Rhonda Woodward challenges Neal Dunn for Congress, says she’d vote differently on key issues

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – Bay County small business owner Rhonda Woodward spoke with Florida’s Voice on Tuesday about her efforts to primary Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Fla., in District 2.

Woodward explained how she has been a resident of the district for nearly 50 years, working as a teacher, school principal and now as a construction company owner.

“What motivated me to get in the race is I, like most Republicans, have voted for Neal Dunn because he was the Republican on the ticket, so you had two choices. As my representative, I feel like he has not represented me,” she said.

“I would’ve completely voted different, especially on some of these larger bills that he’s voted with the Democrats on and it just honestly angered me,” she added.

Woodward mentioned how Congress needs to have “fighters” that will stand with former President Donald Trump and vote in favor of conservative legislation.

“We cannot afford to have a majority in the House, or the Senate for that matter, and still not accomplish anything,” she said.

She argued that if being a member of Congress was like any other job, “these people would be fired.”

“They are not doing what they were hired to do and that’s why I’m stepping up to give people a choice,” Woodward said.

The small business owner argued that Dunn is “basically absent” in his community.

“As I travel around and talk to people, it doesn’t matter where I go, if it’s Madison County, Gulf County, Washington County, anywhere I go, people are like, ‘yeah, I’ve been trying to reach him for eight months and nothing.’ Crickets. Nothing from his staff, nothing from an email response, not a text, not a phone call, and that’s just not how you do business,” she said.

Woodward also mentioned how she disagreed with Dunn’s record on voting for large foreign spending bills.

“It is not the job of the United States to support every country in the world and make sure that they’re okay while our own country is falling apart,” she said. “I liken it to the directions on a airplane when the oxygen mask comes out, you put it on your face first, because if you’re not alive and your not breathing, than you can’t help your neighbor.”

“We are falling apart in the U.S. in every way. We’ve lost now our economic advantage, our prowess on the world stage as having a leader that has some power, it’s just ridiculous and if we don’t step up and defend us, there’s not going to be a United States left to defend,” she said.

Woodward pointed out that if she were in Congress, she would have joined Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., in voting to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. She also expressed disapproval of Speaker Mike Johnson who has “waffled” on supporting the conservative movement.

“The important thing is to let people know that you have a choice and that it starts August 20th. If you wait till November, than a lot of your change operators are already off the bill. You have to be on the ballot in August to make a difference,” she said.

“If you’re tired of how my opponent votes, than you need to look into it,” she added, pointing to how Dunn supported the extension of FISA and didn’t use the budget as leverage to combat the Biden administration.

Woodward also touched on how important of a need it is to start combatting illegal immigration at the federal level.

“We have to close that southern border. It is foul in so many ways,” she continued. “It’s costing us money, it’s costing us lives.”

She emphasized how the real concern with the border crisis has largely to do with terrorist organizations and foreign governments intentionally sending people to the U.S.

“We have Russian warships 90 miles off the Florida coast and we’ve got a clown in office who’s incoherent,” she said, referencing President Joe Biden.

“At this point, this is treason. The first call for anybody who’s an elected official is to defend us against foreign or domestic enemies, and we’ve got the gate wide open,” she said.

She added how the financial benefits that illegal immigrants are receiving from the federal government come at the expense of American taxpayers.

Dunn has held the District 2 seat since first being elected in 2016. He was recently endorsed by Trump, along with other members of Florida’s Republican Congressional delegation.

The seat covers the most amount of area in the state, spanning 16 counties in two different time zones across the panhandle and big bend.

Dunn and Woodward are set to debate on July 26 following calls from Woodward’s campaign to set one up. They originally hoped to do it in front of a live 500 person studio audience, however, the two candidates agreed to a radio broadcast.