Oliver Gilbert discusses next steps in Congressional race after Florida Democratic primary win

Florida's primary elections have officially set the stage for the Congressional races in November. While Jared Moskowitz defeated a challenge from Democratic Socialist Oliver Larken, he's now up against former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer. Eliot Rodriguez, a former CBS News Miami anchor, is now facing fellow former television journalist Maria Villars Salazar in District 27. Debbie Wasserman Schultz also won her primary in District 20, an overwhelmingly Democratic district that Kamala Harris won by 37 points in the 2024 presidential election. 

Wasserman Schultz should easily be re-elected in November. The same could also be said for Oliver Gilbert, who won the Democratic primary in District 24. Gilbert now aims to win the seat currently held by Frederica Wilson, who announced earlier this year that she would not seek another term in Congress.

Gilbert sat down with Facing South Florida host Jim DeFede to discuss what's next in his race after weathering a primary election that saw $2 million in negative ads aired against him.

"On the other side of the equation, I spent four hours, about four hours, in every afternoon and evening, walking door to door. I walked voters myself with teams. I walked voters, so I dropped a bunch of weight," he said.

The ads were largely put together by a group called Protect Progress, a lobby group for the crypto industry. Gilbert said he didn't know what prompted the ads against him aside from the race itself.

"All I know is that people who gave millions of dollars to elect Donald Trump were spending millions of dollars to make sure I didn't go to Congress," he said.

Gilbert said he doesn't have a strong opinion about the crypto industry. However, he did have a strong opinion on Angie Nixon's primary win.

"I wasn't surprised at all. I endorsed Angie early on," he said.

Gilbert also said Nixon's primary opponent, Alex Vindman, didn't engage with Black voters.

"I'm the former chair of the county commission, former mayor of the largest Black city in the state of Florida, by any accounts, whether I won or lost this election, I am a notable Democrat that people reach out to when they come to the county. I never met this guy. I mean, that's just real. So what it tells me is that if you're willing to go and meet people where they are and talk to them and tell them your ideas, independent of a title, that you can actually get support. I think he took for granted a nomination, and people said, 'You know, we get to have the last say,' and that's my outtake on this election generally for my race."

Gilbert has reflected on the responsibility that congressional representatives hold and on the legacy of service that outgoing Rep. Wilson is leaving. 

"She is an extraordinary public servant. When I think about having the ability to serve in the same capacity that she served us so honorably. It's humbling. I said this the night of the election. I really don't want to disappoint her," he said. "My parents have both passed away. They idolized her."

"She's working on things. I want to continue those things for sure. I also want to expand it," Gilbert continued. "I want to do things like bring the SBA, hyper-localized, here to actually try to break some of the cycles of poverty. We keep talking about breaking cycles of poverty, but we need to give people an opportunity to be job creators and not just job seekers. We have talent here. We're powered by small businesses. We're powered by small businesses, because South Florida is the best iteration of the American dream that you're going to find."