‘Constitutionalist’ Kristina Heuser running for Collier County GOP state committeewoman

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. – Kristina Heuser, running for Collier County GOP state committeewoman, described herself as a “constitutional conservative” in her bid to voters for August’s Republican primary.

“I’m a complete and unequivocal constitutional conservative really standing on constitutional values,” Heuser said to Florida’s Voice. “That is something of upmost importance to me. Especially in this season, I think its very important that we defend the pro-life plank of the Republican Party platform.”

While being a constitutional conservative, Heuser mentioned being committed to defeating the pro-abortion movement. Recently, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in favor of a November election ballot initiative to enshrine abortion rights.

“I worked hard to get signatures for petitions for the Human Life Protection Amendment. We didn’t achieve a sufficient number of signatures statewide, but now I’m very focused on defeating the pro abortion ballot initiative which is known as Amendment Four,” Heuser said. “That’s a focus of mine. In a broader sense, I want to make sure the Republican Party continues to be committed to defending life and promoting a culture of life.”

As of May 1, Florida’s Heartbeat Protection Act is in effect, a provision triggered from the Florida Supreme Court ruling in April. The exact statute states that a physician cannot knowingly “perform or induce a termination of pregnancy” if the fetus is more than six weeks old.

When not engaged in her run, Heuser is an attorney practicing in civil rights and constitutional litigation and appeals. She also emphasized being focused on defending religious liberty.

Moreover, Heuser noted being affiliated with Alliance Defending Freedom and the American Constitutional Rights Union based in Naples. She also was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the board of Florida Southwestern State College and is the Republican chair of the Faith and Family Subcommittee for Collier County.

“I’ve observed through my involvement in local politics that the party has been kind of fragmented and fractured. I don’t want to ascribe blame to individuals or a group, I just think its a product of people seeing all the problems in our country and being really passionate about fixing them, and sometimes not channeling that passion or those energies in constructive ways,” Heuser said.

Heuser explained one of her goals for running was to “reunite the party.”

“When people who are viewed as certain leaders of the party said to me they would support my run for state commiteewoman and encouraged me to run for the position, I saw it as a really good opportunity to unite the party,” Heuser said. “Just my run in and of itself represents different segments of the party coming together to support me.”

Through her campaign, Heuser noted wanting to “engage in civil discourse” with others, even on issues that she might not 100% agree with.

“We have to be willing to talk to people who may not entirely agree with us because that’s the only way to really change hearts and minds, to engage in conversation and to do it in a civilized and kind way that doesn’t involve name calling or denigrating people who disagree with us,” Heuser said.

Currently, the Collier County GOP’s state committeewoman is JoAnn DeBartolo. While not certain, Heuser believed DeBartolo is running for reelection. DeBartolo’s counterpart is State Committeeman Alfie Oaks.

With no general election, the winner of August’s Republican primary will be nominated as Collier County’s State Committeewoman.

Along with Oakes, Heuser’s campaign is supported by Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, state Rep Bob Rommel, R-Naples, and others.

“I’m really honored and humbled by their support. They’re all great leaders in our community,’ Heuser said. “I just feel blessed to have gotten to know them through political engagement and that they respect the contributions that I’ve made to the community. Again for no other reason then just wanting for our leaders in the community to adhere to the constitution, and I think that they recognize that, and for that reason they have united in their support of me.”