Brigadier General, Palm Coast Councilman to Run for Congress

Palm Coast City Council member Charles Gambaro will be running for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026, he announced Thursday evening. Gambaro is pursuing the seat for Florida’s 6th congressional district, which contains all or parts of Flagler, Lake, Marion, Putnam, St. Johns, and Volusia counties. Prior to serving on the City Council, Gambaro also ran unsuccessfully for Flagler School Board in the 2008 election. He also holds the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Army. Florida’s 6th district seat is currently held by Randy Fine, a Republican who won a special election in April over Democrat Josh Weil. Fine, a former state legislator, has made himself the target of controversy over harsh words against the people of Gaza as they endure the ongoing military conflict between Israel and Palestine. Gambaro on the City Council Gambaro was appointed to his City Council seat last year, having been chosen to serve the remaining two years of Cathy Heighter’s term after she resigned her seat. Despite being appointed just before the halfway point in the term, the City Council was advised by legal counsel they did not have to hold a special election as the city charter appeared to indicate. That decision has placed the city in the legal crosshairs of Mayor Mike Norris, who sued for Gambaro’s removal. Perhaps most notable about Gambaro’s tenure on the Council has been his professional feud with Norris. It was Gambaro who first accused Norris of violating the city charter and acting inappropriately to city staff, leading to an independent investigation which mostly upheld these allegations. Norris has alleged that Gambaro holds his seat illegally, causing angry sentiments toward him from the mayor’s supporters. Ironically, those Norris faithful will be granted their wish of seeing Gambaro off the Council, only for him to run for higher office. Gambaro vs. Fine Charles Gambaro is a Republican, and his announcement places incumbent Congressman Fine in his crosshairs more than any potential Democratic opponent. He quickly took aim at Fine’s purported lack of residency within the district. “The residents of Florida’s 6th Congressional District deserve representation that is focused on delivering results on issues and concerns that matter to them, placing America First through a conservative Republican approach to finding solutions and solving problems,” he says. “Our residents also deserve to be represented in Congress by a leader with decades of proven successful service to the nation and the local community, a leader that has demonstrated the courage to address tough issues, and a leader that actually lives in the 6th Congressional District.” The Wider Race Randy Fine has quickly seen some of his Republican support erode in the wake of his most charged international rhetoric. In a recent post to X, Fine wrote: “Release the hostages. Until then, starve away.” Fellow House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene responded by saying that Fine “openly calls for starving innocent people and children”. She labeled Fine’s comments ‘disgraceful’ and ‘awful’, accused him of fueling antisemitism (Fine is Jewish), and became the first Republican member of Congress to label the Gaza crisis as a genocide. “Our residents deserve better than our current representative in Congress,” Gambaro continued. “It is for these reasons that I have filed to represent my fellow residents in the U.S. House of Representatives.” In addition to Gambaro, Fine also stands to face Aaron Baker in the Republican primary. Baker unsuccessfully ran against Fine this year to fill out the remainder of Michael Waltz’s term after Waltz left Congress for a federal appointment. Three Democrats have also entered the race: Ronnie Murchinson-Rivera, James Stockton, and Eric Yonce. The FL-6 seat has been held by Republicans since 1989, but Josh Weil did manage a 42.71% showing in April – the highest draw by a Democrat in the district since Nancy Soderberg in 2018. Most leading pollsters consider the seat to still be safely Republican. Though Fine hasn’t formally announced a re-election bid, he’s already raised $300,000 for a presumptive 2026 bid.