Combat veteran Brian Mast wins District 18 GOP nomination
PALM CITY (CBS12) — The race to fill Congressman's Patrick Murphy's seat is down from twelve to two party candidates.
The hard-fought Republican ticket now belongs to a former Army sergeant who walked door to door from Palm Beach to St. Lucie County over the last year and a half with prosthetic legs.
Republican candidate for District 18 for Congress, Brian Mast is a father of 3 who thanked voters with his toddler sons hiding beneath the podium.
Mast said this is a win for the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast because he will always represent the people and not special interests.
“I was lying in Walter Reed Hospital in DC and I said to my wife, I’m not done yet,” said Brian Mast, GOP Congressional Candidate District 18, "when I got into this race a year ago it was because of one thing- because I wasn't done defending this country I wasn't done fighting. And now I will take that fight to fix the problems of this country to Washington DC.”
Surrounded by his sons Magnum and Maverick, wife Brianna, and his little girl Madeline Mast, Brian Mast said after losing his legs working in the explosives unit in Afghanistan, he knows how to keep his calm and dig in for a long battle.
Mast is a fiscal conservative who recently came under fire for accepting donations from the sugar industry.
Mast said he returned every penny and that he supports buying land south of Lake Okeechobee and sending water south to the Everglades as a solution to the damaging discharges and toxic waterways of the Treasure Coast.
Mast said he didn’t want to waste any donations with a big party, and used the Palm City Civic center with friends donating pizza and paella.
“I literally--I couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you. I couldn’t have done it,” Mast said thanking his troops.
The most offensive accusation by his opponents was Mast was purposely using his disability to garner sympathy and votes for his campaign. He is often photographed wearing shorts with his legs showing.
Mast said he wears shorts that show his prosthetic legs because the metal tears his pants, and he cannot put on pants with feet that remain at a 90 degree angle.
Now Mast and his team will regroup to fight again in November against Democratic candidate Randy Perkins.
My opponents made me a better candidate. They helped me to be amore prepared and well-rounded candidate. Mast continued “When I got into thisrace over one year ago, I wasn’t done defending this country. I wasn’t donefighting. That’s what we need is fight. We need people to recognize what theheritage of this country has always been. We are in a place that we shouldnever be ashamed of. I came to this when I was lying in a bed in Walter ReedArmy Medical Center. That is what brought me to this moment. I am just notgoing to let the best defense I give our country be in my past. I decidedWashington, D.C. would be my next battlefield, if you will have me.
