Congressman Michael Waltz faces election challenge from anti-war Ormond Beach Libertarian

Let's get this out of the way from the top: Joe Hannoush has next to zero chance of defeating Congressman Michael Waltz in the Nov. 8 election.

And he knows it. But Hannoush, a delivery driver who's run unsuccessfully for two Florida Legislature seats, worked hard to get more than 3,000 signatures on petitions in order to carry the Libertarian flag onto the ballot. He aims to use that platform to get voters thinking and talking about issues the way he sees them.

"I've been both a Democrat and a Republican before, and I've left both parties," Hannoush said. "I wanted to be the change I wish to see. Someone has to do it. If I wasn't running in this election, the election would be over, as far as District 6, so I'm trying to be that change."

Meanwhile, Waltz, who has represented Volusia and Flagler counties in Florida's 6th Congressional District for the past four years, is asking for another two-year term. He is a Republican who says he is the first former member of the U.S. Army's Green Berets to serve in the House. 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 compared with the $0 collected by Hannoush.

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If that's not enough, the website FiveThirtyEight.com gives Hannoush a less than 1% chance of winning. And the Cook Political Report considers the Florida 6th a non-competitive race.

So any drama about who will win is gone.

That's no reason not to review Waltz's tenure and ask the candidates where they stand on issues of interest in the 6th and beyond.

One other thing about the district: Redistricting by the Florida Legislature this spring shifted the district's boundaries to the north and west. While the 6th District still includes the northern half of Volusia and all of Flagler counties as well as southern St. Johns counties, it now also sprawls into Putnam, east Marion and northwest Lake counties.

Waltz a voice for interventionist foreign policy

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 acting as a defense policy director in the Pentagon before then-Vice President Dick Cheney tapped him as a counterterrorism adviser.

With that background, he has been a regular guest on Fox News shows commenting on foreign affairs, including China, Afghanistan and, more recently, Ukraine.

Waltz's peace-through-strength approach means — in many cases, a commitment to stationing U.S. military personnel in or near troubled areas. And he wants to preemptively strike terrorist groups where they train, rather than on U.S. soil.

"My issue always has been: OK, if we yank everybody out, how do we keep a lid on al-Qaeda, on ISIS and all of these terrorist groups?" Waltz said. "I want to fight them over there, not wait until they hit us here."

Hannoush argues the United States should limit engagements on foreign soil.

Because it was an organization and not a nation that attacked Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, Hannoush described what should have been done: "I would have held Osama bin Laden and I would have held al-Qaeda responsible for their actions. ... We use intelligence, we use relatively small forces and we go in an capture them, and that should have been the entire thing."

He noted more Americans died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq than did on Sept. 11.

"It would have cost far less in money, far less in lives and we wouldn't have had a generation in Afghanistan looking at us as occupiers, which is frankly, why 9/11 happened to begin with," he said.

Hannoush wants to drastically cut defense spending. Waltz has consistently advocated for more.

The two also disagree on the legality of sending Americans overseas to fight without a formal declaration of war by Congress.

"The country hasn't declared war since World War II," Hannoush said.

Waltz, though, points out Congress gave President George Bush an authorization of military force in 2001 and 2003.

"So many veterans out there are asking that same question: What was all the sacrifice for?" Waltz said. "We made many mistakes, but I want those veterans to know their sacrifice wasn’t in vain. We did have an entire generation without attacks coming from Afghanistan, and that’s what we gained."

Decriminalizing cannabis at federal level

One area where Waltz and Hannoush have similar views is on marijuana. Both support the lifting of cannabis from the list of Schedule I narcotics.

Waltz said he supports states being allowed to determine for themselves whether marijuana should be legal. He has backed a bill that would allow businesses that cultivate and sell marijuana in states where it is legal to have access to banks.

"The Democrats put a descheduling bill forward that portions of it I could have supported, but the problem is I thought they went too far back in letting major drug dealers retroactively immediately out of prison," Waltz said. "So I think that’s really the hangup, is we’re dealing with major dealers, not minor users, major dealers, in the past."

Waltz said he supports the Veterans Administration being allowed to offer medical marijuana to veterans.

Hannoush said laws for cannabis-based products should be the same as those in place for alcohol.

"Let's legalize cannabis at least, and not put people in jail and have police officers going after more things that really aren't harming anyone else," Hannoush said. "We have courts that are backed up because of that. We have jail costs going up because of that. It's cost everywhere. It's hurting people."

State of democracy

Following the 2020 election, Waltz signed on to an amicus brief alleging several states unconstitutionally changed their election rules during the pandemic, asking the Supreme Court to hear a case brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The court refused to hear that case, and following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Waltz voted to certify Joe Biden's election victory.

But Waltz has not challenged Donald Trump's unproven assertions that fraud prevented him from winning, and he took issue with Biden's recent speech defending democracy against Trump and his MAGA backers.

“Here’s what’s so frustrating and hypocritical about that speech and so many others: The current head of the Jan. 6 commission, Bennie Thompson, objected to the 2004 election. He was a formal objector. He said that President Bush was not elected," Waltz said. "You have both Hillary Clinton and former President Jimmy Carter saying President Trump was an illegitimate president. That he was an agent of Russia. Publicly. So this kind of question about how our elections are conducted and whether they’re legitimate didn’t start with President Trump. It started way, way before that."

Waltz acknowledges both Republicans and Democrats need to "restore confidence" in the republic and democracy. He said some states, including Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan, have addressed election integrity "to ensure that our elections are secure and safe."

Hannoush said concerns about democracy in the United States are legitimate.

"It goes back to the Constitution," he said. "Once the states certified something, and as far as I know the courts threw (cases alleging fraud) out. ... The delegates voted and Biden got the most delegates and so he is constitutionally elected president."

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This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Michael Waltz faces election challenge from Libertarian in Florida 6th