Former Palm Beach County Mayor Robert Weinroth says America has a lot of problems, and Democrats — particularly U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz — aren't doing much to fix them. Weinroth just qualified as one of several Republican candidates seeking to …
Former Palm Beach County Mayor Robert Weinroth says America has a lot of problems, and Democrats — particularly U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz — aren't doing much to fix them.
Weinroth just qualified as one of several Republican candidates seeking to unseat Moskowitz this year in Florida's 23th Congressional District. He believes he's uniquely suited to the task.
Until 2022, when he lost his Palm Beach Commission seat to a Republican newcomer, Weinroth was a Democrat himself; though by his telling, it was largely in name only. His beliefs leaned right. He was pro-development, pro-business. He balked at proposals to expand entitlements and "handouts," favoring policies that broadened opportunities for people to improve their lives and become more self-sufficient — equality of opportunity, not outcome.
He switched parties shortly after his loss, which he blamed less on his opponent's political aptitude and more on a growing assessment among voters, even those in traditionally blue South Florida, that the Democratic Party had "veered off course."
"The Democratic Party sort of tolerated me, but I was not embracing many of its platforms. In fact, my eyes would sort of water as some of the policies were being enunciated," he told Florida Politics.
"I kept my mouth shut, but I always felt like a square peg in a round hole as a Democrat. Most people looked at me and winked, like, 'Yeah, we know you're a Republican under the skin.'"
Still, Weinroth endorsed Moskowitz for CD 23 in 2022. He also endorsedNikki Fried as the Democratic Party's gubernatorial candidate, though he said he voted for Gov. Ron DeSantis in the General Election that year and for Donald Trump in 2020.
Weinroth's campaign website features a photo of him and the former President, who has still not acknowledged he fairly lost four years ago. Asked about it by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in February, Weinroth said there were "problems with the election, but I'm certainly not going to question the process."
He gave DeSantis an "A" rating as a Governor, especially for his response to the pandemic. And it was the Governor's confidence in Moskowitz — a former House lawmaker whom DeSantis appointed in 2019 as Florida's Emergency Management Director and in 2021 as a Broward County Commissioner — that earned him Weinroth's nod two years ago.
"I hoped he'd be able to work against what I've seen as a very leftward march in the Democratic Party," he said. "Unfortunately, I've watched as he's tried to work with the radical 'Squad' and extremists in the party to make any progress like that impossible. I don't think within that party that Jared can make a difference."
Weinroth also pointed to Moskowitz's sharing of an "inappropriate" meme on X of Joe Biden ogling actress Sydney Sweeny's cleavage and news he is considering a run for Governor in 2026 as proof that the first-term Congressman lacks the focus and restraint necessary for work in Washington.
He attributed CD 23's six-candidate GOP field as an indication he isn't alone in feeling that way.
"I think they smell blood in the water," he said.
Robert Weinroth having a tête-à-tête with ex-President Donald Trump. Image via Robert Weinroth.
Policies, prioritiesand probabilities
A 71-year-old lawyer and former owner of a medical supplies company, Weinroth grew up in New York City and lived in Boston and New Jersey before relocating to South Florida in the mid-1980s.
He won a seat on the Boca Raton City Council in 2014, serving for four years until his election to the Palm Beach Commission, where he focused on land use and transportation issues and served as the body's elected Mayor.
In early 2023, two months after he lost a re-election bid for the County Commission, voter records show Weinroth switched parties. He briefly mulled a run at the Palm Beach School Board, but instead filed this past January to run in CD 23.
His campaign website includes plans to cut taxes if elected and stop "woke Democrats" from turning America into a "Socialist nightmare" — an agenda, it says, "Moskowitz refuses to confront."
But speaking with Florida Politics, Weinroth pointed to immigration reform and border security as his top priority.
He said he agreed "100%" with DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's taxpayer-funded programs to send migrants who illegally cross over the Mexico-Texas border to so-called "sanctuary cities" like Martha's Vineyard and Sacramento.
"Illegal immigration is the most important issue on the table right now, more important than pocketbook issues," he said. "We have an immigration policy that is in tatters. Millions of people are just wandering around without any sort of documentation to get jobs and earn a living in this country. It's a disaster."
He cited national defense and the economy, including reducing America's debt, as his second- and third-biggest priorities, respectively.
On guns, he said he supports the right for mentally competent and skilled people to own firearms, but disagreed with Florida's relatively new law allowing legal gun owners to carry concealed weapons without a permit or training.
Weinroth is also a past member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which lobbies governments on behalf of Israel. He and Moskowitz are both Jewish.
He said he's troubled by anti-Israel sentiment among young people, particularly college-age students, and blamed a decadeslong failure of Israel to convey its message, history and story to the public.
"Even as I was lobbying members of Congress, we were told back then that Israel was not doing a great job of public relations. A lot of the Arab countries were endowing Chairs at universities and finding people coming in with very pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel lessons. Now we've reaped what we've sowed," he said.
"A lot of these students now have the view that Israel is an apartheid state, that Palestinians have somehow been abused by this terrible Israel. That's really unfortunate. And Since Oct. 7, I think everyone recognizes appeasements didn't work. The fact that we're not talking about the atrocities that occurred in the attack but only about Israel's taking advantage of their superior weaponry is ridiculous."
AIPAC has endorsed Moskowitz, who has been a leading voice in support of aid to the country and Israel's right to defend itself.
(L-R): A 2019 photo of then-Palm Beach County Commissioner Robert Weinroth, then-state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, then-Parkland Mayor Christine Hunschofsky, then-state Sen. Kevin Rader, Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer and Palm Beach County Commissioner Gregg Weiss. Weinroth at the time was a self-described "conservative Democrat." Bogdanoff and Singer are Republicans. Weiss, Rader and Hunschofsky, now a state Representative, are Democrats. Image via Florida Politics file.
CD 23covers Boca Raton, West Boca, northwest Broward County and coastal Broward south to Fort Lauderdale. In 2022, Moskowitz took 51.6% of the vote to defeat Palm Beach GOP Committeeman Joe Budd for the right to succeed fellow then-Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, who left office to lead the American Jewish Council.
According to Florida Atlantic University political scientist Kevin Wagner, any Republican running in the district has an uphill battle. He told the Sun-Sentinel it's not an impossible prospect, "but challenging."
Cook Political Report, meanwhile, gave CD 23 a D+5 rating, indicating that the district performed 5 points more Democratic than the nation in the past two presidential election cycles. That makes it among the most flippable districts in the state.
Moskowitz won the district by a 4.8-percentage-point margin two years ago, when DeSantis won it by 1 point. He won the state by more than 19 points.
In terms of fundraising, Moskowitz is a goliath. He added $474,000 to his re-election war chest last quarter through donations from progressive groups and hundreds of personal checks collected largely by Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue and AIPAC.
By April 1, he had $614,000 left to spend.
Weinroth's first-quarter gains were more than the combined fundraising of all his GOP opponents. And of the $223,000 he raised since entering the race on Jan. 2, $100,000 was self-loaned.
Others GOP candidates who qualified for the CD 23 race, according to the Division of Elections, include businessman Steven Chess; counterterrorism expert and nonprofit executive Joe Kaufman; Navy veteran Carla Spalding; insurance executive Darlene Swaffer; pastor Joe Thelusca; and Gary Barve, whom the Sun-Sentinel reported had dropped out of the race in February.
A seventh GOP candidate, Army vet Rafael Ortiz, filed to run in November but didn't file any campaign finance reports and failed to qualify.
The Primary Election is on Aug. 20, followed by the General Election on Nov. 5.
V. Issa White spent Ramadan organizing Bilal Ibn Islamic Center feeding events for Orlando's poorest residents. When he couldn't convince U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost to do the same, he challenged the Orlando Democrat on the ballot. The Muslim leader las…
V. Issa White spent Ramadan organizing Bilal Ibn Islamic Center feeding events for Orlando's poorest residents. When he couldn't convince U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost to do the same, he challenged the Orlando Democrat on the ballot.
The Muslim leader last week qualified to face Frost in an Aug. 20 Democratic Primary, where Wade Darius also qualified to run. White said the region needs a Congressman who puts in the hard work to help Central Florida's most marginalized.
"I've been to over 100 countries," White said, "and within the district, now we have some of the worst poverty that I've ever seen."
White alleged that Frost, who has hosted concerts in Florida's 10th Congressional District and his office in Washington, treats Congress as his "playground" and a place to "have fun" instead of solving problems. Meanwhile, White said, others in the public seek change more effectively from outside of the Capitol.
But White voiced frustration with leadership throughout Washington. Angry at continued funding for wars overseas, including sending billions to Israel amid an ongoing conflict in Gaza, he wants change from top to bottom in leadership. That includes President Joe Biden, who faces re-election this year.
"As far as Joe Biden, the Democrats should find another candidate," White said.
White notes that his father led the NAACP in Delaware when Biden served as a U.S. Senator there. He feels the Democratic incumbent's record of tough-on-crime legislation and a three strikes sentencing law has disproportionately hurt Black Americans.
"He is an old-line war advocate," White said of Biden, "and that causes more corruption. That causes more hostility and anger with countries that we don't need to be in conflict with, as opposed to dialogue."
He criticized a foreign aid package recently signed by Biden that funds Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan amid tensions with Hamas, Russia and China, respectively, and he slammed Frost for going along with that effort.
Importantly, Frost voted against sending money to Israel over concerns about killed Palestinian civilians, though he voted for funding for Ukraine and Taiwan.
"If he was concerned, he would have said we're voting against war completely," White said. "If he had enough sense, he would know something about the Ukrainian issue, how it developed and how it is just wasted money."
There is one clear issue where White, a former Republican, is running from Frost's right. White believes more should be spent securing the border. He says a flood of migrants has cut into federal resources that should go to infrastructure improvements domestically and to help those in poverty in the U.S.
"We cannot afford just an open-ended immigration policy that allows everyone," White said. "I mean, our economy is in shambles."
He notes that his own father was originally from Costa Rica, and even was deported once from the U.S., which made him all the more grateful to return to America.
But immediately, he's frustrated that Frost, an activist before his election to Congress, and other Democrats in Congress have not listened more to pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses across the country.
"Go back to Maxwell Frost. If he was really concerned about free speech and the protests like he said, he would be one of the first people to say, 'I support these young people and they have the right to protest. I am against the mechanisms trying to suppress these people, trying to suspend them and create a criminal record against them,'" White said. "But he hasn't done that at all."
White said Congress also needs to address the rapid cost of living in cities like Orlando.
"We have 7 million homeless people in this country and we have the decline of the American dollar," White said. "That's going to be havoc on American society in terms of inflation. We have Americans being confronted at the grocery store with a loaf of bread for $4."
