On some issues, he echoes positions more commonly associated with Republicans, such as opposing abortion and supporting gun owners' rights; on others, he leans toward positions that would resonate with Democratic voters, such as his support for Medicare, Social Security, the environment, and immigration. That blend makes his platform harder to categorize — and, he argued, may better reflect how voters actually think.

Still, his candidacy is a long shot (which Groves admitted) and may not appeal to voters in the 11th Congressional District, which includes Sumter County, home of The Villages, and parts of Orange, Lake and Polk counties — all Republican strongholds, with the exception of Orange County. Only one member of the Libertarian Party has ever served in Congress.

This is not Groves' first time running for Congress. In the 1982 election, he ran unsuccessfully as a Conservative Party candidate in New York’s 9th Congressional District, finishing third against Democratic incumbent Geraldine Ferraro, who later became Walter Mondale’s running mate in the 1984 election.

This time around, Groves, who actually filed to run in June 2024, will face off against the winners of the Aug. 18 Republican and Democratic primaries in the general election that will be held Nov. 3.

‘An ordinary guy’

‍During his time in the Army, Groves served on active deployments in Armenia, Germany, West Africa, and other regions, including support for Operation Desert Storm in 1991 in Iraq while stationed in the U.S. (later, he was deployed to Iraq from 2008 to 2009). He completed active duty in 1999 and then served in the U.S. Army Reserve until 2010, retiring as a major. At the same time he was in the reserve, he became a civilian analyst for the Defense Department, a position he held until 2018. That’s when he and his family moved to Ocoee from Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C.

Groves is now fully retired and spends much of his time caring for his wife, Annette. They have five children, but one son passed away at an early age, he said. Additionally, he has three grandchildren, one godchild and sponsors a child in West Africa.

He speaks openly about being a caregiver to his disabled wife because he said that makes him relatable to other people.

“If anybody asks me, Well, Mr. Groves, why should you care about Social Security? I would say, Well, because I'm a Social Security recipient. What do you care about health insurance and whatnot? Because I need it with my wife’s situation. I’m an ordinary guy of middle-class background, living in a relatively small house in Ocoee, and I have my feet on the ground,” Groves said.

After moving to Ocoee, he began volunteering for the Southeastern Food Bank in Ocoee, homeless outreach ministry Matthew’s Hope, the American Legion and the Catholic-based nonprofit JMJ Pregnancy Center. Critics say that crisis pregnancy centers, like JMJ, present themselves as reproductive health clinics, but their primary mission is to discourage abortion.

Peace, not war‍

Groves’ experience and expertise are steeped in international affairs, so it’s not surprising that he gravitates there first when talking about his priorities.

Groves wants to end the war between Russia and Ukraine (he acknowledges that Russia is the aggressor) because he’s fearful that U.S. troops could be deployed. At the same time, he stressed that European allies need to step up significantly. He isn’t advocating that the U.S. take an isolationist position. Despite his preference for restraint, he believes humanitarian crises, such as in Ukraine and even Nigeria, justify action. 

However, he believes support for Ukraine has “drained” America's military inventories. Here, the U.S. can help the defense industry restock, a move that could significantly benefit Florida-based defense companies and subcontractors, he said.

While affordability, jobs and the economy may be front-burner issues, Groves said that voters should consider global conflicts, like Israel’s war in Gaza or even a potential war between China and Taiwan, because they could quickly become larger concerns for any community.

“The Libertarian Party is, generally, antiwar,” he said. “In any of these cases, the possibility, maybe not immediately, but down the road, [is] that we would get stuck [in] these conflicts.” He added that American daughters and sons, including his future constituents, could be called to fight in a war overseas. “Then, suddenly, it matters to you.” (Groves’ son currently serves as a special missions aviator in the U.S. Air Force.)

Drawing on his years of experience, deployments and military history, Groves said he has a “novel” and “practical” approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine war, a plan he emailed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin has a “terrible aversion” to NATO, Groves said that his plan involves demanding a cease-fire and then deploying troops from non-aligned and non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries, such as Armenia, Austria, Cyprus, Ireland, Israel and South Africa () to the cease-fire line to stop the killing. At that point, he said, negotiations would begin. He admits, this stage could take years.

He has not received a response about his plan.

Birthrate boost‍

Groves identifies as “pronatalist,” which means he wants people to have more children. This position is consistent with several Trump administration officials and allies, including Vice President JD Vance and billionaire Elon Musk. While Republicans and men are more concerned about declining birth rates, this issue has become a broader worry across every demographic group in the U.S.

The U.S. has experienced declining birth rates over the last 50 years, and this trend will continue over the next 30 years, according to federal government projections. Groves wants a birth rate above the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman to ensure the population stabilizes over the long term. Whether through more births or immigration, Groves wants to ensure there are enough people and workers to pay taxes to fund Medicare, Social Security, and other vital federal programs before they become insolvent. 

Increasing legal immigration to the U.S., he said, would attract more skilled and talented workers who can pay into and support those federal programs. (His mother legally immigrated to the U.S. from Lebanon in 1948, and he proudly extols his family’s contributions to America, including military service.)

In a discussion about the Trump administration’s policy of deporting immigrants and reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are arresting U.S. citizens, Groves said there was nothing wrong with their “primary mission” of targeting undocumented criminals who may be a threat. But he acknowledged that law enforcement “can become overzealous” and indicated that ICE has appeared to have gone beyond its primary mission. He said the agency shouldn’t be targeting someone just because they’re speaking Spanish.

However, he acknowledged that immigration is a complex issue and that more thought is needed to address non-violent undocumented immigrants and whether they could eventually get legal U.S. status. “I don't have an immediate answer to that, mainly because it's just too difficult. There are millions of these people, and each one has a different story,” he said.

Groves’ solution to increase the birth rate is “to cultivate a culture of life to promote family formation, which Churches [sic] can encourage,” he said in a press release. The government, he added, should provide financial incentives to families to make it more affordable to raise children and “provide assistance to pro-life centers that help women.”

Groves, who opposes abortion, received the endorsement of the “pro-life caucus of the Libertarian Party of Florida,” according to a campaign press release. He said the Libertarian Party “generally leaves abortion up to the conscience of individual women and their doctors,” which makes it “implicitly pro-choice.”

However, his anti-abortion stance doesn’t mean he’s an absolutist. He explained that there have to be “sensible” exceptions, such as ectopic pregnancies, which are life-threatening conditions for mothers when the pregnancy implants in a fallopian tube instead of the uterus. “So I’m not pro-life in a doctrinaire way, but I'm pro-life generally for the sake of the baby and humanity,” he said. Still, he supported overturning Roe v. Wade and leaving such matters to the states.

Second Amendment advocate

Opposition to abortion isn’t the only Republican and conservative issue that Groves supports. Groves is also a strong proponent of the Constitution, especially the Second Amendment. As a member of the Gun Owners of America, he favors “strict adherence to the Second Amendment,” which, he points out, guarantees people the right to defend themselves against a tyrannical government — “which is what the Founding Fathers had in mind,” he said.

To make his case, from a historical perspective, he cited several examples of genocides, including the Holocaust. In those cases, those authoritarian governments, including Nazi Germany, restricted gun ownership.

“Sure enough, when they were able to round up people, whether they were Germans who were against the regime, or Jewish people, or others, when people are disarmed, it's very hard for them to resist. How do you resist armed soldiers when you're not armed yourself?” he posed.

Groves, who has a concealed-carry permit, admits that Second Amendment issues are as contentious and complex as abortion. But he said he believes armed people can deter and stop criminals (later emailing a study to back up his claim). He also said he’s not against background checks and a waiting period, which Florida requires.

“If you're an honest citizen, you have nothing to hide,” he said.

But, while he purchased his firearms through a legitimate gun dealership with background checks and a waiting period, he said criminals don’t. “What background check is going to prevent a criminal from getting a gun from another criminal?”‍

Not an ideologue‍

While many of Groves’s views lean conservative, he also expressed positions that could suggest a more traditionally liberal bent, especially in this political climate — a reminder that his political profile is less about rigid alignment and more issue-by-issue judgment.

For instance, he backed legal immigration to attract more skilled foreign workers, while the Trump administration has pursued more restrictive, hostile policy shifts. Groves also wants the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that Floridians have safe drinking water and clean air, while the administration seeks to gut the EPA.

Groves presented himself as a major proponent of the First Amendment: free speech, freedom of religion, the right to assemble, and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. While these aren’t quintessentially partisan views, nearly nine in 10 Democrats and independents said in a recent survey that free speech is being restricted too much, while just six in 10 Republicans said the same.

On multiple press releases, Groves includes a standard disclaimer, which says he “exercises his right to protected free speech, which is legal, but he is not a spokesman for the Libertarian Party of Florida.”

The conversation eventually circled back to his party and his hopes for its growth, especially under Steven Nekhaila, the new national chairman, who was a member of Florida’s state party. While Groves lamented the party’s minor stature and whether his candidacy would resonate, he hopes to show voters that they don’t need to fit into a rigid, ideological two-party divide but, instead, can challenge the system.

“I think there's fertile ground there for the Libertarian Party, but we just have to make a greater effort to get out there and meet people, and … I try to do that,” he said.