The Case Against Sydney Gruters

Sydney Gruters isn’t running to be an independent voice for the Gulf Coast, she’s running to be another rubber stamp for the political machine. A career political operative whose entire identity is tied to the GOP establishment, Gruters has spent her time advancing the priorities of powerful insiders rather than serving Florida families. She oversaw divisive culture-war projects that the people of Florida hate, and pledged to support policies that raise costs even further for working families.

Kelly Kirschner is the opposite. As a third-generation Floridian, Peace Corps volunteer, and the former Mayor of Sarasota, Kelly spent his career solving problems for real people – standing up to special interests, expanding affordable housing, and building coalitions across party lines. Rather than building a career in partisan politics, he built one in public service. That record positions him well to compete in a district where voters are looking for practical leadership and a focus on local priorities.

Sydney Gruters Is a Political Insider and Product of the Machine

Sydney Gruters is a glorified staffer running to replace her former boss, who will bring more of the same far-right political drama focused on “clicks and cash” over solutions for Florida. Gruters worked for retiring Rep. Vern Buchanan for a decade, a career politician who voted to cut Medicare at least six times, repeatedly voted against lowering drug prices for seniors, and voted eleven times to rip health care away from millions of Americans by fully repealing the Affordable Care Act. Gruters has presented herself as a further-right escalation of his record.

For Gruters, connection to the DC Republican political machine runs deep. Not only has she worked in the Trump administration, but her husband has served as Chair of the Republican National Committee since 2025 and has been one of Donald Trump’s closest political allies since co-chairing his 2016 Florida campaign.

According to the AP, “Gruters was a true believer years before Trump launched his first campaign in 2015.” Joe Gruters was also investigated for alleged sexual harassment in 2021 — raising serious questions about the values at the center of the Gruters political brand.

Trump personally encouraged Sydney Gruters to run for Congress and endorsed her before she even officially entered the race. Scandal-ridden Rep. Jim Jordan quickly followed with his own endorsement – known best for helping lead efforts to overturn a free and fair election, supporting cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and being deposed over “allegations that he failed to protect the wrestlers he once coached at Ohio State University from a sexual predator.”

You are the company you keep, and Sydney Gruters is a creature of the corrupt and scandal-ridden status quo.

Kelly Kirschner followed a different path. As City Commissioner and Mayor of Sarasota, Kelly took on the heavyweights – leading the passage of Florida’s strongest local campaign finance reforms approved by more than 80% of the electorate, pushed utilities for resident concessions, and clawed back millions for taxpayers by exposing a sweetheart lease on some of the City’s most valuable, public waterfront. And just last year, he stood with community leaders to stop special interests from seizing control of the Ringling Museum of Art. He has been focused on getting things done for Sarasota residents and will answer to one constituency in Congress: the people of the Gulf Coast.

Sydney Gruters Helped Oversee One of Florida’s Most Controversial Political Takeovers

Before running for Congress, Sydney Gruters oversaw the New College Foundation as its executive director. Under the DeSantis administration’s ideological overhaul, Gruters helped carry out a partisan political project that gutted one of Florida’s most respected public colleges. Books were dumped en masse. The college president was ousted by conservative trustees. National rankings plummeted. Students and faculty were left in fear about the school’s future. The Washington Post called the overhaul “costly” — leaving Florida taxpayers on the hook for tens of millions in funding for the changes — and they were right.

But it gets worse. A legal complaint alleged that Gruters and New College leadership misused more than $1 million in foundation funds against the explicit wishes of the original donors – money that was supposed to support students, not go toward the president’s seven-figure salary. The president, Richard Corcoran, like Gruters, secured his position from his political connections, being a former Republican Speaker of the Florida House. Corcoran’s loyal deputy, with no experience in higher education management or fundraising, Gruters was paid over $200,000 annually in part by Florida taxpayers.

Bottom line: Gruters jeopardized Floridians’ education and helped burn a respected institution to the ground to win political points, overseeing misuse of donor funds in the process. She can’t be trusted to advocate for the people’s best interest.

Kelly Kirschner believes public institutions exist to serve the public, not political agendas. He has been a leader in education, built a non-profit lifting first-generation students into the country’s top universities debt-free, and supports protecting the institutions that give Florida families a path to the middle class.

Sydney Gruters Supports an Agenda That Raises Costs for Florida Families

Gruters has stood behind Trump’s tariff agenda even as it hammers Florida. Tariffs have threatened Florida’s citrus industry, driven up home construction costs for Floridians already facing an affordability crisis, and were estimated to cost the average American family $2,500. As Floridians pay more for groceries, more for housing, and more at the pump under the Gruters-backed agenda, Gruters has nothing to say about it.

Gas prices in Florida hit a four-year high as a result of the Iran war, adding roughly $16 to the cost of filling a tank in the Tampa Bay area. The war is costing taxpayers tens of billions, and is driving inflation higher across the economy. Working families in FL-16 are worse off — and Gruters supports it.

By voicing her unwavering allegiance to the president and GOP House leadership, Sydney Gruters has pledged her support for the Big, Ugly Bill, a massive giveaway to the wealthy that cuts health care for tens of thousands in FL-16 and slashes $1 trillion from Medicaid – the largest cut to the program in American history – all to fund tax breaks for corporations and the ultra-wealthy. And she was silent on the Administration’s decision to end a Medicare Part D program that offset premium costs for Florida seniors. Now, 25 million Americans will pay more for their prescription drug costs, including seniors across the Gulf Coast and rural communities who buy their own plan.

Kelly Kirschner is running because he knows Florida families deserve better. He’s committed to lowering costs for working families — protecting Medicaid and Medicare from cuts, taking on the housing affordability crisis head-on, and opposing reckless trade policies that raise prices on everyday goods.

As Mayor, he understood that people don’t care about party labels, but about whether things get fixed in a timely fashion and if people can afford to live in the community they love. When Sarasota’s government spent decades dodging its promise to fund Payne Park, Kelly organized his neighbors to ensure the park was built. When a developer tried to drop ten-story condos into a single-family neighborhood, Kelly stopped them. That commitment to serving the community is the agenda Kelly Kirschner will bring to Congress.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Florida Politics: Kelly Kirschner posts $224K in first quarter, says he’s ready to battle Sydney Gruters in CD 16 [Florida Politics, 7/15/26]

“Democratic congressional candidate Kelly Kirschner reported raising almost $224,000 in his first quarter running to flip Florida’s 16th Congressional District.

“There is momentum with a large and growing tent of residents and voters who are fed up with Florida machine politics funded by the development community and special interests,” [Kirschner said]. 

Sarasota Observer: Former Sarasota mayor joins race to fill Buchanan’s Congressional seat [Sarasota Observer, 5/3/26]

“‘Working families were promised relief eighteen months ago. What they got instead was higher rent, higher insurance, higher gasoline, and higher grocery bills. For decades, billionaires, lobbyists, and corporations have treated Congress like a vending machine: insert dollars, receive influence,’ said Kirschner. ‘The result is a system where we pay more for groceries, prescriptions and rent while they pay less in taxes. Our kids inherit the debt while big donors gobble up the tax breaks.’ […]

As a neighborhood activist, mayor and commissioner, he successfully took on interests like Florida Power & Light, Walmart, and developers. His record also included leading the charge in 2009 to pass the strongest municipal campaign finance reform legislation in Florida’s history.”

Sarasota News Leader: Kelly Kirschner announces campaign for U.S. House District 16 seat [Sarasota News Leader, 5/7/26]

“…Kirschner cited a ‘crushing affordability crisis’ that is hollowing out the middle class across the Gulf Coast” as the impetus for his campaign.

A third-generation Floridian, Kirschner is entering the race ‘as families across the region face record-high costs for housing, property insurance, and daily essentials,’ the release adds. ‘His message is simple,’ it says: ‘The promise eighteen months ago was that the MAGA leadership would make life better for working people. The opposite has happened.’

Florida Politics: DCCC adds open CD 16, 22 races to ‘Districts in Play’ for November [Florida Politics, 7/9/26]

Tampa Bay Times: New College alumni threaten to sue for clarity on donations [Tampa Bay Times, 5/22/25]

“Four former board members of the New College Foundation threatened to sue the school’s leadership…alleging that it inappropriately used donor money to pay for the school’s athletic program and President Richard Corcoran’s nearly $700,000 salary.

The draft complaint, emailed to New College leadership, alleges that Corcoran and foundation head Sydney Gruters may have used more than $1 million in foundation funds against the wishes of the original donors to pay for the school’s growing financial reliance on its endowment.”

Bradenton Herald: Inside New College’s unraveling financial oversight: Staff ousted, board critics removed [Bradenton Herald, 6/9/25]

“Two former top finance officers at the New College Foundation say they were ousted in 2023 after pushing back against college administrators who sought to use donor-restricted funds to cover President Richard Corcoran’s salary and benefits — a move they said would violate the terms of the donations. […]

Last month, a group of former foundation board members sent Corcoran and New College Foundation executive director Sydney Gruters a demand letter requesting an audit of how restricted donor funds were used and threatening legal action if they do not comply.”

PATH TO VICTORY

Florida Republicans tried to save Washington Republicans by rigging the state’s maps, but instead they’ve made Florida’s 16th Congressional District ripe for the taking. With the addition of Pinellas County, an area Vice President Harris won by 14 points, Florida’s 16th Congressional District is two points more competitive for Democrats. This creates a real opening for Kelly Kirschner, who beat a well-funded, Joe Gruters-endorsed incumbent who outspent him 3-to-1, winning with 75% of the vote when he ran for Sarasota City Commission. In a district that now has a sizable Hispanic and Black voter base with 36.3% older voters, and an open seat with no Republican incumbency advantage, Gruters will be forced to run on an increasingly unpopular Trump brand, harming those voters who are trending away from reckless economic policies, extremism, and open corruption.

In a cycle that Democrats are overperforming in Florida special elections by double digits, Kelly Kirschner is the candidate to win this seat. A former Mayor with a proven record of delivering results, real credibility in the Sarasota community, and a positive economic message that cuts across party lines, Kirschner is exactly the kind of candidate who can win this competitive swing district. With an undeniable contrast on health care, costs, and Gruters’ record of political extremism, FL-16 is a genuine pickup opportunity for Democrats.

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