U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz gets Trump’s endorsement for reelection in 2022
Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump’s Save America committee, the latest in a string of GOP incumbents or primary challengers that Trump is backing ahead of the 2022 congressional elections.
“Congressman Mike Waltz is a relentless fighter for the incredible people of Florida,” Trump said in a statement Sunday. “Mike Waltz is strong on China, the Border, the Second Amendment, and our brave Military and Vets. Mike has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
The decision came even though Waltz, R-St. Augustine Beach and a former Army Green Beret, had often been critical of Trump’s stance on ending “forever wars” in Afghanistan and elsewhere. In 2020, he said he was “hopeful but skeptical” of the Trump administration’s peace deal with the Taliban.
Over the past month, Waltz has been one of the
most prominent GOP critics of President Biden’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, calling it “reckless” and a “path to another 9/11.”
Trump, who pivoted from criticizing Biden for not leaving Afghanistan by his own original deadline of May 1 to calling for an increased U.S. presence in the country after the chaotic withdrawal, said Waltz was “working hard in Congress to hold Joe Biden accountable for his colossal failure and deadly disaster
in Afghanistan.”
Waltz was one of 10 Florida Republican members of Congress who signed up in December 2020 to support a Texas lawsuit that sought to throw out Biden’s election victories in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. That led the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board to publish an editorial apologizing for endorsing Waltz in 2018.
“We had no idea, had no way of knowing at the time, that Waltz was not committed to democracy,” the Editorial Board wrote.
Waltz wrote he was “protecting democracy” by joining the lawsuit.
But Waltz was not among the 138 Republican Congress members who voted against certifying Biden’s victories in Pennsylvania or Arizona after the pro-Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
“With today’s despicable display of violence and intimidation on Capitol Hill, we must move on to ensure a peaceful transfer of power and certify the presidential election,” Waltz wrote on Twitter.
Waltz was also not among the 10 Republican Congress members who voted to impeach Trump a week later for inciting the riot. Trump has since endorsed primary challengers to those Republicans, leading at least one to retire.
Waltz was first elected in 2018 to a district that includes northeastern Lake County and parts of Volusia, Flagler and St Johns counties.
Waltz’s office did not return a request for comment.