U.S. House, District 14
Represents Florida's 14th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives; votes on federal laws and spending. Term: 2 years.
Partly verified. Either the November opponent could not be confirmed from available sources, or only a few positions are documented. Confirm the full candidate list on your county sample ballot; unknown positions are shown as such.
How we verified who is on the ballot
WUSF, WTSP and AP (Aug 18, 2026) report Mike Beltran won the eight-candidate Republican primary and faces incumbent Kathy Castor (D), who advanced without appearing on the primary ballot ; ; . Under the 2026 map the district lies entirely within Hillsborough County (eastern and southern Hillsborough: Brandon, Riverview, Plant City, Valrico, Sun City Center, Apollo Beach, Wimauma). NPA/write-in candidates not confirmed. Florida's Legislature passed a new congressional map in the April 2026 special session (Senate vote 21-17 on April 29, 2026) and the Florida Supreme Court on June 10, 2026 declined (6-1) to block it, so the new district lines apply to the Nov. 3, 2026 election; litigation on the merits continues. ; ; County list reflects pre-2026 district boundaries unless a 2026 source is cited; boundaries changed under the April 2026 map and the exact new county composition was not confirmed in searches run for this guide.
Debates and forums
- 2026-10-02 — Held · WMNF 88.5 FM, Tampa: live radio debate of nearly an hour, moderated by Mitch Perry (Florida Phoenix) and Ray Roa (Creative Loafing); audio posted by WMNF
Kathy Castor, Mike Beltran - 2026-10-16 · Tampa Tiger Bay Club, Cuban Club ballroom, Ybor City (in-person candidate forum, noon). Held. This was the second of the two debates Castor committed to (after the Oct. 2 WMNF radio debate); it is the 'later this month' event, and no further CD 14 debate (including a televised one Beltran sought) has been announced.
Kathy Castor (D) and Mike Beltran (R) took part; Libertarian Brian Lambert is not mentioned in any coverage. CD 12 Democrat Kimberly Overman and CD 15 Democrat Robert People also appeared.Sources: Kathy Castor, Mike Beltran square off in a rare debate for … (2026-10-17) · Kathy Castor and Mike Beltran put each other’s political re… (2026-10-16) · Castor, Beltran get testy during congressional candidate fo… (2026-10-16) · Kathy Castor agrees to 2 debates, Mike Beltran wants more (2026-09-21)
Candidates
Report an error ↗One candidate in this race is a write-in. Florida does not print a qualified write-in candidate's name on the ballot. To vote for one you must write the name on the write-in line for this race; a blank or misspelled line may not be counted.
Kathy Castor
Kathy Castor, an attorney and former Hillsborough County commissioner, has represented the Tampa-based 14th District since 2007. She chaired the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis (2019-2023) and sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee. She advanced to the 2026 general election without appearing on the Dem…
Mike Beltran
Mike Beltran, an attorney from Lithia, served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2018 to 2024, representing a southeastern Hillsborough County district. He entered the CD 14 race in May 2026 after redistricting and won the eight-candidate Aug. 18, 2026 Republican primary with 45.6%, defeating former colleagu…
Salomon Hernandez Sr.
Salomon Hernandez Sr. is a write-in candidate in Florida's 14th Congressional District. He came to the United States from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and has lived and worked in Tampa for decades as a landscaper and security consultant. He says he is not a politician and ran at the urging of his grandchildren.
Brian Lambert
Brian Lambert is the Libertarian candidate in Florida's 14th Congressional District. He served 20 years in the U.S. Navy as an aircraft mechanic, flight engineer and intelligence specialist, including duty at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, and retired in 2018. Since then he has coached Little League, studied culinary …
Keith Varian
Keith Varian is a write-in candidate in Florida's 14th Congressional District who works in the construction trades and has college coursework in criminal justice and economics. He says he is a political outsider running without party backing and that his priority is the cost of living for District 14 households.
Side-by-side on the major issues
AgreeDiffer a littleDiffer stronglyNot enough data· hover for details, click to jump to the row
Taxes & spendingHousing affordabilityImmigrationAbortionGunsHealth careSocial Security & MedicareEducation & school choiceEnvironment & waterElections & votingCrime & policingGender identity lawsEnergy & utilitiesTariffs & tradeUkraineTrump administrationVeterans
Where the candidates in this race split, issue by issue.
Strongly agreesLeans agreeMixed / neutralLeans disagreeStrongly disagreesNo public position found
Each row is a statement. The chips show how each candidate's stated positions or record relate to that statement. Expand a row to read the evidence and sources. "No public position found" means we could not find a statement or record on the topic, not that the candidate has none.
Show:
| Issue | Kathy Castor Democratic | Mike Beltran Republican | Salomon Hernandez Sr. Write-in | Brian Lambert Libertarian | Keith Varian Write-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | Leans disagree· based on record Castor voted against H.R. 1 (the 2025 reconciliation law), which paired extended tax cuts with reductions in projected Medicaid and SNAP spending. All House Democrats voted no. | Strongly agrees· stated position Cites delivering 'the largest tax cut in Florida history' and pledges to cut wasteful spending and 'keep your money in your pocket'. | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Lambert says Washington has a spending problem rather than a revenue problem and would back reduced spending, a balanced budget and letting people keep more of what they earn. | Leans agree· stated position Varian says his priority is cutting costs and ending what he calls partisan waste in the federal budget, and during a 2026 fuel-price spike he called for suspending the gas tax and using state reserves for relief at the pump. |
| Housing affordabilityGovernment should do more to make housing affordable (subsidies, zoning changes, rent measures). | Strongly agrees· stated position Castor points to federal infrastructure funding she helped bring to the Tampa area, including $76 million to build and preserve affordable housing, supports the ROAD to Housing Act's limits on institutional investors buying single-family homes, and wants better disaster-relief housing funding. | Leans disagree· based on record Voted against CS/SB 102 (2023), the 2023 Live Local Act that put $711 million into state housing programs, required local governments to allow multifamily housing in commercial areas when at least 40 percent of units are affordable, and created property-tax exemptions for affordable developments; a vote for it is coded as leaning toward more government action on housing. | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found |
| ImmigrationImmigration enforcement should be stricter, including large-scale deportation of people in the country illegally. | Strongly disagrees· stated position In the Oct. 2 debate Castor said she supports a strong border together with a pathway to citizenship for people who 'play by the rules and pay taxes and learn English,' and objected to Beltran describing errors by immigration agents as mistakes, citing two U.S. citizens killed by federal immigration agents. | Strongly agrees· stated position In the Oct. 2 debate Beltran said the state has rightfully prioritized deporting 'gang members, cartel traffickers, violent criminals and national security threats,' and said Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection have made 'a few mistakes' for which officers should be held accountable and better trained. | No public position found | Leans agree· stated position Lambert supports securing all borders and ports of entry with enforcement, technology, staffing and barriers where practical, consistent enforcement of immigration law and ending incentives for illegal entry, while supporting legal immigration. He does not call for mass deportation. | No public position found |
| AbortionAbortion should be legal in most cases (Florida's six-week ban should be repealed or loosened). | Strongly agrees· stated position In the Oct. 2 WMNF radio debate Castor criticized Florida's six-week abortion ban and criticized Beltran for sponsoring a 2024 state bill that would have imposed a near-total ban and subjected health care providers to criminal penalties for performing an abortion for any reason other than to save the pregnant woman's life. She rejected Beltran's claim that a federal vote of hers amounted to supporting infanticide. | Strongly disagrees· stated position In the Oct. 2 WMNF debate Beltran defended the 2024 state bill he sponsored that would have imposed a near-total abortion ban with criminal penalties for providers, saying it contained exceptions, and attacked Castor for voting against a Republican bill requiring doctors to provide medical care to infants born after an attempted abortion. | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found |
| GunsGun laws should be stricter (keep the red-flag law and the age-21 purchase rule; expand background checks) rather than looser (permitless or open carry, lower purchase age). | Strongly agrees· based on record Voted for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (2022), the federal gun-safety package that expanded background checks for buyers under 21 and funded red-flag law implementation. Sources: Kathy Castor - Ballotpedia | Strongly disagrees· stated position Claims a perfect pro-gun record: no red-flag laws, no magazine bans. | No public position found | Strongly disagrees· stated position Lambert supports nationwide permitless (constitutional) carry for law-abiding adults and national reciprocity, and opposes bans on commonly owned firearms and magazines. | No public position found |
| Health careGovernment should expand its role in health coverage (expand Medicaid in Florida, extend Affordable Care Act subsidies). | Strongly agrees· based on record Voted against H.R. 1 (all House Democrats voted no); sponsors the Keep Kids Covered Act and voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, which extended ACA subsidies and allowed Medicare drug-price negotiation. | Leans disagree· stated position Approach is breaking up health-care bureaucracies and expanding telehealth rather than expanding public coverage. | Strongly agrees· stated position In a television-station candidate questionnaire, Hernandez said his campaign is built on pushing for universal health care for Tampa residents, plus temporary coverage for tourists, citing models he says are used in other tourism economies. | Leans disagree· stated position Lambert favors patient choice, price transparency, market competition and fewer federal mandates, saying access does not improve when Washington makes more decisions; he also says the government must keep its health-care promises to veterans. | No public position found |
| Social Security & MedicareSocial Security and Medicare benefits must be protected from any cuts, even if that requires more revenue. | Leans agree· based on record Voted for the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82), the 2024 law repealing the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, raising benefits for some public-sector retirees. | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Varian says his goal is keeping Social Security solvent by cutting government waste and raising revenue rather than by reducing benefits for seniors. |
| Education & school choicePublic money should follow students to private, charter or home schools (universal school vouchers). | Leans disagree· stated position At the Oct. 16 Tampa Tiger Bay forum, Castor criticized Florida's voucher system and said private schools that receive public voucher money should meet the same accountability requirements as public schools. She did not call for ending vouchers. | Strongly agrees· stated position Championed school choice in Tallahassee and would bring that fight to Washington. | No public position found | Leans agree· stated position Lambert says parents should be free to choose public, charter, private, home or career-technical schooling and lists educational choice among his commitments, with less federal involvement. He does not say how public funding should follow students. | No public position found |
| Environment & waterProtecting water quality, conservation land and climate resilience should take priority even if it slows development or raises costs. | Strongly agrees· stated position As chair of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis she released 'Solving the Climate Crisis,' a congressional action plan for a clean-energy economy and a 'healthy, resilient, and just America.' | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found |
| Elections & votingVoting should be made easier (mail voting, drop boxes, restoring voting rights) rather than adding new restrictions. | Strongly agrees· based on record Voted against the SAVE Act (H.R. 22), the 2025 bill requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. | Strongly disagrees· stated position Backs the SAVE America Act, photo ID and purging noncitizens from voter rolls. | No public position found | Mixed / neutral· stated position Lambert says elections should be secure, transparent and easy for eligible citizens to use while making fraud hard to commit, with states continuing to run elections. He neither calls for new restrictions nor for expanded mail voting. | No public position found |
| Crime & policingCriminal penalties should be tougher and police funding increased, rather than emphasizing reform and rehabilitation. | Leans disagree· based on record Voted against the Protecting Our Nation's Capital Emergency Act (H.R. 2096), the 2025 bill repealing parts of the District of Columbia police-accountability law; a vote for it is coded as leaning toward tougher policing. | Leans agree· stated position Stands behind law enforcement and opposes efforts to defund police. | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found |
| Gender identity lawsFlorida's laws restricting gender-affirming care for minors and classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity should remain in place. | Leans disagree· based on record Voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act (H.R. 28), the 2025 bill barring transgender girls and women from female school sports under Title IX; a vote for it is coded as leaning toward keeping restrictions in place. | Strongly agrees· based on record Voted for SB 254 (2023), the 2023 law barring gender-affirming medical treatment for minors and restricting it for adults. | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found |
| Energy & utilitiesGovernment should promote renewable energy and tighten oversight of utility rate increases, even at the expense of fossil-fuel production. | Strongly agrees· based on record Voted for the Inflation Reduction Act's roughly $370 billion in clean-energy spending and sponsored the American Energy Efficiency Act and Advancing GETs Act (grid-enhancing technologies) in 2024. | No public position found | No public position found | Leans disagree· stated position Lambert backs an all-of-the-above energy strategy, including oil, gas, nuclear and renewables where economical, driven by free markets rather than government mandates or subsidies. | No public position found |
| Tariffs & tradeTariffs on imported goods are good for the American economy. | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found | Strongly disagrees· stated position In a Ballotpedia candidate survey, Varian described tariffs as a driver of inflation that will add to household costs and the national debt. |
| UkraineThe U.S. should continue military aid to Ukraine. | No public position found | Leans disagree· stated position Beltran says the United States should stay out of the Ukraine conflict but should make weapons available for Ukraine to purchase. | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found |
| Trump administrationI approve of the direction of the Trump administration. | No public position found | Strongly agrees· stated position Says he stands 100 percent with President Trump on immigration. | No public position found | No public position found | No public position found |
| VeteransExpanding VA services and veterans' benefits should be a top priority. | No public position found | Leans agree· stated position Pledges veterans the care, resources and respect they deserve. | No public position found | Leans agree· stated position Lambert, a 20-year Navy veteran, says veterans' care should mean greater choice, less bureaucracy and real accountability, with the veteran put first. He frames the issue as reforming delivery of benefits rather than expanding programs. | No public position found |
Where they sit on the map
Each candidate is placed by the average of their documented stances. It is a summary of the table above, not an extra judgment.
DemocraticRepublicanWrite-inLibertarian· photo or initials inside each bubble · hover or tap for details
Not enough documented positions to place: Salomon Hernandez Sr.Keith Varian
How the axes are computed
Each axis is the average of a candidate's coded stances (+2 to −2) on a fixed set of statements, so it comes straight from the documented positions and nothing else. A candidate needs at least three documented statements on an axis to be placed.
Economic issues (toward "Smaller government (lower taxes, less spending)"): Taxes & spending (agree), Property taxes (agree), Health care (disagree), Housing affordability (disagree), Property insurance (disagree), Energy & utilities (disagree), Social Security & Medicare (disagree), Teacher and staff pay (disagree).
Social & legal issues (toward "Conservative side of the statements"): Immigration (agree), Abortion (disagree), Guns (disagree), Education & school choice (agree), Elections & voting (disagree), Crime & policing (agree), Gender identity laws (agree), Marijuana (disagree), Environment & water (disagree), Trump administration (agree), Library and classroom materials (agree), School safety approach (agree).
| Candidate | Economic issues | Social & legal issues |
|---|---|---|
| Kathy Castor | -1.60 (5 statements) | -1.63 (8 statements) |
| Mike Beltran | 1.25 (4 statements) | 1.88 (8 statements) |
| Salomon Hernandez Sr. | not enough data | not enough data |
| Brian Lambert | 1.33 (3 statements) | 1.00 (4 statements) |
| Keith Varian | not enough data | not enough data |
Other issues the candidates have raised
Priorities each candidate has brought up on their own, beyond the major-issue list above.
Kathy Castor
- Keep Kids Covered Act — Sponsors legislation to keep children continuously enrolled in Medicaid/CHIP coverage.Sources: Kathy Castor - Congress.gov
- PREVENT HPV Cancers Act of 2025 — Sponsors a bill to expand HPV vaccination and cancer-prevention efforts.Sources: Kathy Castor - Congress.gov
- ICE reform with guardrails — Called for reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement with protections against abuses.
- Grid modernization — Sponsored the Advancing GETs Act to encourage grid-enhancing technologies.Sources: Kathy Castor - Congress.gov
- Contraception access — Voted for the Right to Contraception Act.
- Child tax credit, energy incentives — Castor advocates progressive tax policy, supported the expanded child tax credit, and calls for expanding alternative-energy incentives.
- Agreement to two debates — Castor announced on Sept. 21 that she had agreed to a WMNF radio debate on Oct. 2 and a Tiger Bay forum at the Cuban Club on Oct. 16. Her campaign said her priority is meeting constituents and cited legislation she passed to protect families from further utility bill increases.
- Called the new congressional map illegal — In the Oct. 2 debate Castor called the mid-decade redistricting 'especially egregious and illegal,' pointing to the state constitutional amendment approved in 2010 that bars lawmakers from drawing districts to favor a political party, and said voters 'don't want politicians drawing their own maps, selecting their own voters.'
- Israel and the Palestinians — In the Oct. 2 debate Castor said Israel has the right to defend itself and that Israelis deserve to live in safety and stability, 'but the same goes for the Palestinian people.' She said she opposes settler violence under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and supports a Palestinian state, and rejected Beltran's claim that a vote for her is a vote for anti-Israel members of Congress.
- Third-quarter fundraising of more than $2.5 million — Castor's campaign said on Oct. 2 that she raised more than $2.5 million in the third quarter, more than her first six quarters of the cycle combined, pushing her cycle total past $4.5 million from 11,901 donors, with no self-funding. The campaign did not release a cash-on-hand figure; that comes with the Oct. 15 FEC report.
- Outside spending on her behalf — The DCCC put a negative television ad on the air on Oct. 1 attacking Beltran's Legislature votes on property insurance and rooftop solar, with Castor appearing in the disclaimer; EDF Action, the political arm of the Environmental Defense Fund, began a 30-second ad on Oct. 5 tying Beltran to President Trump's tariffs and foreign policy.
- Transgender athletes in women's sports — Asked at the Oct. 16 Tiger Bay forum whether transgender women should be allowed to compete in women's sports, Castor answered, 'The answer is no.'
- Forum remarks on costs, health care and property taxes — Castor said health-care costs and lost tax credits are hurting families, accused Republicans of cutting Medicaid to fund tax cuts, cautioned that property-tax cuts could affect police and fire services, and backed more federal involvement in mass transit.
- Former Pinellas nuclear plant workers — Castor said former Pinellas Plant workers seeking federal medical compensation deserve answers, a fair process and urgent action.
Mike Beltran
- Birth tourism — Proposes a federal crackdown on 'birth tourism.'
- Pharmaceutical 'price discrimination' — Wants to address drug makers charging Americans more than buyers in other countries.
- Federal spending and regulation — Blames federal spending, subsidies and regulation for higher costs of food, education, health care, housing and energy.Sources: Platform - Mike Beltran for Congress
- Telehealth and clinic access — Says he broke up health-care bureaucracies blocking new clinics and expanded telehealth in the Legislature.Sources: Platform - Mike Beltran for Congress
- Gas tax holiday; debate challenge — Beltran supports federal gas tax holidays and the 'Working Families Tax Cuts Act' (no tax on tips, overtime or Social Security benefits), and on Sept. 17 accused Castor of refusing to debate; her campaign had not responded.
- Federal debt and allied defense spending — In a Fox News interview published Sept. 25 Beltran said the budget should be balanced and the debt paid down, and argued NATO allies such as Germany should pay more for their own defense rather than relying on U.S. subsidies. He also said he would act independently of his party.
- Push for a televised debate — Beltran said he will appear at the two events Castor agreed to but has sought a televised debate for weeks, saying the radio debate and civic-club forum favor the incumbent.
- Race rating move — Fox News moved the district from 'Lean R' to 'Toss-up' on Sept. 22.
- Defended the new congressional map — In the Oct. 2 debate Beltran said the redrawn district is now entirely inside Hillsborough County and keeps communities such as Plant City intact. 'This is a fair map,' he said. He also said he was willing to break with Gov. Ron DeSantis as a state representative and would do the same in Congress.
- Israel — In the Oct. 2 debate Beltran said he supports Israel and that 'I think we should sell weapons to Israel,' and argued that a vote for Castor is a vote for members of Congress he described as anti-Israel, naming Ilhan Omar and Hakeem Jeffries. Castor called that false.
- Response to the DCCC ad and data-center taxes — Beltran dismissed the DCCC's Oct. 1 ad as deflection, saying Castor 'has taken tens of thousands of dollars from data center lobbyists and sold us out to them until she realized about two weeks ago that the voters were against her on this.'
- Campaign finance: no third-quarter figure announced — As of Oct. 2 Beltran had not announced a third-quarter fundraising number. His last report, closing July 29, showed just over $2.01 million of about $2.12 million in receipts came from loans he made to his own campaign, with about $103,000 from individual donors, $1.94 million on hand and $2.02 million in debt owed mostly to himself.
- Transgender athletes in women's sports — At the Oct. 16 Tiger Bay forum Beltran agreed with Castor that transgender women should not compete in women's sports.
- Federal role in education — Beltran said education should be handled mainly at the state and local level and that 'as a Congressman I’m not going to do that much on education'; he defended Florida's school choice system.
- Amendment 3, Rays stadium, transit and the federal deficit — Beltran urged voters to support Amendment 3's property-tax cuts, called Hillsborough County's roughly $796 million Rays stadium commitment a 'boondoggle,' defended his opposition to the transportation sales tax, and said Congress must address the federal debt and deficit.
Salomon Hernandez Sr.
- Monopolies and unions — Hernandez named corporate concentration as the most important issue in the race, saying a "neo union busting mentality is existential," and says he would prioritize small businesses over large corporations to preserve the character of the Tampa Bay area.
Brian Lambert
- Constitutional limits on federal power — Lambert says every vote he casts would start with whether the measure is constitutional, and that he would work to limit federal power and return responsibilities to the states.
Keith Varian
- Housing costs — Varian says home affordability is the biggest issue facing Floridians and that owning a home in the state is getting harder each day, but he does not name specific federal housing policies.
- Infrastructure — He says roads and power grids should be built to last for generations, arguing durable infrastructure prevents costly breakdowns and utility rate increases.