Who can defeat a Republican – most likely Randy Fine – in the April 1 special congressional election to replace new National Security Advisor Michael Waltz?
Two Democrats in the hunt think they know the way.
Progressive Joshua Weil and moderate George “Ges” Selmont – they embrace those labels – are making their cases to voters eligible for Tuesday’s Jan. 28 Democratic primary, with the winner moving on to the special election. Whoever is victorious then becomes the U.S. representative from Florida’s 6th District through 2026.
Democrats have been unable to win in this part of the state – an area covering Flagler and Putnam counties, plus northern Volusia, southern St. Johns. eastern Marion and northern Lake counties – during the time that Waltz and his predecessor, Ron DeSantis, have served. The 6th was 49% Republican and 26% Democrat as of the November 2024 election.
But both Weil and Selmont said they believe Democrats might have a shot in a special election, which has historically produced low turnout. Here’s a closer look at who they are, what they are promising and how they think they can pull an upset.
Who is Joshua Weil?
Weil is a 40-year-old teacher from Orlando who made an aborted run for U.S. Senate in 2022. He calls himself a proud progressive and believes inspiring voters with big ideas is the best way to lure Republicans and Republican-leaning non-partisan voters to vote for a Democrat.
He’s a divorced single dad who says he wakes up each morning and makes three breakfasts and three lunches for himself and his two sons, and is motivated to help families by taking on President Donald Trump and Fine, who he calls “the epitome of everything that is wrong with America today.”
Weil, whose name is pronounced “wheel,’ has taught for 13 years in schools that qualify for federal funding to help students from low-income families, in both Orange and Osceola counties.
At a Jan. 13 forum in Daytona Beach, he said he was motivated to get involved in a deeper way after phone-banking and canvassing for candidates but seeing Democrats in Florida lose in 2020.
“I wanted to see candidates that reflected my values. I wanted to see candidates that got me excited and engaged, because I feel like real change could come if these people were elected,” he said.
After six months of campaigning for Senate in 2022, he exited the race before qualifying, when it was apparent Val Demings would be the Democratic nominee.
2015 physical encounter with student
On July 9, 2015, Weil was a teacher at the Orange Youth Academy, a Florida Department of Juvenile Justice residential program for teen males. According to Orange County Schools’ records, he grabbed a student by the neck and threw him to the ground, leaving a bruise on the student’s head.
In a written statement, the student wrote: “I grab Mr. Weil’s arm to speak to him then he grab me around my neck and started choking me so I started choking him back and slapping him to turn me loose then Mr. Weil slammed me.”
Weil, who called the student his “little buddy,” wrote that the boy was slapping him playfully and it escalated.
“It was more of a push and my hand ended up at his neck area,” Weil wrote. “… I was just trying to get him to stop.”
He said he had no intention of hurting the boy.
“It was a terrible mistake to play with him in that manner and I am horrified at the possibility that this child could’ve gotten hurt because of me,” Weil said.
Ima McCray, assistant principal for alternative education, determined Weil’s conduct was “misconduct in office and conduct unbecoming.” Weil was suspended for three days, with two days of pay returned to him.
In 2016, the Florida Department of Education reviewed the case and determined “no probable cause to pursue disciplinary charges against your Florida Educator’s Certificate.”
Weil did not agree to an interview this week.
Who is Ges Selmont?
Selmont, 57, has had a multifaceted career as a lawyer, tech entrepreneur and sports consultant. He ran in 2018 for U.S. House in Florida’s 4th District, losing to Republican incumbent John Rutherford. Since then, his home in Elkton, near the northern edge of the 6th District in St. Johns County, has been moved into the 6th.
“I think it’s a novelty, but I actually live in the district I want to represent. Which is rare, I guess,” Selmont said.
He isn’t the only candidate who lives in the district, as Republican Aaron Baker of Sorrento is at the district’s southern edge and Libertarian Andrew Parrott lives in Ocala. But both Fine and Weil live well outside the 6th.
Selmont has been married for 24 years and has two sons in college. He has a bachelor’s degree from Bard College, a law degree from Northeastern University and graduate degrees from Yale University and Harvard University.
He owns two other homes, a beach house in Ponte Vedra Beach, and a property in South Carolina, which he rents for $1 a year to a nonprofit that breeds indigenous horses, but says he knows the 6th District well, having followed his sons’ athletic competitions around the six counties.
How best to beat Republicans? Case for a moderate
With the 6th having nearly twice as many Republicans as Democrats, and considering how Democrats including Kamala Harris lost on Nov. 5, Selmont said voters in the April 1 election are not going to suddenly vote for Democrats offering progressive ideas.
“There is a chance, a little chance with a horrific candidate on the other side, if we run a moderate Democrat, who’s from the district. That we have an opportunity to win,” Selmont told the Democrats in Daytona Beach.
“I need you in this election to vote with your head and not with your heart,” he said.
Selmont described his moderate views, saying the winning approach for Democrats is to go to voters humbly, asking more questions than “top-down telling them” what their needs are.
“I support my party when it’s right, and when it’s wrong, I’ll say it,” he said. “Prices went up under President Biden. The border was a mess under President Biden. I have a lot of respect for President Biden, and he did a lot of good. But we have to take ownership of the things that failed.”
How best to beat Republicans? Case for a progressive
Weil countered that Democrats have not run a financially competitive race in the district since 2018, and messaging costs money.
“We have to be able to raise money to get our message out, and we have to have a message that people can believe in and is more inspiring than Ges’s message of we can’t win and people don’t like Democrats,” Weil said. “I think we can do a little bit better.”
Weil said at the Jan. 13 debate he had raised more than $300,000 from 13,000 individual donors. This week, he issued a press release stating he has raised more than $500,000, with the average donation at $22.70.
According to filings with the Federal Elections Commission though Jan. 8, Weil had raised just over $225,000, spending nearly $85,000, while Selmont had collected $125,000 and spent just $3,000 of it.
Weil pointed to 2018 as an example of how strong messaging can win votes, although it appears he cited incorrect data in doing it.
Selmont, in the 4th Congressional District, lost by a 67-33 margin. However, in the governor’s race, Weil claimed the same voters in the 4th supported Democrat Andrew Gillum for governor with 47% in his race against Ron DeSantis.
“Progressive policies got 47% of the vote in a ruby-red district in November that year,” Weil told the Democrats during the debate. “Fifty-thousand people started their ballot by bubbling in a little circle next to Andrew Gillum, got one slot down and saw Ges’s name and swerved right to John Rutherford.”
However, that data doesn’t appear to be correct. According to data mined by Matthew Isbell of MCI Maps, Gillum lost among 4th District voters by a 61-38 margin. Isbell said redistricting has since made the 4th District more Democratic, resulting in the 47% figure cited by Weil.
Nonetheless, Weil’s point is that progressive Democrats perform better in Florida because they have a message. “People need hope,” he said.
Selmont believes in ‘traditional Democratic values’
Selmont ascribes to “traditional Democratic values,” which he defines as: “Respect for workers, freedom of speech, equal rights for everybody, an economy that is fair.”
A common thread throughout the 6th District are issues related to land.
“We have seawater coming up from underground that is turning our wells salty. We have coastlines that need to be hardened,” he said. “We have power that goes out when wind blows and we have streets that never flooded before that now flood in light rain.”
And he’s concerned with the loss of farmland.
“We are plowing under our farms and instead of planting cabbage and tomatoes, we are planting tract homes,” he said. “It is unsustainable to use our land like that.”
He, like Weil, believes federal solutions must be sought to address the cost of homeowners’ insurance and issues related to flood insurance. But he is attempting to distinguish himself from progressives.
“I’m not going to try and ram culture wars down your throat,” he said. “I’m going to listen to you. I’m going to hear you. I’m going to be here and will represent you, and will bring bacon back home to this district.”
Weil says economy must work for all
At the Daytona Beach forum, Weil described an economy of haves and have-nots.
“You know, 60% of people have less than $400 in a bank account,” he said. “The average net worth for people over 40 in this country is $250,000. The average net worth of people under is $7,000.
“It’s gotten to a way where the United States of America should, before anything else, take care of the people who live here. And that’s the type of government that I want to be a part of.”
Weil said he talked with a Republican who initially accused him of supporting the Medicare for All Act in order to provide healthcare to undocumented immigrants. Weil responded by asking the Republican what he wanted in a healthcare program, and when the man finished, Weil said he had been describing what Medicare for All is.
“We have to eliminate housing insecurity. We have to make sure people have access to healthcare. We have to preserve Social Security,” he said.
“These messages do resonate with everyone, because everyone is hurting. Everyone needs help right now and I tell you… I’ve been out there campaigning … across all six counties, knocking on doors, talking to people and Republicans are listening because they didn’t get the answers they wanted.”
Weil believes 6th District voters who supported President Donald Trump in November are already dissatisfied, concerned about his plans for education and the environment.
““He promised them cheaper groceries,” Weil said, “and gave them the Gulf of America.”
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