Congressional District 6: Michael Waltz wins another 2-year term

DAYTONA BEACH — Voters decided Tuesday to send U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz back to Washington, D.C., for a third two-year term.

Waltz captured a dominant 74% of the vote in the Florida 6th Congressional District race, trouncing Libertarian challenger Joe Hannoush, unofficial vote totals showed Tuesday night.

Waltz, a former member of the U.S. Army's Green Berets, has represented Volusia and Flagler counties in Florida's 6th Congressional District for the past four years.

While Waltz was excited Tuesday night with Republicans' strong showing and his own decisive victory, he said now it's time for Congress to deliver. He hopes to see action and accountability on everything from the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last year to the origins of COVID to the way some parents were treated like "domestic terrorists for caring about their kids."

Waltz has been a ranking member on the Subcommittee on Readiness on the House Armed Services Committee, and the House Subcommittee on Research and Technology that's within the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Waltz remains a captain in the Army National Guard following his service in the Green Berets, which brought him into combat zones multiple times in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. He rose to prominence following his active duty Army service by serving as a defense policy director in the Pentagon before then-Vice President Dick Cheney tapped him to work as a counterterrorism adviser.

Waltz, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, was heavily favored to win another term representing the 6th District. In addition to the advantages of incumbency and being in a district that favors his political party, Waltz has raised more than $2.5 million. Hannoush didn't collect any campaign contributions.

The website FiveThirtyEight.com gave Hannoush a less than 1% chance of winning, and the Cook Political Report considered the Florida 6th a non-competitive race.

Hannoush, a delivery driver who's run unsuccessfully for two Florida Legislature seats, hadn't expected to win. He hoped to use his candidacy to get voters thinking and talking about issues from his point of view.

"I've been both a Democrat and a Republican before, and I've left both parties," Hannoush said a few months ago. "I wanted to be the change I wish to see."

The 6th District includes the northern half of Volusia County, all of Flagler County, southern St. Johns County, parts of Putnam County, east Marion County and northwest Lake County.

District 6

Overall

Michael Waltz, GOP, 226,140, 75.33%

Joseph "Joe" Hannoush, LPF, 74,054, 24.67%

How St. Johns County voted

Michael Waltz, GOP, 14,846, 77.05%

Joseph "Joe" Hannoush, LPF, 4,421, 22.95%

This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: Michael Waltz will represent central Florida counties in Congress