As we’re looking at the 2022 midterm elections, a lot of eyes are going to end up in a lot of places. For Second Amendment supporters, this is a big election. Winning Congress will relieve much of the pressure we’re currently seeing behind gun control, where just a couple of people changing a vote could well result in drastic problems for the Second Amendment.

Part of that is going to involve making sure pro-Second Amendment candidates take office, obviously.

In Florida, one candidate is hoping to do just that.

From a press release:

TAMPA, Fla. – James Judge, a 37-year-old native of the Tampa Bay area and a local businessman, entered into the race for Florida’s 14^th Congressional District as a Republican candidate against Democrat incumbent Kathy Castor, the campaign announced Wednesday.

Judge officially filed on December 15^th and raised more than $100,000 in the final 16 days of 2021.

“We have many problems facing our local area and our nation, and career politicians like Ms. Castor, who think they can walk all over our freedoms, need to understand who they work for and that restricting liberties is fundamentally un-American,” said Judge. “It’s important to note, I am not a conventional candidate and I’m not a politician. I am a Christian, husband, veteran and a native Floridian, and I hate where I see this country headed. Ultimately, I decided I could no longer sit by and watch our country suffer any longer.”

That’s awesome, but why would you care about Judge?

Well, to start with, he’s a business owner and veteran. Those are usually useful things to look at when looking at a potential lawmaker.

Plus, his opponent, Rep. Kathy Castor, is fairly anti-gun. She’s supported numerous gun control bills and her in that seat means she’s likely to continue to support more of them.

Granted, those factors alone wouldn’t be enough to support him, but what about his NRA membership?

Yeah, I’d probably shrug that off too. The thing is, I know James Judge. Let me tell you something, the guy is pro-gun. Very pro-gun.

In short, he’s one of you.

So we need someone like him to unseat Castor, thus helping to shift the nature of the House to a more pro-gun course.

Granted, that won’t be enough to change federal law for the better, but right now, that’s not on the agenda. Instead, we need to hold our ground so that we don’t end up with any new laws. Someone like Judge can do that.

But does he have a chance? Castor’s been in office since 2013, and it can be difficult it is to remove an incumbent.

The thing is, raising $100,000 in a little over two weeks is pretty impressive, especially since this is just the primary. There are other Republicans in the field, though I can’t speak on how pro-gun they actually are.

What this represents, though, is a shift. People are clearly looking for pro-gun candidates and are willing to back them. The Florida 14th district had been a Republican district before. Based on what Judge has raised in the first couple of weeks of his candidacy, it seems to me that he’s tapped into the outrage people have toward anti-gun candidates.

Let’s hope this continues.