Jim Rosica
Todd Wilcox, GOP candidate for U.S. senator from Florida, told Sunshine Summit participants that his non-politician, non-lawyer background is a plus for seeking office.
Primary voters need to ask “which candidate has real-world experience,” he said.
“Let’s face it, we’re all fed up with career politicians,” Wilcox said, a seeming dig at fellow Republican and U.S. Rep. David Jolly, a lawyer, former lobbyist and longtime staffer to the late U.S. Rep. Bill Young of Pinellas County.
Jolly was later elected to Young’s seat.
Wilcox, a Tampa native, is now an Orlando businessman, former combat soldier and past CIA case officer, seeking the seat being vacated by Marco Rubio, who’s running for president.
Wilcox played to his strengths as he hammered home the importance of national security, a “citizen government,” and “defending our constitutional republic.”
“I do not accept it is impossible to restore our American prominence,” he told the crowd.
He also served up, as others have throughout the day, President Barack Obama as a symbol of the American decline.
“Our status as an industrialized nation has declined under the Obama administration,” Wilcox said. “Capitalism is under attack … (instead,) who better to formulate economic policy than a business leader” who creates jobs.
He also promised to shore up personal freedoms he said were under attack by an overzealous federal government, especially an “overarching executive branch.”
“There’s a growing storm on the horizon,” Wilcox said. “We are moving closer and closer to a post-constitutional era. This is more dangerous than the (Islamic State) threat.”
