Alex Vindman

I think I modeled what I thought was good behavior for my fellow service members, for my daughter, who at the time was eight years old.

And that chapter ended almost 22 years of military service.

And I'm opening up a new chapter of service after being forced out of the military.

My wife was looking for a place to move to, to get away from politics.

So we moved to Florida.

That's true.

But it was also a good place for us.

My best friend from my very first assignment in the military married a local in South Florida outside of Fort Lauderdale.

We'd been going there for years.

We had a natural network there.

We needed a better environment to raise our family, and it turned out to be an ideal setting for us, so much so that just a few months after we got there, I convinced my dad, a New Yorker that said he would never leave to move down.

He's 10 minutes away from me, and we're trying to live that wonderful Florida lifestyle, but watching things slip away because it's getting too expensive.

Corruption is driving up costs.

It is becoming increasingly unaffordable for folks on fixed income to survive in Florida.

My daughter, who is 15 years old, ninth grader, she's got three years left.

I want her to stay next to dad.

So I'm trying to make sure that we build a Florida that's welcoming to women, young women, that is a place that is affordable for young folks that are finishing up, whether they go into trades or university, that they could settle there and afford to have a good quality of life.

A place where there are jobs.

Unemployment in Florida is surging because of the decisions being made by this administration and Ashley Moody, my opponent, who was appointed to that role.

It wasn't necessarily the easiest decision.