Joe Kaufman hopes rising red tide will deliver long-shot win against Jared Moskowitz in CD 23

Republican counterterrorism expert Joe Kaufman is hoping to flip one of Florida’s most consistently blue districts red this year.

It’s a long-shot bid. The incumbent in Florida’s 23rd Congressional District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, is well-known to voters, has a deep history of public service, carries a far larger war chest and has a knack for going viral online.

Then there’s the district’s composition, which has shifted redder in recent years but still leans Democratic by 6.5 percentage points despite a GOP advantage of more than 1 million voters statewide.

Both candidates are nearing their mid-40s. Both are Jewish and staunch supporters of Israel, a plus among the district’s disproportionately large Jewish population.

Moskowitz, 43, was born and raised in Broward and graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School before earning a law degree.

He got into politics early, interning for Al Gore, serving as an assistant on Joe Lieberman’s presidential campaign and as a Florida delegate for Barack Obama. For six years, he served on the Parkland City Commission, until 2012.

Then he won a seat in the Florida House, where he successfully sponsored legislation to prohibit contracts with companies that boycott Israel, decriminalize the damaging of cars to free trapped children and pets, and crack down on so-called “SLAPP” lawsuits through which powerful organizations try to silence critics.

He’s arguably best known for an emotional speech he delivered on the House floor after the 2018 massacre at his high school alma mater ahead of the passage of Florida’s first gun control law in years. As a Congressman, he has since led tours through the school’s hallways ahead of its demolition to educate others in Washington about the realities of mass shootings.

Moskowitz’s legislative and political successes can be attributed to his cross-aisle approach to policymaking. He worked for nearly a decade at Ashbritt Inc., a Deerfield Beach-headquartered emergency management company, before accepting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointment as Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management in January 2019.

He held the job for two and a half years before leaving and, after a short spell, accepting another DeSantis appointment to the Broward County Commission, where he served before mounting a successful congressional run in 2022.

Kaufman, 54, is a study in persistence. This marks his seventh run at public office, following unsuccessful attempts at unseating Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018, and a pair of Florida House runs in 1990 and 2000 that didn’t go his way.

This year, he beat five Republican Primary opponents with 35.5% of the vote.

Born in Detroit, Kaufman moved to the Sunshine State after college to care for his grandmother and today owns and runs Kaufman Security, a nonprofit that provides education services on matters of national security, antiterrorism and anti-bigotry. He’s also a conservative journalist, writing as the Shillman Fellow for FrontPage Magazine and appearing on various multimedia programs.

If elected, Kaufman vows to bring back more funding for CD 23, revive the district’s manufacturing industry, lower taxes on businesses and workers, and strengthen U.S. border control. He wants to address inflation, advocate for expanding school voucher programs and back policies that prioritize domestic energy production. His campaign website says he supports gun rights and congressional term limits and opposes any attempts to reduce or eliminate Social Security and Medicare.

His endorsers include U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, Palm Beach County Commissioner Marci Woodward, Weston Mayor Margaret Brown, Broward School Board member Brenda Fam, former U.S. Rep. Allen West, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan and a passel of other current and former elected, government, community and faith leaders.

Through Oct. 15, Kaufman raised close to $167,000 and spent $102,000 on winning the CD 23 seat.

Moskowitz raised $2.16 million and spent close to $1.7 million this cycle to stop him.

Since winning the seat, Moskowitz has been the primary sponsor of 17 bills. Three received committee consideration: one to again establish the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a Cabinet-level agency, another supporting an international ban on the dog and cat meat trade, and a third to authorize the use of the U.S. Capitol for a homeless shoe drive for the Sneaker Caucus, a group Moskowitz co-founded to foster bipartisanship in Washington.

None passed.

He has also prioritized replenishing FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund and, following Hurricane Helene, joined Scott in urging congressional leaders to call Senators and Representatives back to Washington to ensure disaster funding was available.

After the July assassination attempt on Donald Trump, Moskowitz filed a resolution with Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz to honor a former volunteer Fire Chief who was killed by a stray bullet. Another bipartisan measure he co-introduced would sanction organizations that implement so-called “martyrdom payments” to anti-Israel terrorists.

Several of Moskowitz’s humorous, but confrontational exchanges during committee meetings have gone viral, including clashes with far-right U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Not long after Trump’s lone debate with Kamala Harris aired, Moskowitz mocked U.S. Rep. James Comer for threatening but failing to deliver an impeachment against President Joe Biden, saying in one memorable exchange, “When are we going to schedule an impeachment? Or is this just ‘concepts’ of an impeachment?”

He carries endorsements from several current and former members of Congress, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, roughly 100 current and former elected state and local officials, and many advocacy and trade organizations like the AFL-CIO, AIPAC, Alliance for Retired Americans, Equality Florida, Everytown Against Gun Violence, Florida Fraternal Order of Police, SEIU and the teacher unions of both Broward and Palm Beach counties.

CD 23 runs from Broward County to Palm Beach County, stretching from Fort Lauderdale to Boca Raton. It has typically been a safe Democratic district. But after Republican Joe Budd came within 5 points of defeating Moskowitz last cycle, Republicans believe the seat may be in play, particularly considering Budd’s performance came with little institutional support.

The General Election is on Nov. 5.