As expected, the Republican primary race in Florida’s 18th congressional district has quickly become one of the 2016 general election races to watch.
In just one day, former U.S. Army Special Operations bomb tech, and double-amputee, Brian Mast, has managed to take the race and his candidacy national, with his appearance on the popular Fox News TV show, “Fox & Friends.”In the segment named “From Combat To Congress,” Host Elisabeth Hasselbeck spoke to Mast about his past service, and asked him his run for the U.S. Congress.
Here are excerpts from Mast’s Fox News appearance put out in a press release by his campaign.
Mast later appeared on The Blaze TV’s “Dana Show,” where he told host Dana Loesch, that in order to defeat ISIS and other threats like them, America needed to find, hunt and kill them.take our poll - story continues belowDo you think the 2nd Amendment will be destroyed by the Biden Administration?(2)
Completing this poll grants you access to Shark Tank updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.Hasselback: First, we thank you for your service this country and for joining us here at Fox & Friends. That is one moving ad that you put forward, why do you want to continue serving this country in this new way?
Mast: I learned that there is only one way to serve this country, and that’s without regard for the personal consequence, or regard for personal gain, and I want to go up there in D.C. and inspire that in everybody else that is up there because that is what my brothers do on the battlefield.
Hasselback asked Mast about how the time he spent recuperating from his injuries, helped him be “more ready to serve in Congress.”Mast responded that by saying that he received inspiration from every one of those fellow injured service men that he woke up along side with at the hospital, who were all recovering from “very similar injuries.”
Mast then called out President Obama on his recent comment about not having a plan to combat the radical Islamic terror group ISIS, saying that the president is just trying to be “politically correct.”
When I hear comments like what came out of the president this morning about there is not a plan to combat ISIS, I can tell you I don’t believe that for one minute.
I completely believe that there have been plans set forward to combat ISIS, I think that its just the president wants to combat this in a way that is more politically correct instead of a way that is better for our soldiers on the battlefield.
You know this has been something that has been going on for generations, this threat of radical Islam, its not something that is completely new to us, but its something that yeah, we need to take  something this fight to the enemy, we need to find them, we need to hunt them, we need kill them, and that is what they know. they are not looking to have their hearts and minds and won, they are looking to come over there and do that exact same thing to us, to find us, to hunt us, and to kill us. And we need to take that fight to them.-Brian Mast (Dana Show)
On the same day that Brian Mast’s “Mast Media” campaign blitzed the internet, Republican attorney Rick Kozzell also declared his intentions to run for congress in the same congressional district, but because of the attention Mast received, Kozzell’s announcement was all but drowned out.
Kozzell joins Carl Domino, Tod Mowery, and Rebecca Negron, who have already declared their congressional candidacies in this district.