Hillsborough GOP congressional candidates are no on Ukraine funding or taking AIPAC funds

TAMPA — One of the congressional seats that Ron DeSantis’ designed redistricted map is supposed to flip from blue to red this fall is Florida’s 14th Congressional District in Hillsborough County, which Democrat Kathy Castor has held for nearly 20 years.

On Tuesday, night, six Republicans vying to win the GOP nomination to take on Castor in November gathered for a debate, but one of the most prominent — Pasco County state Rep. Kevin Steele — did not attend, instead opting for a campaign event for Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds.

Among the topics the candidates discussed was whether they would support congressional funding for Ukraine. As of the beginning of this year, Congress has made available $188 billion in spending related to the war there, according to the U.S. Inspector General for Operation Atlantic Resolve.

“I wouldn’t send more money to Ukraine. If Ukraine wants to buy more weapons, we can cut them a deal,” said former state Rep. Mike Beltran. “The taxpayers of Hillsborough County shouldn’t be paying for the problems over there, they have enough problems over here and, frankly, Ukraine’s doing just fine.”

“I think that we should wean them off the money, not just cut them off,” said John Peters, a businessman who lost the 2024 GOP race for Congress in CD 14. “We don’t want to leave them out to dry. But I think our European allies need to step in and do their part.”

“We will cut them off from sending anymore money with the massive fraud and corruption going on over there,” said Gavriel Soriano, who previously ran and lost in the Congressional District 11 Republican primary in 2022.

Retired Navy Veteran Rocky Rochford, who lost to Castor by 14 points in 2024, said, “What’s going on in Ukraine is pretty despicable and it needs to stop,” before agreeing that no more funds should go to Ukraine. He added that the problem with the war was with Vladimir Putin.

AIPAC funding

While it’s been well documented that candidates receiving campaign contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has been a major issue in many Democratic primaries across the country this year, it also isn’t popular in some Republican races, if Tuesday night’s debate is any indication.

None of the six candidates on stage said they would accept funding from AIPAC this year.

“I would not accept AIPAC money or foreign donations” said Bea Valenti, who previously worked as a congressional staffer for U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn and later U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody.  She added that “Israel is one of our greatest allies, and I support that.”

Rochford said that while he wouldn’t take any AIPAC funds, it was important to note that Israel was the United States’ “closest ally in the region,” but then added a caveat.

“As much as I stand with the Israel people, I don’t necessarily stand with the Israeli government,” he said to cheers from the hundreds in attendance. “I think that needs to stop. We need to be acting as though we are America first.”

Beltran agreed that he too, wouldn’t take AIPAC funding, but said he wasn’t “going to be self-righteous or sanctimonious about it.”

“The reason I’m not going to take any AIPAC money, and I don’t think anyone else in this room is, because AIPAC is for Castor. Everyone knows that,” he said, adding that “AIPAC protects incumbents.”

Castor has received more than $53,000 from AIPAC during this election cycle, according to Open Secrets, a research and government transparency group tracking money in politics.

Any policy disagreements with Trump?

The candidates were also asked whether they disagreed with President Donald Trump about anything. The only Republican to say anything specific was Rochford, when he referred to Trump’s signature domestic policy package officially known as The One Big Beautiful Bill signed into law on July 4, 2025.

“I wouldn’t have voted against it, but The Big Beautiful Bill added so much debt, and if anyone says differently, they don’t know what they’re talking about,” he said.

That bill would add $4.2 trillion to the national debt through fiscal year 2034, or $4.7 trillion through 2035, when taking into account its effect on the economy, according to an estimate released earlier this year in the Congressional Budget Office’s Budget and Economic Outlook.

According to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ congressional redistricting map sent initially to Fox News before legislators approved it in April, CD 14 held by Castor is one of four Democratic seats that Republicans believe will flip their way. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris took the seat by more than 7 percentage points in 2024, but it is now Trump-plus 10.5 points, according to election data analyst Matt Isbell.

Top Florida Republicans, including Attorney General James Uthmeier, CFO Blaise Ingoglia, and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, have announced support for Steele.

Beltran is backed by more than 20 sitting or former Republican state lawmakers, and says he’s received more than 100 endorsements in all from Hillsborough County residents.

Steele (like a few of the other GOP candidates) does not live in the district. That’s not a requirement, however. According to the U.S. Constitution, congressional candidates simply need to be at least 25 years old and have been a citizen for at least seven years.