GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Keith Gross, a challenger against Sen. Rick Scott, made his pitch for why Clay County should vote for him in the Republican Senate Primary on Aug. 20.  

Gross recently bounced around Florida in a statewide tour. On the way from Jacksonville to Miami, he first stopped for coffee at the Urban Bean in Orange Park. Then, he swung by Green Cove Springs, the county seat, for an interview with Clay Today.  

“You’ve got to be everywhere,” Gross said, referring to his senate campaign.  

“Clay County is one of the fastest growing counties for a reason. Low crime. Low taxes. Great schools. Great scenery. Republicans run it, and I don’t think that’s by coincidence.” 

He understands that he’s fighting an uphill battle. Scott has been a household name for many Floridians for many years.  

“For better or worse,” Gross said.  “We cannot continue to allow establishment politicians to line their pockets and spend recklessly. This will be a decline that we cannot afford.” 

He cited his background in business, military and law.  He says he has the conviction to put sound conservative principles into practice. 

“I have lived the American dream. Now, it is my time to give back. I was raised by a single mom. We came from nothing, and yet I was able to escape poverty. The American dream is slipping away. Freedom makes the American dream possible. The bigger the federal government is, the more spending, the more inflation, the less freedom.”  

Gross criticized Scott's 11-point plan, primarily his plan to schedule all federal programs to "sunset." This would have threatened Social Security and Medicare, Gross said. 

“I would address the duplicative agencies, such as the Department of Education at the federal level. Education is better left to the states and best left to the parents I’m not backed by any PAC (political action committee); therefore, my allegiance is solely to the Floridian people. (What sets me apart is) honesty. I earned my living in an honest way.” 

Gross once was a Democrat who ran for a local office. Now, he’s running as a Republican.

“Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump were once Democrats,” he said. 

He said recent political developments have guided a gradual change in his affiliation. He pointed to the Supreme Court decision in the “District of Columbia v. Heller” case as one of many turning points.  

He supported the court’s ruling that upheld 2nd Amendment rights and was shocked at what Hillary Clinton said during her 2016 presidential campaign: “The police should have weapons, but private citizens should not.”    

“It’s time to send someone to Washington to actually promote freedom. I mean, the legislature is a nursing home at this point,” Gross said.  “I have a 1-point plan: keep Washington the hell out of our lives.”