James Martin Makes Run to Flip Florida House Seat Blue

0:04That right there was in Florida. There's gonna be a lot of competitive congressional races coming up in 2026 and could these races flip blue democrats making major in Florida. in Florida. And there seems to be something in the air there. Could they be poised to vote Democratic this time and turn some of those congressional seats blue? Let's just take a look at some of the national polling in Florida where Donald Trump is deeply underwater. When we take a look at this strength in numbers, Elliot Morris chart right here, you see that Trump's underwater in Florida by about five points there. When you take a look at the latest Economist tracker and we look at Trump's approval nationwide, we're seeing in several what are considered to be deep red states, Trump is in the negative.

0:52You take a look at California. I mean, you take a look at Florida right here and Donald Trump is somewhere between negative 5 % to negative 10%. Not quite California is what I was going to say where he's like negative 50%. But in Florida, we're talking about negative 5, negative 10 % there. And when we look at what's been happening in some of those town halls. Like look at Florida's 21st congressional district. You'll see right here MAGA Republican Congress member Brian Mast. He's being greeted with booze and he only attended this one. I think this was back in April of 2025, but people weren't buying what he was selling, this extreme MAGA agenda that's hurting the people in the 21st congressional district like throughout Florida.

1:35And this took place in Jupiter, Florida, but just Watch how pissed off people. And this was in April. Right now, people are this times like a thousand. Here, play this clip.

2:01now take a look that was again mega republican congress member brian mast he leads the uh what foreign intelligence committee foreign relations committee in the congress um here he is right here talking about purging, uh, yeah, foreign affairs committee purging the state department personnel. That was one of his big agendas, getting rid of the state department. Think about that. The guy leads the foreign affairs committee and he gets rid of the state department here. Play this clip. It was purging of people throughout the state department, other agencies where we're freezing aid. These are all very important and necessary steps to make sure that we secure America and we're going to support that.

2:37I'm sorry. Can I follow up on what you just said there? you want to authorize purging of State Department personnel? What does that mean exactly? Well, if you want to take a look at the State Department where DEI has been a priority over, let's say, diplomacy in many accounts, I can give you hundreds of examples of where they were authorizing. Sure, let's list them off. Half a million dollars to expand atheism in Nepal, $50 ,000 to do, let's see, a transgender opera in Colombia. And everyone knows these culture war issues that are weaponized by MAGA people like Mast are all BS, and they've used it to absolutely destroy key functions of our government.

3:17And you know they don't care about the real issues. And again, imagine being the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, learning that you had a number of senior people in the Trump regime chatting on Signal and giving their classified war plans to a reporter and then saying, whatever, we don't care about it. Some of the most highly sensitive information. This is what happened when Mass was asked about that. Play this clip. But you don't want I mean, you have jurisdiction. Why don't you want to investigate? I don't think this rises to the level of an investigation like that as my own personal opinion.

3:53And again, I'd give you the same point that I just made. If they start deleting 30 ,000 emails off a personal server kept in their basement, well under investigation by the FBI. and then trying to figure out how to wipe it clean entirely, then I'll conduct that investigation. These are set to delete at one week and four weeks. You're trying to conflate something that's not the reality. They're not going out there trying to delete something while under investigation by the FBI. They're not under investigation. You are not investigating them. That's exactly right. There is. Yeah, you're not investigating.

4:23What are you doing? Like, what are you actually doing there other than trying to divide people? Also, you just may remember that Brian Mass, He's the guy who dresses up for whatever reason in the Israeli military uniform. You've seen him dressed up like that. I want to talk about, though, a guy by the name of James Martin, who is someone who may be able to flip that seat, that 21st Congressional District seat, blue. James Martin, fourth generation Floridian, U.S. Coast Guard veteran. He held the rank of lieutenant commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. Let's bring him in right now. Now, let's bring in James Martin, who's running for that congressional office.

5:02Good to see you, James. Fourth generation Floridian.

5:08Let's talk about what I just showed you right there. You think you can flip this seat blue? Absolutely, Ben. I think, number one, talking to voters in the district, they're hungry for change. They've had enough of a lot of, you know, what we can plainly see is nonsense. And I think the more important thing is it's the nonsense and then not delivering on concrete results for the folks in this district. And even I'll take it one step further. You see a concrete pattern of Brian Mass not voting for the interests of this district. So taken all together with the right candidate. Absolutely. Well, we'll flip this district blue.

5:50You know, your background being in the Coast Guard, you served overseas in combat zones. You were involved in interdictions from drug cartels who were actually trying to, you know, bring their drugs into the United States. You were actually the front lines in doing that. So I'm sure you must have a perspective on what we're seeing here with instead of these kind of interdictions that the Coast Guard would do. we're now seeing you know people like mast and the trump regime just say you know what why even do that let's just send in you know you know drones or war planes it just just kill the people like and we won't have to ask questions we won't show people anything just kill them i think right now it's over 80 82 85 90 people killed and we have a lot of people a lot of veterans saying And, you know, there's real serious issues with that.

6:46What do you make of it? Sure. Well, I think the first thing to know, Ben, is, of course, they're they're patently illegal. These these extrajudicial airstrikes. But the second thing to know is not only are they illegal, they're not smart. And what I mean by that is they're not smart for a number of reasons. First of all, of course, the justification we're being given is that these are narco-terrorists who are trafficking fentanyl into this country. Of course, anyone who follows the issue, even from a distance, will know that these boats are not trafficking fentanyl, and finished fentanyl comes from Mexico.

7:25And the second thing to know is, of course, that when we do interdict these folks, as I have, a lot of times we get really good intelligence from them. So not only are we doing things illegally and we're not doing them under the proper justifications, we're throwing out great intelligence. And then the third, the last thing I would say is, of course, and this is for the talking point, maybe for your your uncle at Thanksgiving, sort of a thing who doesn't want to listen to any of that and thinks that we should be tough guys is these are expensive. You know, these are expensive missiles. We're lobbying at these guys when we could be arresting them and getting good value from them.

8:04So that's that's what I would say. And that's what I would want folks to know about those those airstrikes in particular. You know, and that's why speaking to you, someone who actually was involved in the water, in the interdictions, doing the questioning, seeing the people, seeing the drug seized, knowing the region. And for you to say, let me explain to you how we did it versus what's going on. I think that's a big deal. Also, I mean, your perspective right now, I'd love to hear about it. Coast Guard was in the news again because of potentially changing their policy, changing what was on their list of hate symbols.

8:41to say that the swastika, the noose, the Confederate flag would no longer be hate symbols, but simply symbols of controversy or words to those effect. What's going on there? And then they did an about face, but what happened there? Sure. So the thing that I would want folks to know here is a few things. One, so it's being characterized, I think, in many circles as fake news, which is, of course, patently not the case, you know, because the thing is, the policy did change. And it was a change, and it was simply set to take effect December 15. And I think it's been characterized by a lot of folks as fake news.

9:26But really, the sad reality is, and, you know, it's deeply upsetting to me as a member of the I was a member of the Coast Guard from the time I was 18 years old until I separated in January. So, you know, this is deeply upsetting to me. The thing of it is, is any time you change a law or policy, there is a reason. So what I have called for and have asked, what was that reason? Why was it changed in the first place? How was it drafted in such a way? let's be charitable and say it was a mistake, as I of course hope it is. How was it drafted in a way that even approached downplaying hate symbols, right?

10:12And then lastly, of course, what are the safeguards to ensure that something like this never happens again because of, you know, I think the very straightforward implications of causing an upset in the ranks. I mean, what I think most people, of course, the part that's getting the most attention is the hate symbols. But sort of in the fine print of this policy is the change that members, Coast Guard members only have 45 days to report such an incident if something were to happen where a swastika or a noose was displayed to them. That doesn't really work if you're on a six-month patrol and you don't feel that your chain of command is going to be able to adjudicate the matter properly.

11:02And you just have to keep that to yourself. And that's no way to treat, in my view, some of the most junior people or any member of the Coast Guard, really. So I'll leave it there. But I think the biggest thing to come back to is that it was not fake news. It did change. And anytime law or policy changes, there's a reason. So what was the reason? Yeah. Yeah. And the fact that that is what they're focusing the changes on, like that individuals are in a room saying, like, what are we going to do today with all of the issues going on in our country? And that's what I want to talk about next. The issues going on in our country, in the district.

11:40And there's so many things that need to be done. But the fact that in this current Trump regime, you've got people saying, you know what, that's that's what we're going to be focused on. I just want to give people a little bit more about your background so they know that you were selected to command two Coast Guard cutters in Fort Pierce, that the Coast Guard teams that you were working with and responsible for seized more than 200 tons of illicit narcotics with a street value of more than$3.5 billion, the detainment and onward prosecution of more than 450 suspected drug traffickers, and the interdiction of more than 250 migrants at sea.

12:16And so we think about the work that you've put through in your career and you contrast it with what the regime is doing now, just killing over 85 people. And, you know, which patently patently illegal and, as you said, not smart. I just think that contrast is more clear when people know just the extent of your background, you know, leading these teams. Before we go, I want to talk about your district. You know, obviously, you know, people are suffering and struggling under this Trump regime, whether it's the economy, inflation surging, people heading to Thanksgiving. Things are far more expensive right now, while Trump and Mast pretend that things are cheaper and go, we've made everything so much better.

12:57Everything's amazing. Everybody's rich. Obviously, insurance is through the roof in Florida. The cost of living there is virtually unaffordable for many people. So as you're traveling throughout your district, what are you hearing and what are you going to do for your people that MAST isn't doing for the people? Well, thanks for that question, Ben. I think you highlighted a huge part of it. Of course, affordability in the economy, which is something I'm going to be laser focused on and am very focused on, whether it's property insurance. An issue that's a big thing for folks here is actually we have a major clean water crisis where without getting into all the details, the big lake that's in the center of the state of Florida, Lake Okeechobee, very polluted.

13:47Folks may have seen it's the most polluted lake in America. The thing to know there is we have, for complicated reasons, we have discharges that come from that lake into our local waterways. And the estuary that we have in the district, the Indian River Lagoon, is actually the most biodiverse lagoon in North America, more biodiverse than the Everglades. And the reason, and this sounds very esoteric, but the reason that that's important is that is the lifeblood of this district, of this place. if that doesn't work people's property values go down people can't fish people that's both commercial fishermen recreational fishermen so folks are very seized with that and the reason I mentioned is Brian Mast has sort of positioned himself as a champion on clean water while quietly you know you may have seen last week hollowing out the EPA both the enforcement mechanisms that the EPA has and some of the definitions that really enable the federal government to enforce clean water rules.

14:59So I just want to make mention of that. But because it is a huge part of the affordability of this place, of property insurance, I think we heard it best. I heard a quote. Everything that Trump and Brian Mass is doing is making you either poorer or sicker. And that's what I come back to. And it's almost at the bottom of any issue. So that's what we're going to be laser focused on moving forward. Yeah. And that's why, you know, to me, all these issues are connected, which is their priorities and their focus on, hey, let's bring the swastika back. Let's do this. you know, or it's like, let's destroy the state department or, you know, mass, let's just start randomly talking about like bathrooms in Peru.

15:49And it's like the American people like, dude, I just want to be able to sit in my Thanksgiving table and be able to afford the turkey this year. Like, I just want to be able to then be in a place where I can afford my rent and afford insurance. Like, can you talk about that versus all of this kind of weird stuff? Anyway, before we go, James, where can people find out more about the campaign? Sure. So we're at JamesMartinForFlorida.com. And then we're on from there. We're on all social media except for Substack. I did get admonished by a lady last week that I was not on Substack, but we'll get there.

16:28But so that's JamesMartinForFlorida.com and we're on all social media channels. Thanks again, Ben. Well, people will see this on our Substack. So there you have it. James Martin is running for the 21st Congressional District in Florida against MAGA Republican Congress member Brian Mass. Thanks for joining us, James. Thank you, Ben. Appreciate you. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to six million subscribers. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad free episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.

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