HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. – After a 33-year decorated military career, Rocky Rochford, a retired U.S. Navy Captain, captivated Greater Tampa, District 14 in the 2024 Primary Election. With over 56 percent of the Republican vote, he faces Kathy Castor November 5th in the General Election and intends to boot her from her tenured, unopposed seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Castor has represented the huge district, which includes part of St. Petersburg, since 2008 after briefly serving in District 11. Rochford believes she has contributed little.
Rochford’s background is impressive. The Captain managed a nearly $100 Million Dollar budget and $300 Billion Dollars’ worth of ships and equipment. From 2016 to 2018, he served as Commodore over Naval Beach Group One, leading 2,200 sailors, civilians and contractors. With a Masters Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College, Rochford developed policy, built coalitions and interacted with a variety of U.S. Navy and government agencies to make impactful and efficient use of taxpayer dollars.
Citing Castor’s voting and bill sponsorship history, Rochford said that for the sake of Tampa’s huge District 14, something has got to give.
For starters, Rochford is disappointed that Castor voted against a critically important 2023 Veterans bill. But there’s much more, he told Tampa Free Press.
Among other votes, he cited her July 2023 vote against H.R. 4366, an appropriations bill. The bill provided for veterans’ insurance, housing, rehabilitation, Made in America production, mental health services and care, and military construction.
Despite the bill’s intent to support veterans, Castor voted against it. Rochford said, “She can’t run from this,” and said her website’s first-page proclamation of veteran support is doubtful, as her votes for vets are limited.
“She’s told how to vote,” Rochford said, “and that’s what she does. She is clearly far to the left, her record is so prevalent. She voted against funding Israel, against denouncing Hamas when there was a letter going around the House, which she wouldn’t sign.”
Rochford continued, “Congressional members are supposed to take their good ideas to Washington, write them up, build coalitions for their bills and get them to the floor and enacted. Ms. Castor, since 2007, has produced three bills, and two were to get the vote to re-name two post offices. This is negligence beyond negligence.”
With green initiatives in the U.S. Congress, Rochford brought attention to Castor’s grant for electric vehicles for police departments. Whenever they hit a puddle or lose juice, they’ll laugh at this vote,” Rochford said. “Why couldn’t she support the need for better equipment? She also supported the appliance-control initiatives, where the federal government gives you no choice anymore for your selection of home appliances – these are socialist actions. They’re taking away people’s choices.”
Rochford also stated he is disappointed with Castor’s limited ability to raise funds and garner support for the Tampa area. “She’s done in the low $20 millions for grants while other Congressional members get in the hundreds of millions.”
Castor’s positions on the southern border crisis concern Rochford, as well. In recent times, exiled Nicaraguan officials attempted to gain U.S. Southern Command’s attention on global criminals being rounded up and trained in the South American country. The criminals, still crossing the border today, come from nations who oppose America and its way of life. The exiled Nicaraguan officials asked Rochford to help with communications, as the criminals were entering the U.S. through migrant caravans.
Meanwhile, Castor voted against closing the border. She also refused to reprimand President Biden and Vice President Harris for poor handling of border affairs.
Rochford contended, “I don’t think it’s a conspiracy theory to ask the question, who opened the border? Illegal immigrants are given all this stuff and told to vote Democrat. It happened to the Nicaraguans. They don’t even speak English but they’ve been instructed to mark they are a Democrat voter while filling out their applications.”
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