Greek-American and Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis will be Northwest Florida’s next Congress representative, winning against Democrat Gay Valimont by about 9 points.
Patronis, who President Trump endorsed, was the heavy favorite for the reliably conservative seat, which opened up after former Rep. Matt Gaetz was tapped to be Trump’s attorney general.
“Let it be known that this election is a reminder that the Florida Panhandle will forever be red and be forever Trump country,” Patronis said.
In the campaign’s final days, the president directly got involved, joining Patronis by telephone on a tele-town hall to help get out the vote in what he called the “all-important” April 1 election.
“The whole country’s actually watching this one,” Trump said of the race.
Patronis won the endorsement of Trump in November, which appeared to head off a more robust Republican primary, even though Patronis doesn’t live in the district.
Trump has praised Patronis for aligning with key conservative priorities and urged him to run, declaring, “Should he decide to enter this Race, Jimmy Patronis has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, JIMMY, RUN!”
Patronis replied to Trump accepting the challenge: “Put me to work, Mr President. I am here to serve.”
After winning the race for a seat in Congress on Tuesday Patronis said: “I’m looking forward to working with (Trump) to help rebuild our military, to close the border, to keep men out of women’s sports, and to get our country back on track, to drop this record high inflation and national debt that that is crippling the complete world.”
Patronis said he supports Trump making the changes to the federal government, and Congress should not interfere.
“We’re going to have some tough battles. It is not going to be easy,” Patronis said. “So rather than seeing a bunch of members giving fake speeches to an empty chamber, I say we let President Trump get up and running and support his agenda to fix this country. It’s time to get this economy roaring again. We want to make America wealthy again. That’s the goal. Florida is in the best fiscal health it’s ever been. I tell you, I really want to make America Florida.”
Patronis is proud of his Greek roots. As Chief Financial Officer in 2023 he issued a proclamation ahead of Greek Independence Day “As a Greek American, I’m proud of my families rich Greek heritage and the strong bond between Greece and the United States. As we celebrate Greece’s freedom this weekend, I wish all of our Greek Floridians and Greek brothers and sisters across the world a Happy Greek Independence Day – Ζήτω η Ελλάδα!”
His family founded the well-known Panama City restaurant Capt. Anderson’s, located along the Gulf of Mexico. He has been involved in Florida politics since he was in college, interning in the state Senate before being elected to the state House in 2006. He was appointed by then-Gov. Rick Scott to become the state’s CFO in 2017 and won races to keep the Cabinet-level office in 2018 and 2022.
