BY DAN HILDEBRAN
General manager
STARKE—A lawyer and entrepreneur hoping to unseat Senator Rick Scott made a campaign stop in Starke on December 4.
Keith Gross said that everywhere he has traveled in Florida, voters are worried about the economy, which he said is being damaged by out-of-control spending in Washington.
He said uni-party candidates are pushing overspending on both sides of the aisle.
“That’s one of the key priorities when I get to Washington,” he said, “is stop this out-of-control spending.”
Gross said that the $7 trillion dumped into the economy during the COVID-19 Pandemic has driven inflation over the last few years.
The Panama City native, who amassed his fortune in Melbourne but recently moved back to his hometown, is challenging Scott for the Republican nomination.
The candidate’s upbringing was one with which many rural Florida residents can identify.
“I grew up in a small town in North Florida, and we lived in a trailer when I was born,” Gross recalled. “I was raised by a single mom. The folks like my mom who raised me are now scraping by to make ends meet while Congress sends hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign nations.”
He said he is going to Washington to give people like his mother and the residents of his hometown a voice.
Gross also emphasized his commitment to individual freedoms and limited government, adding that allowing gun owners to open carry is one example of a personal freedom he would fight for.
Gross said he has not met with local officials or held any events in Bradford County yet, but he has in Gainesville and plans to frequent Northeast Florida throughout the campaign.
