Congresswoman Kat Cammack speaks in Live Oak

Congresswoman Kat Cammack speaking about the flooding issues in Live Oak. -SVT Photo by Tami Stevenson

Suwannee County Republican Party Chairwoman Lisa Keep addressing attendees before Congresswoman Kat Cammack speaks. -SVT Photo by Tami Stevenson

By Tami Stevenson

During the last Suwannee County Republican Party’s regular monthly meeting in Live Oak, held October 2, at Live Oak City Hall, Congresswoman Kat Cammack visited Suwannee County and spoke at the meeting. She was generous with her time, arriving sooner than expected and staying later than expected. She spoke to a nearly packed room of Suwannee County residents.

     Seven weeks ago, she gave birth to little “Baby Augie” as she affectionately calls her, Augusta Dair, born August 14, 2025. Many of her colleagues were concerned, as a new mother, if she would be as committed to her congressional duties as before. She assured her constituents it was just the opposite.

     “It’s more real now,” she said, “the fight for this country. She (baby Augusta) has motivated me even more.” Cammack doesn’t want her daughter to inherit “this mess” and is more tenacious now than ever before, especially with all of the death threats. Cammack and her family have received more than fifty death threats, and some included her newborn daughter.

     One of the first topics she spoke about was Charlie Kirk, “If you think about that, it wasn’t just an awful, awful thing that happened, it sent chills up and down the spine of every American, I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat, it sent a message that if you go out and express your First Amendment rights, and dare to speak the truth, that you are a target.” She added, “Then to hear that some people are actually justifying and applauding that, to me, that – is absolutely terrifying for the state of affairs.”

        The Congresswoman said she would be remiss if she didn’t mention the money she and her team have recovered within the district as they are working to tighten up spending for her territory, which is Florida’s Third Congressional District.

     She said they have officially recovered $70M so far, for our veterans, seniors and our working families. “Cold, hard cash from federal agencies that would refuse, either in the case of a veteran, just deny, deny and delay – Social Security, SSDI, even the IRS.

     “Our team – they’re a bunch of bulldogs,” she said. “So, $70M, and our goal is to hit $100M recovered for all of our families here in the district, because that is not chump change.”

     Although it has been four years since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan and many people have forgotten about it, Cammack said members of her team, particularly Dorothy Richardson, are still getting people out from that.

     “Dorothy and other members of our team, they – to this day – are still pulling people out of Afghanistan.” She said that this team is responsible for getting 3,145 people evacuated out of there,  including our allies, not just Americans, but British citizens and German citizens. They also managed to get 148 of the working dogs that were left behind in cages. “They have remained dedicated to that cause, even though so many people have chosen to forget.”

Suwannee County:

     Cammack said they have been writing letters of support, trying to get critical research, critical dollars, critical infrastructure into Suwannee County. She said that is something they are going to continue to push for. “In this day and age, if you don’t have access to broadband and it’s not affordable, it’s not reliable, you’re behind. It’s the same thing with our wastewater systems, we all know that Live Oak is a bowl; if it rains too much, holy buckets, get ready for the floods!” She added, “We are working with our partners here in the county to try to make sure that is no longer the case.”

National:

What is causing the government shutdown?

    According to Cammack and other Republicans, the Democrats want to take taxpayer dollars and give it to illegals for healthcare.

     “You’re going to hear on social media that’s not true, that they’re not doing that. But yes, it is true.” She said they actually put it in writing. Read Subsection E of their counter proposal.

     They put in writing that they wanted to repeal the protections and the reforms that we made in the One Big Beautiful Bill, that would make it illegal for states to create healthcare plans for illegals.”

Just last year, she added, California gave 6.4 billion dollars of our taxpayer money to illegals for healthcare plans. All the money goes to the states and the states create the healthcare programs.

“So if you’re in New York, or Oregon, or Washington, or Illinois, or California or any blue state, they are taking federal dollars and creating healthcare plans that have more benefits for them (illegals) than any plan that an American citizen can get.” She added, “That is why the government is shut down.” She added that this is the same bill the Democrats voted for four times, and now to go out in the media saying it is a horrible product?

     The Trump administration is absolutely leaning in and they’re not backing away from a fight. “That’s where we have to do the same. There are so many issues we have to fight on,” she added.

     She encouraged everyone to get out and vote during these midterms. “We need to maintain the house and senate. I’m confident the Senate will remain in Republican hands, but the House? Right now we only have a margin of two.”

Looking ahead, in her office not only are they taking on the regulatory regime, they are now working on a bill that would require background checks for congressional staff. It is not currently required.

     She said, “We the people deserve to know who is working on their behalf. And furthermore, in our bill, it requires public disclosure of any organization that has received foreign funding and if you are a dual citizen, you have to disclose it.” She added, “You need to disclose where your loyalties lie.”

     She said there is a pipeline of different organizations, they call them think tanks, some of them are non-profits that are actually backed by groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. “We know this.” They work to put people in internships, then work their way up into staff positions. In fact, she said, in the Biden administration, there was one that made it all the way to the National Security Counsel, funded by the Muslim Brotherhood. But because background checks are not required to work on Capital Hill, no one knew about it. “So that is actually one of our big initiatives.”

     After her speech, she had a Q & A time for the audience.

     Florida’s Third Congressional District is made up of 12 counties: Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Marion, Suwannee, and Union Counties.

        The Suwannee County Republican Party meets on the first Thursday of each month at Live Oak City Hall, informal social time at 6:30 p.m., meeting starts at 7 p.m.

     For their November 6 meeting, Christian Peterson is scheduled to talk about energizing and motivating young adults in our community to be active citizens.