Former mayor of Sarasota cites record of community service across territory
Kelly Kirschner, a former mayor of the City of Sarasota, has filed to run for the newly configured U.S. House District 16 seat, he has announced.
In a May 1 news release, Kirschner cited a “ ‘crushing affordability crisis’ that is hollowing out the middle class across the Gulf Coast” as the impetus for his campaign.
A third-generation Floridian, Kirschner is entering the race “as families across the region face record-high costs for housing, property insurance, and daily essentials,” the release adds. “His message is simple,” it says: “The promise eighteen months ago was that the MAGA leadership would make life better for working people. The opposite has happened.”
The release points out, “Kelly is running to fix it,” adding, “Kirschner, who grew up working his family’s Manatee County citrus stand and spent much of the past decade in St. Petersburg, leading all of Eckerd College’s non-credit programs, enters the race with a proven track record of taking on and defeating powerful special interests.”
In the release, Kirschner said, “For decades, billionaires, lobbyists, and corporations have treated Congress like a vending machine: insert dollars, receive influence.” He continued, “The result is a system where we pay more for groceries, prescriptions and rent while they pay less in taxes. Our kids inherit the debt while big donors gobble up the tax breaks.”
During a special session conducted the last week of April, the Florida Legislature approved new U.S. House districts at the request of Gov. Ron DeSantis. The governor had made it clear that his goal was to try to increase the number of Republican members of Congress elected during the 2026 General Election.
The news media reported on May 4 that DeSantis had signed the legislation to implement the new districts.
Long-time District 16 Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Longboat Key Republican, announced in late January that he would retire from Congress.
A dedication to community service
“I’ve spent my life serving my family and our community,” Kirschner further noted in his press release. “I have taken on special interests and won. I did it in Sarasota, and I am ready to do it for the families of the Gulf Coast in Washington.”
He served as the Sarasota mayor from April 2010 to 2011.
The release continues, “Kirschner’s path to victory is built on a record of winning where he wasn’t supposed to. In his first run for [the Sarasota] City Commission, he was outspent three-to-one by an incumbent backed by special interest money. He won that race with 75% of the vote.”
Further, it says that as “neighborhood activist,” mayor and city commissioner, Kirschner “successfully took on special interests,” such as Florida Power & Light Co., Walmart “and predatory developers. His record also included leading the charge in 2009 to pass the strongest municipal campaign finance reform legislation in Florida’s history.”
His platform for his campaign for Congress, the release points out, is focused “on a restoration of congressional accountability and immediate relief for the people of the 16th District.”
The press release cites the following elements of that platform:
● “Ending ‘Wars of Choice’ — Kirschner is calling for an end to the “blank check” era of foreign wars. He pledges to hold Congress to its constitutional duty to declare war. The most sacred job of every member of Congress is keeping the country safe. When American troops are sent into harm’s way, Members should be in the Capitol debating it, not dodging the responsibility while American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake.
● “The Insurance & Disaster Crisis — As a resident of a region battered by storms, Kirschner will fight for a fully funded FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] and affordable home and flood insurance, vowing to hold these companies accountable for skyrocketing premiums.
● “Protecting Local Industry — From small businesses to farmers and commercial fishermen of the Gulf, Kirschner’s platform prioritizes local livelihoods, not chaotic tariffs, [Gulf Coast] oil drilling, or Wall Street gambling.
● “Healthcare as a Promise” — Kirschner says he will fight to restore funds cut from Medicaid and Medicare “and protect those with pre-existing conditions, treating healthcare as a sacred promise to seniors and veterans rather than a luxury.”
The release also notes that Kirschner is a graduate of Georgetown University, and he served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala. In that Central American country, his campaign website explains, he helped “Mayan farming families reach new markets and grow household income.”
Moreover, the press release says, “Kirschner has spent the last fourteen years working across the new [District 16], from Sarasota to St. Petersburg. “His work with the regional nonprofit UnidosNow has helped more than 1,000 “first-generation students attend the nation’s top universities without debt.”
This is the link to his campaign website.