Christine Quinn will again challenge Kathy Castor

Tampa businesswoman Christine Quinn will again challenge Kathy Castor in Florida’s 14th Congressional District.

Quinn, a Republican, ran unsuccessfully against Castor in 2016, earning just 38% of the vote. She’s giving it another go this year after filing April 22.

“As a Businesswoman I expect Members of Congress to get to work solving our nation’s problems. Americans deserve leaders willing to step up and fight for them, not special interest groups,” Quinn said.

“Career Politician Kathy Castor has been in Congress for 13 years, collecting over $2,000,000 in salary.  In 13 years’ time and $2,000,000 later Castor has sponsored only two bills which became law – not solving problems, but naming two post offices.  We need a Member of Congress able to do more than just name post offices.  Changing Washington starts right here in Tampa.”

Quinn, a Tampa resident, is founder and CEO of My Family’s Seasonings, which produces and sells all-natural seasonings across the globe. Products are available online and at major grocery chains, including Lakeland-based Publix.

Quinn is a California native who moved her company to Florida to escape what she described as burdensome regulations. She chose Florida not just because of its business-friendly regulatory climate, but because it’s also home to Publix, one of her biggest clients.

Quinn is running on several GOP mantras including protecting freedom, expanding school choice and supporting military and veterans.

On healthcare, Quinn says she believes in expanding options and increasing price transparency to reduce costs.

Asked in 2016 about immigration as she waged a campaign at the same time as now President Donald Trump, Quinn told Florida Politics she supported Trump’s token issue, building a wall along the U.S. southern border.

In a comment that’s now especially relevant because of the novel coronavirus, Quinn said she worried undocumented immigrants were bringing diseases into the country. Though, the coronavirus isn’t thought to have spread from the United States’ neighbor to the south, Mexico.

“We’re also bringing in some very dangerous threats to the American health and safety of the American population at large,” Quinn said four years ago. “Tuberculosis was almost completely eradicated in the ’80s. Now our safe haven cities, like San Francisco, have the highest rate of tuberculosis in the nation. It’s a very treatable disease, we have medications that can treat it, but it’s a silent killer because it’s airborne.”

Quinn does not list immigration as a campaign priority this year.