Even Republican Senators Reject Trump’s Taxpayer Funded Ads. Does Congressional Candidate Sydney Gruters?

Gruters decried politicians “getting rich off our backs,” while her husband’s net worth grew 17-fold since he took office.

Congressional candidate Kelly Kirschner today condemned President Donald Trump’s illegal use of taxpayer money for political propaganda promoting himself and called on his opponent, Sydney Gruters, to reject the corrupt misuse of public power for private gain, including her husband’s – Joe Gruters, RNC Chair.

The taxpayer financed ads promote Trump and end with the words, “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” One recently aired spot is virtually identical to a 2024 Trump campaign advertisement. Federal appropriations law prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars for unauthorized “publicity or propaganda,” and lawmakers from both parties have questioned the legality of the ads. AP News

“Even as Republican Senators Kennedy, Tillis and others reject Trump’s actions, that same pattern, public power turned into private advantage, is playing out here in Florida’s 16th Congressional District,” Kirschner said.

“Joe Gruters built an insurance business in the very industry he regulates as a state senator,” Kirschner said. “While serving in the Legislature, he pitched investors, including fellow lawmakers, on Village Protection Insurance, a startup that projected outsized returns for investors while Florida homeowners faced soaring premiums. He sits on the Florida Senate’s Banking and Insurance Committee, which oversees the very industry he sought to profit from.”

“Gruters sponsored Senate Bill 1028 on behalf of the insurance conglomerate that admits it helped write it,” Kirschner said. “The law lets Citizens Property Insurance push commercial and condo policyholders into higher-cost coverage outside normal rate regulation. Ryan Specialty, the company whose executives helped draft the bill, said this month it was proud to have been instrumental in the legislation that created the program.”

“Sydney Gruters has previously spoken of misuse of political power for personal gain,” Kirschner said. Watch Her Own Words. ‘Members of Congress should not be going up there in one tax bracket and coming out another, right? That’s what’s happening, because they have information that we don’t and so they’re getting rich off our back, and this is not right.’ Her husband’s own financial disclosures as well as her own, reported the family’s net worth grew from $215,000 in 2015 to $3.8 million in 2025, a 17-fold increase since he entered politics.”

“Joe Gruters’ own political committees routed $1.25 million into Conservatives for American Excellence, a Nevada-based super PAC that spent nearly $1 million electing Sydney Gruters during the Republican primary, while he was serving as chairman of the Republican National Committee,” Kirschner said. “Sydney Gruters is asking voters to send her to Washington while her own family profits from the same insider system.”

“Political access, special-interest money, and public office create opportunity for the connected, while Florida families are left with the bill,” Kirschner said.

“The erosion of these guardrails in Tallahassee and Washington has become dangerously serious,” Kirschner said. “If we do not draw a line now, and restore respect for the American people, the Constitution, an independent Congress, a free press, and free elections, I fear we will reach a point where the damage cannot be undone.”

“Sydney Gruters can disagree with me on policy,” Kirschner said. “That is democracy. But silence is complicity when her own husband uses public office for private gain and a president uses public money like campaign money, weakens the checks on presidential power, and makes it harder for citizens to hold government accountable.”

“I didn’t get into this to get rich, and I’m not asking anyone to send me to Washington so my family can cash in,” Kirschner said. “If you ask people to trust you with their vote, you owe them something back — your honesty, and your word and actions that you’ll put the country ahead of yourself every day you hold that job. That’s not a political promise. It’s just what the job is supposed to mean.”

Kirschner received an “A-” rating from Integrity Index, while Gruters received an “F”. I won’t pretend this is a normal moment,” Kirschner said. “Corruption is spreading through every level of government right now, state and federal.”

“As Sarasota’s Mayor and Commissioner, I worked to make government answer to people, not special interests,” Kirschner continued. “I led the effort to pass the strictest local finance reform law in Florida, fought a developer backed opponent – supported by Gruters – outspent 3-to-1 and won by over 70%. I gained concessions from Florida Power & Light for rate payers, and clawed back millions from a sweetheart deal on public land. That is the standard I will bring to Congress: protect free enterprise, protect a free press, defend every eligible citizen’s right to vote, and ensure government works for the people who pay the bills, not the people who hold the most power.”

About Kelly Kirschner

Kelly Kirschner is a third-generation Floridian, a former Sarasota mayor and city commissioner, a returned Peace Corps volunteer who served in Guatemala, the former vice president and dean of executive and continuing education at Eckerd College, and a co-founder of the area nonprofit UnidosNow. He is running for Florida’s 16th Congressional District on a platform of lowering costs and putting constituents ahead of special interests.

The post Even Republican Senators Reject Trump’s Taxpayer Funded Ads. Does Congressional Candidate Sydney Gruters? first appeared on Kelly Kirschner for U.S. Congress - FL 16.