‘On the Record’: Democratic candidates for Florida’s 21st Congressional District
The Florida primary election is Tuesday, August 18th. Voters will be choosing between two candidates in the Democratic race for the 21st Congressional District. That makes up parts of northern Palm Beach County to Martin, and Saint Lucie Counties. This primary will be the first election since the Florida legislation. The redrew the congressional map giving Republicans 4 more seats this morning in *** special commitment 2026 edition of On the Record, we’re going to sit down with the two Democratic candidates in the race, hoping to make it to the ballots in November. Let’s go 25. This is On the Record with Natalie Pozo, and we start this morning with Bernard Taylor, *** current Palm Beach County firefighter and EMT running for Congress in Florida’s 21st district. Tell us more about yourself, Bernard. Thank you so much for being here this morning. Thank you so much for having me. As you stated, I’m *** current firefighter EMT with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue. I am *** husband. I’m *** 4th generation Floridian. I am *** father. 5 boys, yes, 5 boys running around in the house, um, and I’m just *** public servant looking to do the right thing, which is why I wanted to get into this race. So you are *** political newcomer. What are some of your priorities in this campaign? For me, my priorities are the priorities of the people here on the Treasure Coast, which is affordability, which is health care, and which is our environment, especially our, our waterways which are so vital to. For our economy and the health of the people here in the community, so I wanna talk about affordability *** little bit, um, you know, Port Saint Lucie and Fort Pierce, two major cities in this district, we’ve seen all of the growth happening in Port Saint Lucie. We’ve seen just how fast it’s growing there. Fort Pierce, you know, we’re seeing some development there as well. So how do you as *** representative of this area keep affordability with such *** growing population? One of the things I think we need to address when it comes to affordability, especially with all the growth that we’re having, I think we need to address the housing market. And when I specify the housing market, I think we need to address the corporate landlords and hedge funds that are buying up all the properties, pricing out single families and single people from being able to enter the housing market. I have *** few solutions for how we can do that. One would be to limit the number of houses these corporations could purchase via *** bulk tax and using that bulk tax purchase. To invest in *** $25,000 down payment assistance program to not only uh not only limit the number of houses that they’re purchasing but also help those who are indeed looking to enter home ownership and looking to be *** part of the home ownership process. What do you say to people who, you know, um, maybe are not loving all of this growth and development, you know, how do you keep the charm of, let’s say Fort Pierce, for example? What do you tell people who have lived there for decades? My thing is, uh, I grew up in Fort Pierce. I grew up on the Treasure Coast, so I completely. We understand, uh, we are growing exponentially over the past 5 years alone, and there are *** lot of people who love the small town feel of Fort Pierce. They love the charm of Stewart and Martin County area, and we wanna make sure that we are growing, but we’re growing smartly and not rapidly. We wanna make sure that our infrastructure is actually keeping up with the growth that is happening, and that’s one of the complaints and one of the things that I hear when I speak to the community is we wanna make sure we’re growing smartly, but we wanna kinda slow it down *** little bit and also make sure. We have infrastructure in place in order to make sure we can handle the incoming growth. I want to stay with with Fort Pierce and and Port Saint Lucie. I’m both obviously in Saint Lucie County. There’s major disparities between the two. I have some notes here, so they’re 16 miles apart, but when we’re talking about education, even income, Port Saint Lucie, $71,000 *** year in Fort Pierce, $47,000 *** year. So how do you make sure that people aren’t left behind if we’re seeing these cities grow? We have to make sure that *** part of this growth. Both comes jobs comes corporations comes people that are willing to invest in the community and the people in the community in order to uplift those wage disparities like you say in Port Saint Lucie and Fort Pierce to be 16 miles apart and have about *** $30,000 annual average salary, um, gap is unacceptable. So these people that are coming in that are investing on the Treasure Coast, we need to make sure that not only are they investing in themselves, but they’re investing in the people that make this area what it is. Yeah, and when you have jobs in the. Area, right? You have people who are raising their families they wanna stay in the community to contribute to continue building to it. Um, environment is *** is *** huge topic, um, in this district when it comes to the, the, the, the lake when we’re talking about algae, bacteria, uh, the Saint Lucie River. What is your plan for that? So my plan is relatively simple. The first thing we need to do is make sure that we’re letting the lake do its natural thing. Lake Okeechobee is designed to naturally flow south. Um, *** problem that we’ve seen in the Treasure Coast over the past decade is *** lot. The lake is, is being diverted to flow into our Saint Lucie River into the Indy River Lagoon, into our estuaries instead of flowing naturally south like it needs to. Um, the very first thing we do, however, is to have *** major clean up of Lake Okeechobee, which is gonna take an investment. Um, Lake Okeechobee was voted the dirtiest lake in America last year, and for anybody who knows how many lakes there are in America, that is an amazing feat. So we need to make sure that not only are we cleaning up the lake, but we’re making sure that the lake is doing what it naturally needs to do, which is. Flow south into the Everglades and be making sure that it’s using Florida’s natural resources and natural environment to filter out all the different toxins and things that are affecting our environment. Bernard, you are the, uh, Democrat, one of the Democrats in this race that will be on the ballot for the August primary. Um, there has been *** Republican, we’re talking about Brian Mast who has been in place serving his 5th term right now. So how do you come in as *** Democrat to an area that has voted Republican majority for, for the past few years? So in 2016 was when. Brian Mass came into office before 2016, we actually had *** Democrat representing us in Patrick Murphy, so it’s not all that inconceivable for *** Democrat to to represent us here on the Treasure Coast. I think what it’s gonna take is someone that is willing to not look at so much Democrat and Republican, but look at just the people here on the Treasure Coast putting their needs and their wants first. When I’m in the community and I’m talking to the people in the Treasure Coast, we all are looking for the same thing. We wanna make sure that we are able to afford to live here in places that we grew up in places that we love. We wanna. Make sure that the environment here is protected, we can enjoy our waterways, we can enjoy the coastal city and towns that we are, the reason why people move to the Treasure Coast, and I think that unifying thing and focusing on that message is what’s gonna be what propels us past the primary and into the general election. You know, we’ve heard from um from lawmakers or even potential lawmakers that *** party affiliation should not be attached, that it should be what the people want, it should be the issues that the people think are important. Absolutely. So my career as *** firefighter EMT. Has taught me and has instilled in me people over my own life. So if I can put people over my own life in certain situations, I have no problem putting the people over any type of political, uh, games and chicanery that there might be. Um, I, I’m not, I’m again, as you stated before, I’m not *** career politician. I’m relative, relatively *** newcomer to this, but at the end of the day, I believe what is needed right now is people first politicians, people first public servants that are gonna do right, that are gonna. Do the right thing by the people here on the Treasure Coast. Bernard, we talked to some people, um, who live in this district as well, and one of the things that they, um, were concerned about is just crime and safety when it comes to, um, this this district. How do you, um, address that without necessarily bringing more police or anything like that? How do we use other resources and kind of inject them into these communities? I think we need to take examples from the mayor of Baltimore, Mayor Scott, and what Governor West Moore have done up in Maryland, which is actually attacked the underlying causes. Of reasons why people commit crimes, you know, attack, you know, the mental health, uh, uh, mental health crisis that we have dealing not just in our community but across America, building programs, after school programs, community programs, things for kids and young people to do to keep them off the streets. I believe when we actually attack the root causes of the reasons why people commit crime, you know, poverty, food insecurity, all these different things, I believe we can dramatically see the decrease in the number of crimes in terms of where it’s been over the past 5. To 10 years you mentioned something that I wanted to ask you about putting more programs in these communities for children. What would you be, what would be your plan for that? Oh man, we need to, as *** father of 5, right? And, and, and one of 5 yourself too. So I know when I was growing up we had access to, um, many different programs. I know in the summer there were programs for us to get involved in summer camps that that were that were accessible to families that couldn’t necessarily afford it. We had, um, different team sports that were, um, funded publicly and privately. We had different uh um organizations in the communities allowing us to hang out at the community center until 910 o’clock at night to give us some things to do to be productive, to invest in, um, computer science programs, to invest in different initiatives that get kids and get young people more involved and wanting to be more community oriented, those are the types of things that I had growing up that I don’t see, um, for kids these days, and it’s unfortunate because those are the types of things that helped make me help made me who I am today. Alright, Bernardo, we have one minute left. Why should people vote for you? Again, it’s people over politics. I’m not in this thing to, um, chase power. I’m not in this thing to chase influence. My sole purpose and sole goal in the running of this race is to be that voice for those people who feel like they haven’t had one over the past decade to folk to really give the underserved communities, to really give the people here on the Treasure Coast somebody to believe in, somebody who they know they can call and get things done, and someone who’s just. Out to look out what’s for what’s best for them at the end of the day because at the end of the day that’s all I want. All right, Bernard Taylor, thank you so much for being here with us this morning. Bernard Taylor running for the 21st congressional district district again which makes up parts of Northern Palm Beach County, Martin, and Saint Lucie Counties. Thank you so much for being here with us. Thank you for having me. You have *** great day. Thank you. Well, when we come back we’re gonna sit down with the other Democrat in this race for Florida’s congressional district. You’re watching On the Record on WPBF 25. Welcome back. We continue our conversation this morning with James Martin, the other Democrat candidate in the race for Congress in Florida’s 21st district. He is *** Coast Guard veteran, *** father of two. Welcome, James. Thanks so much for being here. Of course. Tell us more about yourself. Sure, well, as you mentioned, I’m *** proud Coast Guard veteran, uh, *** father of two. I’m also *** 4th generation local to the area, which is very important to me. Me and uh you know I, I really love my home and that’s *** big motivation for, for jumping into this race, um, and, and during that time in the Coast Guard I think it’s important to mention, you know, if I were elected to office this wouldn’t be the first time serving the Treasure Coast in Northern Palm Beaches I actually spent, uh, 2 years protecting South Florida’s maritime border. I was the captain of not one but 2 ships out of Fort Pierce, um, and then I spent some time at the White House working on national security policy. So how do you think that experience, um. Would help in in this new role if you are elected. Sure, well, I think, um, on, on to the second part of that, my experience at the White House is really crucial for this role, and I think it’s *** big differentiator because I’ve actually worked on policy at the national level before and worked on federal policy, and I think it’s very important for the people of the Treasure Coast and Northern Palm Beaches. Like there’s *** lot to get done. We, we need to be ready to go on day one, so that’s important to me, um, but the other thing it does is whether we’re talking about. Arresting drug runners in the Caribbean Sea, whether we’re talking about uh being the captain of *** ship or whether we’re talking about working for vice presidents at the White House, the through line through all those different jobs that I had in the Coast Guard was *** mission focused mindset and getting the job done, and I think that’s what’s missing in Washington today isn’t too many folks playing DC parlor games and trying to climb the ladder and not getting things done. So that’s what I want to bring to DC. What is your plan as *** Democrat coming into this race in an area that has voted Republican? For the last 9 years or so, the other candidate in this race on the Republican side, Brian Mast, he’s in his 5th term right now. That’s right, um, so, uh, it’s *** terrific question because I think there’s, it’s no secret if you can’t win independence in this race you’re, you’re wasting people’s time and one of the things that I think I bring to the table, not only my background as *** national security professional, as *** veteran, but also as an avid outdoorsman, you know. Anyone who follows me, um, will see that actually *** funny story, the first day I got in this race, *** guy that I went to high school with, not ***, not *** good friend, an acquaintance, he reached out to me and he said, hey, uh, are you *** Democrat or *** Republican? I can’t tell because I see you with these pictures of fish and I didn’t think Democrats went fishing and so I, I think being able to bridge those divides and, and be someone that people don’t think of as *** *** typical Democrat is, is really the way we’re, we’re going to. Uh, to win over those independents, um, and, and the last thing I would say is, is we know that people of my background are overwhelmingly able to win those independents. There’s hard data. We don’t have to speculate, so, uh, we, we really like our chances in November. I wanna go over *** few of the, um, things that are important to people in this district. One of them is housing and affordability. We’ve seen *** lot of development in the area, especially in Port Saint Lucie, which is. One of the major cities in this district, um, Fort Pierce is the other one. How do you keep the charm of some of these cities of Fort Pierce, you know, while still bringing in development and it growing? Sure, well, uh, particularly Fort Pierce, super important, um, and, and this is an issue that hits close to home to me as *** 4th generation local, you know, I always say, uh, you know, if, if you like it now you should have been. Here 2020 years ago? I grew up in Hope Sound. Um, you know, my, my dad actually still runs the business. My great grandfather started in the early 30s, so, uh, special, special place for, for us. But uh as it relates to Fort Pierce and, and Port Saint Lucie, I think it, it, it’s no secret that there’s *** lot of people who are moving here, not only from up north, but there’s *** lot of folks now who are moving there from Palm Beach County and Broward County because they can’t afford it and, and. Housing is, you know, what, what they call one of the number one drivers of what they call cost disease and and basically housing, health care, and, and those are. Essentially what comprise the bulk of people’s bills at the end of the month and so we do have to do something about housing, but there’s *** way to do it smartly in in our area where we have such precious natural resources and precious, uh, wild land, you know, wild Florida is very important to me. It’s, it’s one of the big reasons I joined the Coast Guard because I, I grew up here and I loved being on the water. So, uh, I, I, I think it’s very important to balance those two things. But, but there’s ways to do it where. Particularly in the state of Florida, one of the big biggest drivers that both prevents young people from getting into homes and prevents the elderly from staying in their homes is there, there is housing stock in Florida. It’s, it’s getting people into those homes and property insurance is, is what prevents *** lot of people from getting into the homes and prevents, uh, the elderly from staying in their homes, so. If we’re able to smartly tackle property insurance, I think you’re gonna see *** lot of housing open up, and I, I also think there’s some clever things we can do at the federal level to use federal lands like post office land, for example, like in Fort Pierce and in Hope Sound. The, the post offices are on 9 or 10 acres of federal land where we can provide housing for, uh, public service professionals whether that’s teachers or firefighters, first responders, because I, I think it’s important that people are able to live where they work. Yeah, and, and how I was gonna ask you how do you balance that out you mentioned balance when it comes to people who really don’t wanna see growth or see development in the air because they’ve called it home for so long and they, they wanna keep it *** quiet community. Sure, well I, I think you know at at the federal level, the, the limited levers that we do have, I think one of the things we cannot do and this is, you know, one of my chief criticisms of Mr. Mast is. The gutting of some of our bedrock environmental laws like when you know there’s big data center vote uh going on right now and you know that’s where we’re headed after this but When you roll back some of these environmental laws that fast tracks both some of these developments and and what are fundamentally local land use issues for county commissioners to decide, but when you at the federal level pave the way for those, that, that’s *** real problem. And so at the federal level what I would be *** major proponent of is not, uh, gutting our bedrock environmental laws that that make it really easy for some of this development to take place and, and speaking of the environment. Another key issue for for people in this district. So how do you handle that when it comes to the algae, the bacteria, Lake Okeechobee, the Saint Lucia River? No doubt about it. Um, so one of our, you know, top 3 issues on this campaign, and as I mentioned, one of the big reasons I got into public service in the first place was, uh, my love of wild Florida. You know, I grew up fishing, diving, surfing here on, on the Treasure Coast, and the, the thing that I appreciate about Mr. Mass, uh, no doubt about it, he’s elevated the issue. Um, but there’s *** lot more work to do, and 11 of the big problems I have is my strong view is he’s good on the issue when it’s convenient for him politically. Uh, the largest appropriations for Everglades restoration ever, $1.1 billion he voted against that and called it *** socialist boondoggle, which I have *** real problem with if, if you’re gonna be because, as, as folks here well know, the, the Everglades restoration is central to fixing the Lake Okeechobee issues and also preventing the, the toxic discharges if the water flow is restored correctly, so. My, my view is, and, and this goes back to ***, ***, *** key theme of our campaign is look, I’m not running to be the Democratic congressman for the Treasure Coast or the Republican congressman. I’m running to be everyone’s congressman, and that means going against your party when, when you need to, and that means focusing on the mission and getting things done, not just saying, uh, well, you know, President Biden’s name’s on that, so I’m not gonna vote for that, or President Trump’s name is on that, so I’m not gonna vote for that. That’s, that’s not getting things done. James, I wanted to ask you about jobs because you mentioned that in one of your answers, um. So we’re talking about Port Saint Lucie and Fort Pierce who are just 16 miles away from each other, but when you look at Port Saint Lucie and you look at Fort Pierce, there’s just huge disparities when it comes to those two cities. The median income in Port Saint Lucie is $71,000 *** year. In Fort Pierce, it’s $47,000. Education is also different. Um, how do you tackle that? About how do you bring jobs into this? You keep those jobs there and keep people and also raise those those salaries? Sure, well, you know, no doubt about, no doubt about it that that jobs are 11 of the, the biggest things that, that we need to focus on because that’s ultimately, and I don’t just look at the jobs as numbers on *** spreadsheet, that’s someone who is able to provide for their family. Family, you know, I think of my mom growing up my mom was *** public school teacher growing up and you know that was how we were able to have health insurance and, you know, see *** good doctor and everything else and so I’m not focused on specifically the number of jobs. I’m focused on good jobs because what what they call um uh the the term will escape me but essentially folks who are working. Uh, when you focus overtly on unemployment rates, you end up missing people who have have to work 2 and 3 jobs to get by. So that’s not what I want for the hardworking folks of the Treasure Coast. I mean, um, you know, I applaud folks who, who are doing what they have to do out there and because it’s *** very tough job environment right now. But what we can do about that is create incentives for employers to not only have to not just. Have more jobs but but have good jobs and incentivize that in in specific ways if you, you know, have good health insurance plans if you have good pensions, you know, you’re eligible for certain tax credits and, and that’s really what I wanna focus on is is the good quality jobs, not just numbers going up for the sake of numbers going up. James, you have like 15 seconds left. I do wanna ask you why should people vote for you. I just wanted to end it. On that note, sure, well, folks should vote for me because ultimately I’m running to be everyone’s congressman, not just the Democratic congressman, not just the Republican congressman, everyone’s congressman. I’m *** proud Coast Guard veteran. I’m *** 4th generation local. I’m not in this for, for clicks. I’m not in this for because people told me it’s the next step in my career. I, I’m doing this because I’m *** patriot. I love my home. And I love my two little girls at home and I want, uh, I, I want for, for them and for the tens of thousands of little boys and girls across the Treasure Coast, uh, *** better future because if we don’t make *** change now, the opportunities I had growing up aren’t gonna be available for both them and, and all the rest of the kids on the Treasure Coast. So thank you James Martin running for the 21st congressional district. Thank you so much for your time this morning and when we come back we’re going to explain the other names you will see in this race when it comes to the general election in November. Welcome back. The winner in the Democratic race for the 21st district will face Republican incumbent Representative Brian Mast. Mast is currently serving his 5th term. He has no opponents in the August Republican primary election. Alexander Cook will appear on the ballot on the November 3rd election. He is running as an independent. Well, as always, we thank you so much for making us *** part of your morning. We encourage you to be part of our discussion each and every Sunday right here at 10:00 a.m. Have *** wonderful Sunday.
‘On the Record’: Democratic candidates for Florida’s 21st Congressional District
Updated: 10:30 AM EDT Jul 19, 2026
WPBF 25 goes “On the Record” with Benard Taylor and James T. Martin, who are Democratic candidates for Florida’s 21st Congressional District in the 2026 election. The 21st Congressional District includes parts of northern Palm Beach County, along with Martin and St. Lucie counties. The latest: WPBF 25 News coverage on PoliticsThe winner of the Democratic primary on Tuesday, August 18, will face incumbent Brian Mast, a Republican, in the general election on Tuesday, November 3.Get the latest political updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.
WPBF 25 goes “On the Record” with Benard Taylor and James T. Martin, who are Democratic candidates for Florida’s 21st Congressional District in the 2026 election.
The 21st Congressional District includes parts of northern Palm Beach County, along with Martin and St. Lucie counties.
The latest: WPBF 25 News coverage on Politics
The winner of the Democratic primary on Tuesday, August 18, will face incumbent Brian Mast, a Republican, in the general election on Tuesday, November 3.
Get the latest political updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.