'll just like voice text or whatever. But, you know, in the end, what is the cost? It's going for us. So, how do you feel about like this struggle as we move into like modernization with AI and the resources it might potentially deplete?
SPEAKER_02I think that we uh AI is, I think everybody's up kind of like, uh AI. Yeah. Um, I use Chat GPT every once in a while, but but not um I don't think that it it is an evil tool. I think that it is a tool that we have to get under control. Now, these farms that they're putting out, you know, those are those are still the data's not completely in on these farms that they're putting out for the AI generation. Um you know, they're saying there's conflicting information about how much power they take, the the um how bad it affects the uh all the land around these these data farms, um what it's gonna do the to the communities around the data farms. Um so that the jury's still out on on what's gonna happen with that, and there needs to be more research done, especially before they throw it right in the middle of, you know, around wetlands. We don't know what it's gonna do to groundwater. Um there there simply hasn't been enough studies.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the one they're building here, um, it says they're gonna last 40 years. The solar farm is gonna be 40 years of longevity from the panels and everything. And it's like, okay, for wetlands that have been there since the beginning of time. What about when the 40 years is up, then it's destroyed? Like you can't get it back. And another issue I'm sure or I know that you're facing, because I lived there in uh Scambia County or in the first district, overdevelopment, um, or arguably development slash overdevelopment slash economic development. Clearing it is a huge problem. In Alabama, we're like the fastest growing um, we're definitely the fastest growing county in Alabama, Baldwin County, where we are on the beach and with all this, and they say 17 people a day move here. And the infrastructure definitely cannot keep up. And every single candidate we've had in has talked about that. But I moved from Pensacola like a little over a year or maybe almost two years ago. And from where I lived off Highway 98, I was telling somebody the other day, um, there's now Whataburger, there's now Publix, there's now Wawa, there's now like all of this stuff that popped up literally within one year. All the forest that was there is pretty much gone. And if it's not gone, there's a sign saying there's a zoning hearing, it's about to be rezoned and they're about to stick in DR Horton. It is how do you fight that? And how is a on a congressional side? I mean, that's a lot of county stuff, but yeah, on a congressional side, what can we do to prevent some of this development like kind of overtaking our world?
SPEAKER_02Regulation. We have to regulate clear-cutting. We have to regulate, especially, I don't know specific to Baldwin County, but in Pensacola, Gulf Brees, um, Fort Walton Beach, the concern is the red clay that they're bringing in. The red clay that they bring in to put over sand to build things up, and it is seeping into our grasslands and killing off the grass and and and mussels and killing off um uh oyster farms. And so that's a a very specific issue. We have to regulate what what companies can do when they come in. I would like to pass a bill to give tax cuts to people who want to build on existing structures. So how many times do you drive down the road and see um warehouses that have been abandoned and they're falling down? Well, they have a they have a concrete slab. They were they were um plumbed at one time. They have electricity that goes to those places. Why are we letting the places collapse and not giving people tax breaks to use those places instead of clear-cutting? It's because it's cheaper to cut down a bunch of trees and put a slab down. Well, if we give tax incentives to make sure that people build on existing structures, that does twofold. It's recycling. It's recycling and it's not cutting down any more freaking trees.
SPEAKER_01I would have never known that red clay was toxic to marine mine. We're too busy arguing about who uses what bathroom.
SPEAKER_03Exactly.
SPEAKER_00That is for sure. I agree about um that's a good idea for the tax cuts to repurpose buildings because I know you know I'm from West Pensacola, that Navy Boulevard corridor, the Highway 98, the Warrington area, has a ton of dilapidated old buildings. You know, why are we not making that sort of a gateway into the base that, you know, people on the base and tourists, they have to drive by there to get downtown. There's great waterways around there, but it's totally impoverished looking and dilapidated. Yeah. And instead, they're building a hard rock downtown. Like, let's focus everything down there, ignore West Pensacola, which is absolutely beautiful and has a ton of natural resources, but it's just like it doesn't exist. And like you said, nobody cares. There's still a big slab where the KFC or the checkers used to be up there. Like there's nothing there but on a highway 98, a couple blocks down by the ER. Let's build everything up.
SPEAKER_02And they build a brand new structure instead of using the existing structures that we have. Um, and I think that's a shame. I think we we we can repurpose those places um for affordable housing. Um, you know, we I don't know if you're familiar about what with everything that's happening with the Old Baptist Hospital and the destruction of that hospital that could could very well be used, you know, as a uh uh serviceable VA hospital.
SPEAKER_00I uh when I was in Pensacola, I worked with the homeless reduction task force. I was their coordinator for two years, and there's obviously a very big problem with homelessness and with opioids and fentanyl. And you can just drive and see it all over the corners. Um and now I think that I guess what would be your opinion on why that is so prominent in Pensacola and now it's sort of seeping out into the surrounding areas and counties, I believe, where it wasn't necessarily seen before. Is that just you know, the state of our nation and we just see it more, or why Pensacola in particular? Because it seems to be really bad in that concentration.
SPEAKER_02Oh, Pensacola is the um has the highest amount of um opioid death and addiction than any other um county in the state of Florida per capita. And so Florida made this big deal with the pharmaceutical companies, you know, the opioid crisis with the um oh, what was that drug that everybody was on that was um anyway with the pharmaceutical companies and they got a big settlement out. And the way that they divided it between 67 counties was based on population and not based on need. So Pensacola got virtually no money to solve their problems. Is that fentanyl you're talking about? It was fentanyl, but it's um oxycotton. I don't know. The oxycotton um settlement that that Florida got. Um and so if they'd have looked at uh where our problems were coming from, if they had looked at the necessary the the need that we had, we would have gotten more money if they'd have based it on the need instead of the size. Because I'd we've talked about drugs coming over the the southern border, we've talked about it to to death. But only ten percent of fentanyl comes over the southern border. It all comes through air or by boat. And what do we have around us? Water. Yeah. That's just a theory of mine. But I I it doesn't I would like to say that our law enforcement is is not incompetent here. So why is it that it's why is it that it's trifled in Escambia County than it is in any other county in Florida? I'm not sure, but I would imagine that it's coming in um through an unconventional waterway.
SPEAKER_00I actually one of our very first videos we talked about they're building this pedestrian bridge that goes over the canal here, and we talked about potential um human trafficking occurring on the water and drugs coming over the water, because part of my one of my many jobs is working, you know, in maritime brokerage, and I see barges um a lot, and I've always like who's like regular people just come and go over in these barges sometimes. So that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I think it's pretty feasible. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That is that's my assumption. Um, it's not proven yet, but and I would have to get on the inside. I have to get the job first before they let me know that information. I'm trying.
SPEAKER_00So I want to talk a little bit too about your commercial, which was one of the best commercials I've seen. You know, anybody out there, I'll I'll link it in the comments. Like you gotta watch her promo ad for her congressional run. It's a really funny kind of taking Jim Petronas on a tour since he's not an actual resident, showing him, you know, what it's like to live in the area. Um, how did you get that concept and what has the response been to that ad? Well, it's been great.
SPEAKER_02I've I've had Republicans and Democrats alike tell me how much they enjoyed it. And I think that we all needed some sort of some sort of laugh. Um and because all political commercials these days are vote for me because and it everybody's sick of it. Everybody tunes out from those regular political commercials, right? Um and we just wanted to do something that pointed out the fact that he does not live in the district, he never has um ever lived in the district, he doesn't know the people. How do you represent the people of your of the district that you don't live in if you don't know them? Um he's from Panama City, which is a completely different vibe from from our corner of Northwest Florida. Um, but in all seriousness, and it was a hilarious commercial. We we kind of wanted to put it together. I saw a like a welcome to Mississippi commercial on TV, and I was like, that's what I want to do, you know, where they point out all the good things about Mississippi, so you want to come visit Mississippi? And I was like, it'd be really funny to give Jimmy a a tour of his own district, um, showing him the awesome things about our district, things that I know very well. And I did poke fun at him. Um, the only thing that Jimmy Petronas has been in the news for since he took office a year ago was the fact that he got a speeding ticket on Three Mile Bridge. If you're from the area, then you know that on the Gulf Reed side of Three Mile Bridge, you slow down to 35 miles an hour because they're sitting there and they will get you. Well, he didn't slow down, and so he went to social media and and did interviews on the on the local news about how it was a speed trap and how um he was criticizing the cops when he's supposed to be law enforcement all the time, support your your law enforcement, but he was very critical of them for that. So I had to poke fun of him about that because if you're from there, you know it.
SPEAKER_00It was brilliant commercial, it was really well done.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it was in all seriousness, I mean it was a funny commercial, but in in all seriousness, things haven't changed. In fact, he's made things worse. The cost of living, the cost of um of housing and insurance prices, he's done nothing to make life better, and he's done nothing to help our vets.
SPEAKER_00That's true. Um, on the Republican side, the people I know with the VA and the Republicans who have had to deal with him cannot stand him. And they're very unhappy. And those billboards that are going up are absolutely like Jimmy cares. No, he does not. He has not shown that with his actions, at least. I don't understand that at all. But we're about to have a governor here who doesn't live even in the state of Alabama. So Tommy Tupperville is from Florida. And Tommy Tupperville lives in Florida? Yeah. We don't want him. There's a lawsuit, uh there's a lawsuit right now challenging his residency because all his congressional receipts have him flying to his house in Florida. And he has like one house in Alabama that he uses, but it's like a secondary home, and um there's people fighting against that, but no one's gonna do anything about it.
SPEAKER_02That was true of Matt, too. Matt lived in California the last two years of his um when he represented our district.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I wish people actually elected people sometimes out there to their district. Just like, you know, recognize who's out in the community doing things and who actually has a grasp of what's going on. And, you know, I ran for city council here in Gulf Shores and did not win. I ran against somebody who'd been there 29 years. Really? Um and still got a third of the vote though. I feel like I was only lived here a year when I ran, and then I got um everybody told us they want to change, they want to change, and in the end, the voter turnout's really low. It's really disappointing because they tell you online and to your face when you're out that they want change, but then they don't show up to the polls. And then name recognition of someone who's been there for 30 years, like it was so you know disheartening to feel like you're really advocating for something and you feel like you have momentum, and then it's like a slap back down, like, sorry, you haven't been here decades.
SPEAKER_02And it's I ran into that a lot running against the gates in Northwest Florida. Um, and it's not so much that people loved Matt Gates that they love his father, right? Don Gates is a pillar of the community. Um, and Matt just couldn't keep himself out of trouble.
SPEAKER_00Um aware. And yet um, he had all the opportunity in the world with the AG opportunity. Um, a lot of people were banking on him to be A G that had worked really hard, that had nothing to do with his outside choices, and that's a bummer that I know that some very hardworking people that that kind of squashed their opportunities too.
SPEAKER_02So I I do feel bad for for the other people, but that ethics report should have come out before the election, before the election that I had with him. I don't know that it would have swayed any sort of but we knew that the that the ethics report was going to come out before the election happened. Um, but we knew it was gonna come out after the election, and that was unfortunate because I don't think the voters were able to make make a a decision based on all of the information.
SPEAKER_00So ethics really matter in a congressman as we're seeing now with Eric Swalwell. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01Not to them. Yeah, no, that's true principally.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It should matter. It does two people election them, and they should matter in office. So what what can you say about your ethics and your um, I guess, attitude in upholding, you know, a professional demeanor and being ethical and office?
SPEAKER_02Um what I tell people is uh what you see is what you get. I am um my mother says that I'm incapable of lying, and I pretty much am. I'm very face value. I understand that people get the job and they take it for granted and they they break some rules and all that other stuff. People have said to me over and over again, you know, gay, just do this, and I'm like, nope, it's against the rules. Um I'm a I'm a rule follower. Um I think that the fact that I've lost my family, I lost my husband to ALS and I lost my nine-year-old to a terminal brain tumor, gives me a something else to aspire to. It it kind of puts what's important in in place. It is only wanting to do good things for good people. Um I have no political aspirations past running for Congress, um, and I don't want to be there forever. I believe in term limits, and I believe that that's why we don't have uh ethics right now is because we don't have term limits in Congress. Um you you get the seat, having incumbent behind your name on a ballot is half the battle. And once you have incumbent and you slide into that seat and you continually hold that seat down, you can do whatever you want to. And I think that you shouldn't be able to stay in the House of Representatives more than eight years. I don't think you should be able to stay in the Senate for more than twelve.
SPEAKER_00I definitely think you have a unique perspective that appeals to a lot of people because nothing was truly handed to you. Like you've overcome a lot, and I think it says a lot about your character. I think that you know, people should look at a person as they are, the complete person, well-rounded, their experiences in life, their background. It it's such a complex situation, and we really met like every candidate, like we really sit down with people for a lengthy amount of time. We talk to everybody, even the people that they say, oh, look at 1%. Like, I don't care. I still want to hear from that person what motivated them to run. Yeah. We had a um candidate showcase here where we had congressional lieutenant governor candidates, like everybody come out. We had 17 candidates show up to the civic center and we filmed it and hosted it. It was really awesome. So I really encourage people to do their research and when it comes to your race, you know, look into you, look into your background, the things you've overcome and what you've done to really make a difference in people's lives and do good after experiencing things that most people couldn't imagine. Like it's it's uh commendable. So thank you for what you're doing. Thank you. I appreciate it. Um, do you want to tell people where they can find you online or where they can donate or learn more?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Go to gay ballamont, excuse me, gay4congress.com and check me out. I have all of my priorities listed. You can also sign a petition if you are a Florida voter and mail it to the P.O. box at the top. The petition is also online. Um, you can go to my website also, see my hilarious commercial, and donate five or ten bucks because we rely on small dollar donors. I do not take PAC money, corporate PAC money, um, to make any of this happen. So I appreciate your support. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. Thank you guys.
SPEAKER_03I appreciate it.