6 Republicans In Crowded GOP Primary Race For Congressional District 21

The crowded race for the GOP primary in the Democrat-heavy U.S. House District 21 is in our Election Spotlight.

It's the seat currently held by Democrat Lois Frankel, who also faces a primary challenger.

For the Republicans, Christian Acosta says he was the first of the six candidates to actually enter this race.

Acosta is a nuclear engineer and associate professor at Palm Beach State College, who grew up in our area.

"My goal is to bring back and give back to Palm Beach County because it gave so much to me. And I just want to make sure this district gets the respect and support from Washington it deserves and right now our current representative, I'm pretty sure if you go to the average constituent here in District 21 and you ask them to name even two things that Frankel has done for them, they won't be able to name anything."

Frankel has asked the governor for another shutdown due to the spike in coronavirus cases. Acosta doesn't think that would be a good idea, but says we shouldn't rush to Phase 2 either.

"I'm okay with the current pause in reopening. I think we should take a breather and just sort of have places continue to use masks, continue to have social distancing and reduced capacity."

Candidate Elizabeth Felton says she doesn't wear a mask.

"Freedom of choice is I think where we have to get back to for the individuals. I'm not saying that people who don't want to be in contact with unmasked people should be forced to spend time with them. You shouldn't."

Felton, who has worked in a number of industries and currently runs an educational wildlife sanctuary, also feels strongly about term limits for Congress.

"No more than three terms and honestly at that point I don't think you need to take a pension."

Felton signed a Term Limits Pledge.

Aaron Scanlan calls himself a "principled conservative" who is an Air Force veteran.

He's currently in real estate, but is a former police officer in Milwaukee, Port St. Lucie and Jupiter. Scanlan worked as a hostage negotiator and feels that's the kind of experience that could come in handy in Congress.

"As long as you have people that are willing to talk, you know, I can find common ground and I can find agreement. If I can convince somebody that going to jail for the rest of their life is a good option, I'm pretty sure I can get people to come to a common ground, if they're willing to negotiate...if they're willing to talk."

Scanlan calls the "defund police" movement quote "absolutely ludicrous."

Michael Vilardi also has a background in law enforcement, on the federal side, spending time on the 9/11 Joint Terrorism Task Force and as a criminal investigator for the IRS.

He now owns a business in which he fights the IRS for the taxpayers.

"I've been able to get million dollar assessments reversed that were wrongly assessed by the Internal Revenue Service."

Vilardi also talked about the anti-police sentiment that's been pervasive since the death of George Floyd.

He says training is key to gaining trust between police and the community.

"I as a federal agent would make sure that our local police had the best training possible. This made sure that you don't put a bad cop on the street."

We were unable to connect with candidates in the Republican primary, Laura Loomer and Reba Sherrill.

Rep. Frankel faces challenger Guido Weiss in a Democrat primary for District 21.

Photo: Getty Images


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