PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Anthony Bonna, the Republican candidate for Florida House District 85, joined Freedom News Media for a nearly hour-long conversation about the experiences that shaped him, the pressures facing one of Florida’s fastest-growing communities and the priorities he says would guide him in Tallahassee.
The conversation went beyond campaign slogans. Bonna described public service as a responsibility rather than a career, connected his political work to the community organizations that helped him growing up and explained why roads, property taxes and the preservation of conservative policy are central to his campaign.
Watch the full Freedom News exclusive interview on YouTube →
A campaign rooted in giving back
Bonna said he grew up in the Treasure Coast community and benefited from support provided by his church, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Education Foundation and the Rotary Club. Scholarships helped him attend Georgetown University, where he earned a finance degree.
After returning home, Bonna said he began investing his time in the same kinds of organizations that had invested in him. He has served with Rotary for more than a decade, participated in Big Brothers Big Sisters and completed two years as chairman of the Education Foundation.
That community involvement eventually extended into government. In 2018, then-Gov. Rick Scott appointed Bonna to fill a vacancy on the St. Lucie County Commission. Bonna later won a 2021 special election for the Port St. Lucie City Council and was reelected.
Why he is seeking a seat in Tallahassee
Bonna said his decision to run for the Florida House grew partly from frustrations he encountered as a local official. He pointed to the lengthy Port St. Lucie Boulevard project, which involved the Florida Department of Transportation, as an example of why the region needs a forceful advocate at the state level.
“We need someone up there advocating for our roads and infrastructure,” Bonna said during the interview.
He also identified property taxes as a major concern and said substantial work will remain regardless of how voters decide related ballot questions. Bonna framed the election as a moment when Florida will also be choosing how much of the conservative policy direction of recent years it wants to preserve after Gov. Ron DeSantis leaves office.
Growth, traffic and a city catching up
Few issues affect Port St. Lucie residents as visibly as growth and traffic. Bonna acknowledged that frustration, while arguing that many of today’s projects were made possible by development approvals issued years earlier.
He described Port St. Lucie as a geographically large and relatively young city whose original planning created long-term challenges. The city is now trying to catch up through road construction, strategic rezoning and the purchase of green space.
Bonna said the city had acquired roughly 280 acres during the previous year and a half and expressed support for efforts to preserve additional natural land. He argued that completing infrastructure projects while resisting additional density could eventually make travel through the city more manageable.
The conservative record he points to
Bonna pushed back against the idea that Port St. Lucie’s growth and tax pressures mean its city government is not conservative. He noted that Republicans control the council and said the city tax rate has been reduced repeatedly, debt has been paid down and the city moved to cooperate with Florida’s government-efficiency initiative.
He also cited support for immigration-enforcement agreements, investment in law enforcement and efforts to address the consequences of earlier failed economic-development decisions.
At the state level, Bonna described himself as pro-life, pro-family, pro-Second Amendment, supportive of secure borders and committed to low taxes. He was one of Florida’s Republican presidential electors for Donald Trump in 2024.
Representation is more than following a poll
One of the more revealing exchanges concerned how an elected official should respond when a majority of constituents support a position that conflicts with the representative’s principles.
Bonna said public opinion should carry significant weight, but he rejected the idea that representatives should simply follow polling on every question. He used abortion as an example, saying he would not support a pro-abortion measure even if it received majority support within the district.
He argued that elected officials in a republic must weigh constituent feedback alongside facts, economic effects, philosophy, morals and ethics. That approach, he said, is different from governing by direct democracy.
What voters learned from the conversation
The interview presented Bonna as a candidate whose case rests heavily on local roots and a record of community involvement. His campaign message connects the practical concerns of Port St. Lucie residents—traffic, taxes, development and infrastructure—to a broader argument about conservative representation in Tallahassee.
It also showed where Bonna draws firm lines. He said he is willing to consider public sentiment but will not abandon foundational positions merely because a poll moves in another direction.
Freedom News takeaway
District 85 voters will ultimately decide whether Bonna’s local record and stated principles qualify him to succeed term-limited Rep. Toby Overdorf. What this conversation provided was something campaign mailers rarely do: enough time for a candidate to explain not only what he supports, but why.
This article summarizes portions of the interview. Viewers can hear Bonna’s complete answers and the full context of the discussion in the original Freedom News Media video.