Navy veteran Rocky Rochford served his country for 33 years, holding the title of commodore. Now, he’s on a mission to flip Tampa Bay from blue to red, in the midst of a spirited campaign to unseat 20-year incumbent Kathy Castor in Florida’s 14th congressional district.

Rochford recently sat down to discuss his campaign with Fox News Digital.

«So in 20 years, Kathy Castor has been the author of two bills that became law. And both of those were to rename post offices. So I would say that Kathy Castor has been ineffective. She hasn’t really helped Tampa Bay in the ways that matter the most. Affordability is probably the biggest thing on everyone’s kitchen table list of discussion points. Gasoline, groceries, electricity, insurance. I mean, the list goes on and on and on.»

Rochford emphasizes that his leadership experience has prepared him to be ready to represent the people of Tampa Bay from day one.

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«So it’s about leadership. I have spent my entire adult life…33 years in the Navy, four years at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. I got to go back to the age of 18 for the first time before I was actually part of the military. So, it’s been entrenched in my being, it is in my soul, I’m very strong in my faith. 

And I believe that we need someone who is not only going to bring leadership to the process, but is going to bring their faith to the process up in D.C., and be part of the solution. People who are anti the other side, whether it doesn’t matter what side you’re sitting on, when they are against the other side to the point where they won’t even talk to them, that’s problematic. We’re not gonna get anything accomplished, we’re not going to get anything done. And that’s exactly what’s happening up in DC right now, we see a lot of that.»

Children’s rights is an issue at the forefront of Rochford’s campaign.

«I have three major bills that are the highlight of what I’ve been working on. And the first is my children’s bill of rights. I do believe that children are the future, and they need to be protected far better than they’re being protected now. So the laws that govern children are written amongst 11 different government agencies. Those agencies don’t overlap and they don’t talk to each other. This bill is designed to create a shield, an organization that oversees all of those laws. 

«This covers everything from AI for kids, online predators, and it provides new penalties with teeth. This is we’re going to get after those folks. The predators have been exploiting four different avenues on children across state lines. I’m going to close every one of those doors. Parental rights, no boys in girls sports. I mean, this bill covers adoption. It covers foster care, egg donor, IVF. It is complete.»

Rochford argues that foreign influence plays a large role in shaping electoral outcomes, and particularly singles out China-based political donor and activist Neville Roy Singham.

Neville Roy Singham smiles at his wedding to Jodie Evans in February 2017 in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. (Osbourne Chin / Chinphotographic)

«There’s a lot folks who have nothing to do with the United States…that are influencing our elections, they’re influencing the people…We know that Neville Singham, who’s a U.S. citizen living in Shanghai, is taking money from the CCP to disrupt America from the inside. China calls this the smokeless war, and it really is and and they’re not the only ones. 

«Iran is doing the same thing, we know North Korea is involved, Russia so there’s a lot of influence happening in here that are that are causing wreaking havoc but we as a society need to see beyond that. We are one America, and I’m America first. I’m American first before politics, America first before party.»

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Florida’s 14th district is hardly politically monolithic, and Rochford emphasizes that he seeks to represent the entire district, not merely Republicans.

«I’m about listening. So I’m here to not only listen to the right, I’m here to listen to the center, and I’m here to listen the left. Because if we can’t come together and find the commonalities that will make us a better country, then we are doomed as a country. So we must support what we’re all after, which is a great America, a great society that takes care of its own and helps around the world.»

Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., takes her seat for the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party hearing in the Cannnon House Office Building on Tuesday, January 30, 2024. 

He views energy policy and independence as the foundation of affordability for American workers and families.

«So I’ve been talking about affordability for some time. To me, the foundation of affordability for just about everything runs off of energy. The price of oil drives the price of gas, which is in our trucks, in our trains, in our airplanes, in ships. And so we need to get control. And so one of the bills that I have drafted will propose that…we first have to become energy independent. We’re the largest producer of energy in the world. So our people should be benefiting from it, not hurting from it.»

Among the most important policy issues for Rochford is the national debt, which he has spent a great deal of time researching. He has a plan that would retire America’s national debt by the 2060s:

«We don’t want to leave a legacy of debt to our children and grandchildren. So I had go back 40 years to try to figure out where this all started, and where we went off the tracks. And I now understand the entire policy. Balancing the budget is only treating a symptom. It does not treat the disease. So the disease is Congress, I’m sorry, but it’s true. 

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«Every bit of money that comes in that’s extra from Congress goes into the general pool and they spend it. And all of the great ideas that have been used in the past, because I studied them all in the past on how to get after the national debt, balance the budget, the things that’ll help us get there. They were only policy, they were never law. So this suite of bills is law and it has teeth. And so the very first bill will design, it will create a trust and it is the American National Debt Trust. And when the money goes in there, it cannot come out and it cannot be spent by Congress in any other way. So if we enacted [my legislation] it would still take us to the 2060s to retire the national debt, but if we do nothing, and we’re on the path of doing nothing, in 10 years the national debt will be $61 trillion.»

Florida’s primary election is August 18.

Gesto a las empresas chinas

El presidente chino, Xi Jinping, y el estadounidense, Donald Trump, en el complejo de Zhongnanhai, en Beijing, este viernes. Foto: XINHUA

Tensión por Taiwán

Africa’s top public health agency confirmed a new Ebola outbreak in Congo on Friday after 65 deaths and 246 suspected cases were recorded in the country’s remote Ituri province.

Health officials are now investigating whether the outbreak involves the Ebola Zaire strain — the deadliest and most well-known version of the virus — or a different variant, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Neighboring Uganda also confirmed one Ebola-related death involving a Congolese man whose case officials said was imported from Congo.

The outbreak has been concentrated in the Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones in eastern Congo, an area near the borders of Uganda and South Sudan that officials warned could become a regional transmission risk because of mining-related travel, weak infrastructure and ongoing insecurity.

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Ebola is a highly contagious and often fatal disease spread through bodily fluids including blood, vomit and semen. Symptoms can include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and internal bleeding.

The Africa CDC said only four of the deaths have so far been laboratory confirmed, while testing and sequencing efforts continue to determine the exact strain involved in the outbreak.

Initial tests suggested the outbreak may not involve the Ebola Zaire strain, which was responsible for Congo’s devastating 2018-2020 epidemic that killed more than 1,000 people.

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Health workers walk with a boy suspected of having the Ebola virus at a treatment center in Beni, eastern Congo, on Sept. 9, 2018. (Al-hadji Kudra Maliro/AP)

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it sent a response team to the region last week to help local officials investigate the outbreak and collect samples.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Congo has a «strong track record» responding to Ebola outbreaks and announced the agency is releasing $500,000 in emergency funding to support containment efforts.

Health authorities said Congo has stockpiles of Ebola treatments and approximately 2,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, though officials cautioned the vaccine is only effective against the Ebola Zaire strain and not against Sudan or Bundibugyo variants.

A health worker sprays disinfectant on a colleague after working at an Ebola treatment center in Beni, eastern Congo, on Sept. 9, 2018. (Al-hadji Kudra Maliro/AP)

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This marks Congo’s 17th recorded Ebola outbreak since the virus was first identified in the country in 1976.

The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.