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A third generation Californian, Marine Corps. veteran and Christian media producer, Tim Wilkins wants voters to choose the “right conservative Christian candidate for Congress,” and he’s not bashful about telling voters in Congressional District 11 that he’s the one.
“I am bookending my service,” said Wilkins, 57, who grew up in Los Angeles and moved to Florida in 1994. He now lives in Windermere.
“I had my mom sign up to give me the authorization to sign up for the Marines at 17, and I had a great career. I was about to retire, and with all the things that are messed up, I said to my wife, I need one more chance to serve and this is it, my chance to go up there and do great things for Washington and for my district.”
The district encompasses parts of Orange County (including Winter Garden, Ocoee, Oakland and Windermere) and Lake and Sumter counties.
The first-time candidate faces a very crowded Republican Primary on Aug. 18, which includes Orlando neurosurgeon and law professor Dr. Nizam Razack; Ivette Palomo, a farmer from Bushnell; businessman Joe Strada of Lake Mary; and Carey Baker, former state legislator and former property appraiser for Lake County. The winner will face the Democratic Primary winner in November.
U.S. representatives serve for two years and earn $174,000.
Wilkins, who jokes he was educated in the Marine Corps — “It’s the only place I could get accepted” — had a variety of jobs following his service including debt collection specialist and comedian. He currently runs a small private school with 160 students and produces Christian movies.
An early Trump supporter, Wilkins is the only Republican candidate* in this Congressional race interviewed by VoxPopuli who believes President Trump won the 2020 election. He is also the only Republican candidate making a campaign issue out of one of his opponent’s Muslim faith. “Stopping the spread of radical Islam” is a key talking point in his speeches.
“You think eating Tide Pods was dangerous? Imagine fifty mosques in Dallas … and people that do not share your goals for the country and do not share your ideology and want to live under their own laws,” said Wilkins.
“I'm not concerned with calling attention to the fact that people need to think long and hard about what someone's intentions are for holding office and say, All right, here's a very successful guy. Why would he do this and what is his background? My background is very transparent.” Wilkins told VoxPopuli that because his opponent is Indian that “implied he was Hindu.”
Here, Wilkins answers questions from VoxPopuli and the News Collaborative of Central Florida.
Affordability. Addressing affordability will require a two-pronged approach; one is working towards lowering costs, the other is improving incomes. Lower costs of fuel can be achieved by fostering energy independence domestically and building more US refineries. Housing can be made more affordable by creating programs that increase supply and loan programs that expand home ownership to create personal equity. Healthcare needs a complete overhaul. The equally pressing issue is cutting waste, fraud, abuse and making true cuts to government spending in ways that continue to allow working Americans to keep more of what they earned. Things will be more affordable with higher retained earnings.
Healthcare needs a complete overhaul. Since the Affordable Care Act was put in place, premiums have skyrocketed, deductibles have tripled and the quality of care has diminished. It is time to reassess the risk pool, allow people to collectively negotiate rates, and put transparency in the system. Additionally, we need to continue working to get favored nation status for prescription medicine and greatly improve domestic production for both price reductions and national security.
Immigation. We do not have a broken system, a working system of laws was allowed to be broken. Unfettered immigration has created a massive crime problem across the country with some counties reporting up to 70 percent of offenses being committed by illegal aliens. These immigrants have been subsidized at rates well beyond the amounts given to our struggling seniors, veterans, and hard-working American families and the use of those subsidies have driven up the prices of rent, food, and basic necessities. To fund those subsidies, our country which takes in far less than it spends each year, borrowed money to do so, which caused inflation. By enforcing the laws in place, prices could continue to drop across all economic metrics, and taxpayer money could be far better utilized.
I believe I am the best candidate in this race because of my broad base of experience and skillset. As a veteran and business owner, I bring a full-spectrum of knowledge and core values. As a professional communicator for over 30 years, I feel I will have a strong ability to connect with fellow lawmakers, be an effective messenger to the press, while keeping an open and transparent dialog with my district. Additionally, I believe my faith will be a strong component of both my decision making working to keep me grounded in a difficult environment.
Addressing affordability will require a two-pronged approach; one is working towards lowering costs, the other is improving incomes. Lower costs of fuel can be achieved by fostering energy independence domestically. Housing can be more affordable by creating programs that increase supply and loan programs that expand home ownership to create personal equity. Healthcare needs a complete overhaul. The equally pressing issue is cutting waste, fraud, abuse and making true cuts to government spending in ways that continue to allow working Americans to keep more of what they earned. Things will be more affordable with higher retained earnings.
I will vote yes and look forward to the governor's implementation plan. The counties have been overspending well beyond inflation and population growth. The governor has a possible 10-year plan to provide cities who (sic) were already safeguarding taxpayer dollars bonds and grants to help them transition.
I do not have enough information from both sides to correctly address data centers. I was studying them from an investment, and the environment impact being stated in the media and social circles is possible (sic) being mischaracterized.
The government should continue to address clean air and water standards that are both manageable and sustainable. Additionally, Gov. [Ron] DeSantis has addressed cloud seeding and other similar issues, but those are currently being violated due to constraints of altitude in existing federal law. This should be addressed.
Yes. My first political memory was watching the American hostages in the Iranian embassy in Tehran. Nightly, we would check in and see them blindfolded, abused at gunpoint. That stuck with me. And my recruiter in the Marines had just narrowly survived the Beirut barracks bombing by the Iranian proxy Hezbollah. And most of the roadside bombs, missiles and such that all the proxies and others have used for the past 40 years have been Iranian built. So they've been fomenting violence against Americans and our allies for 47 years. Now, the intelligence proves, at least what I've heard recently, that they weren't months, weeks, days, they were potentially hours away from full enrichment. And we now know through the missiles they've shot that they had ICBM ranges up to 2,400 miles.
We have degraded their capabilities greatly. We've reduced a lot of their upper leadership. We've reduced their financial capabilities to restock. [Now it’s just] finishing it. Just going in and letting them know here are the sites that we've just hit. Call us when the lights are back on, and you’re looking to make a deal. But that deal now includes pulling the three things that you were going to get off the table, and all we need is the nuclear inspectors have to come in immediately. You can't have, you will never, you don't need, nor shall you ever have, nuclear capabilities. You don't control the Strait of Hormuz. And if you'd like to ever sell your oil again outside your own port, it's going to be regulated. So they just got to be put in their place. That's what I'll say. They've got to be put in their place …and the world has to get on board.
Tariffs were a bargaining tool, and for the most part, they work. I like them used for bargaining for other countries taking our goods and services. In Canada and Australia, there's a lot of ag [agricultural] products they weren't accepting, and now they are. As we get to these agreements, it should wind down for both countries. I'm not a fan of keeping tariffs, but I am a fan of how they were used to negotiate. I don't think I think tariffs are bad for consumers on both sides of the tariff. They were a great bargaining tool.
I am not only a full supporter of Israel, but I am equally disgusted with our world governing bodies that you can have one of the greatest atrocities since the Holocaust in a country where one side of the fence has no people of the other faith and the others has thousands each day that come and work and live and are part of their communities. And they pour through those gates, come through on gliders, and massacre people…They go into their homes and farms and they put kids in ovens and they rape their women and take 250 hostages. And the world body turns around and says, How dare you, Israel, for responding? And you say, Oh, but they did a genocide. I don't recall a genocide where they sent out evacuation leaflets and said, This is the path, everybody, so no civilians get hurt. And then we gave them $20 billion dollars to build their infrastructure up after the last war, and they built terror tunnels. And they say, Well, you hit a hospital. Yeah, the hospital where the missiles were stored. So I'm kind of an Israeli fan on this one and really don't have a lot of empathy or sympathy for the group that's continued to be an Iranian proxy attacking civilians for the last 30 years.
I don't think we should have spent anywhere near as much money in Ukraine as we have. People complain constantly about, let's say, the $3.8 billion Memorandum of Understanding for Weaponry with Israel. Well, that's not a gift. It's a gift card to purchase American weaponry. We put, at one point, a couple hundred billion, if I recall, into shoring up the Ukrainian pension system. And it was just an amazing amount of money that got put out, kind of unaccounted for as well. I'm glad that President Trump got put in place to shut that down and give us a better look into exactly how best that money is being spent.
[Ed Note: Much of the Ukraine aid is actually funding defense manufacturing in U.S. factories in 70 cities, making weapons that are either sent to Ukraine or are used to restock weapons that the U.S. has already sent to Ukraine during the conflict.]
Yes. With a confinement of about six weeks with exceptions for rape incest and health of the mother. The mother can't make that decision. That would be a medical doctors. Maybe there's some kind of an oversight board through something … to make sure that wasn't being that loophole wasn't being abused.
The current laws in place are the ideal amount of gun control.
I think right now that's best as a state's rights issue. I wouldn’t take this away. Yeah, it’s just decency. I mean, this sounds a little discriminatory.
History will show that President Trump won that by 10 million probably. There are still so many anomalies that haven't been addressed.
I'm more concerned with when we got into these horrible environmental agreements, like the Paris Climate Accords [where] you had China and India building like 20 to 50 coal plants a month. So they're doing as much to dirty the planet as they are to pretend that they're helping.
Wind farms in this country have turned out to be a giant polluter. [Ed. Note: Wind turbines do not release emissions.] They haven't been able to transfer the power. They're killing endangered species in the air. They got whales grounding themselves in New Jersey. [Ed. Note: There is no evidence that offshore wind farms are linked to whales deaths.] China has so much land, if they want to throw up solar, so be it. They've got the resources to create the panels, but they're building so much coal and putting so much pollution into the planet that it's not anything that you can say, Hey, they're getting ahead of us on it, because they're still three steps behind. They have, as of 2026, they're saying they've got over 3,100 coal-fired plants. And they're building 70 to 85 annually with no sign of changing. So, coal is their baby. [Ed. Note: China currently has 1,195 coal plants with 500 more in the pre-permitted, permitted and construction phases this year.
Elijah Rakha-Sheketoff contributed reporting.
*VoxPopuli was unable to interview candidate Joe Strada.
Has never held elected office.
Christian media producer
College of the Canyons, 1986-1987, no degree conferred
