Robert "Rocky" Rochford

Strongly Agree

I am unapologetically pro-life. Life begins at conception. That is not a political position. It is a conviction rooted in my Catholic faith. Proverbs 31:8: Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. An unborn child cannot speak. I will. My Children's Bill of Rights includes born-alive protections, a ban on discriminatory abortions, and restrictions on chemical abortion drugs sent to minors without parental consent. As a Senior Advisor to TPUSA Faith, I carry these principles everywhere.

Strongly Agree

If life begins at conception, that conviction does not change based on how conception occurs. Embryos created through IVF are human life and deserve protection from purposeful destruction. IVF is a legitimate path to parenthood for families facing infertility, and I will not support laws that restrict access to fertility treatment. My INFORMED Family Act in the Children's Bill of Rights includes explicit IVF protections. We protect life, and we protect families. Those are not in conflict.

None. An elective abortion is one chosen, not one medically required. No elective abortion should be permitted under federal law. When the life of the mother is in direct, immediate danger, that is not an elective procedure. That is a medical crisis, and the decision belongs to the mother, her doctor, and her spiritual advisor. The government has no place in that room. But that exception does not open the door to abortion on demand. The distinction between an emergency and an election matters.

Strongly Disagree

Taxpayer money is fungible. Every federal dollar that goes to Planned Parenthood for non-abortion services frees up a private dollar for abortions. The American taxpayer should not be underwriting an organization that performs over 390,000 abortions a year. There are over 13,000 Federally Qualified Health Centers across the country that provide the same preventive care without performing abortions. Redirect the funding there. Women still get the care. Taxpayers stop subsidizing the procedure.

Strongly Agree

The Comstock Act is a federal law. It has not been repealed. If Congress wants to change it, Congress can vote to change it. Until then, the executive branch has an obligation to enforce the law as written. Selective enforcement based on political convenience is how public trust in government erodes. Chemical abortion drugs sent by mail bypass every safeguard: no physician oversight, no confirmation of gestational age, no screening for ectopic pregnancy, and no parental notification for minors.

Strongly Agree

Free enterprise built this country. Private property is the foundation of individual liberty. When the government picks winners and losers, regulates small businesses into the ground, or makes home-ownership unaffordable through red tape, the productive system breaks down. I signed the ATR Taxpayer Protection Pledge. My CLEAR Act rewrites Dodd-Frank to return mortgage lending to community banks and cut closing costs that exceed $4,600. Government should protect the marketplace, not run it.

Strongly Disagree

The problem is not that Americans are taxed too little. It is that Washington spends too much. Gas, groceries, electricity, and housing did not get more expensive because the wealthy paid too little. They got expensive because of reckless spending and bad policy. Relief for working families comes from lower costs, not higher taxes on anyone. Cut spending. Cut regulation. Unleash American energy. That is how you make life affordable. I signed the ATR Taxpayer Protection Pledge for this reason.

Strongly Agree

Yes, but cutting spending alone is not enough. Washington has talked about cuts for decades, and the debt has only grown. The problem is structural. That is why I wrote the LEGACY Act Suite: 10 interlocking bills that create the first structural plan to retire the national debt permanently, not just slow its growth. It includes a balanced budget mechanism and a debt retirement trust funded by American energy revenues. Every other candidate talks about the debt. I wrote the plan to retire it.

1. Eliminate duplicative federal programs. The GAO has identified hundreds of programs that overlap across agencies doing the same job. Consolidate or cut them. 2. Eliminate the Department of Education and return authority to states and parents. 3. Force budget accountability. My TRUST Act imposes real penalties on Congress when budgets are not passed on time. Three shutdowns this fiscal year alone. 4. Convert federal enterprises that compete with the private sector to private ownership.

Strongly Disagree

The First Amendment does not stop at the church door. Religious liberty includes the right to live and work according to your convictions, not just the right to hold them privately. No government should have the power to force a citizen to choose between their livelihood and their faith. A business owner who declines a service on sincere religious grounds is not discriminating. They are exercising a constitutional right that predates every regulation on the books. Conscience is not negotiable.

It means the government cannot establish a state religion or tell Americans how to worship. It does not mean faith has no place in public life. The phrase appears nowhere in the Constitution. It comes from a letter Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists, and his point was to protect the church from the government, not to strip God from the public square. I am a Catholic. My faith informs every decision I make. I do not check my beliefs at the door when I enter public service and never will.

C is closest, but it undersells what I would do. Medicare and Medicaid are promises this country made. I will protect them. My SENIORS' Bill of Rights closes the 60-year gap in Medicare coverage for dental, vision, and hearing through competitive pricing, not government expansion. My CHOICE Act brings free-market competition to healthcare by ending hospital monopoly pricing and banning AI-driven claim denials. The answer is not more government healthcare. It is a market that actually works.

Strongly Disagree

A government database tracking Americans by medical conditions is not healthcare policy. It is surveillance. The phrase "assess the economic burden of treatment" tells you exactly where it leads: rationing care based on cost. Your medical history is between you and your doctor, not you and a federal database. I oppose AI-driven profiling in schools, in insurance, and in government. A sick American is a patient, not a line item. The government has no business building a registry of the ill.

Between B and C. America should lead from strength, not serve as the world's police force, but we have a role in helping young democracies stand against tyranny when it serves our interests. I spent 33 years in the Navy deployed across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. I know what happens when America overextends and when we disengage. Both are dangerous. Protect sovereignty, honor allies like Israel, support emerging democracies strategically, and stop funding conflicts with no clear exit.

Strongly Agree

Not a future threat. A current one. China steals $600 billion in American intellectual property annually. They have infiltrated our universities, supply chains, and defense industrial base. I did original research documenting how CCP-linked dark money from a Shanghai billionaire funds protest infrastructure inside the U.S., including at the University of South Florida in my district. I wrote a position paper on this threat. It is not theoretical to me. It is personal and it is here.

Essential. Israel is the only stable democracy in the Middle East, our most reliable intelligence partner, and a frontline ally against Iran. This is not abstract to me. I worked directly with the Israeli Defense Forces during the 2006 Lebanon war to evacuate 15,008 Americans from a combat zone. I have written two published position papers and produced an educational documentary on Israel. My commitment is operational, not rhetorical. I will defend this alliance in Congress without hesitation.

Strongly Agree

It is, and I spent a significant part of my career fighting it. I served at U.S. Central Command at MacDill AFB, the nerve center of that fight, in the heart of my district. I deployed to Qatar with General Franks during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. The threat did not end when we left Afghanistan. It evolved. Weakened borders, fractured intelligence sharing, and a distracted foreign policy have given terrorist networks room to rebuild. Vigilance is not optional.

Legal immigrants who follow the process, bring skills, and want to contribute to this country. America is generous, but generosity requires order. We decide who comes in, how many, and under what terms. Immigration should be merit-based, not luck-based. End the diversity visa lottery. End chain migration. Enforce the laws already on the books. No one who enters illegally, overstays a visa, or exploits the asylum system should be rewarded with a path ahead of those who followed the rules.

Strongly Disagree

Sanctuary cities tell law enforcement to ignore federal law. That is not compassion. It is obstruction. When a city refuses to cooperate with ICE, it is not protecting people. It is shielding criminal offenders from accountability and putting citizens at risk. Every city operates under the same Constitution and the same federal immigration statutes. No mayor or city council gets to decide which federal laws apply in their jurisdiction. Defund sanctuary policies and enforce the law everywhere.

Strongly Agree

The Department of Education was created in 1979. Since then, federal spending on education has more than tripled. Reading and math scores have flat-lined or declined. The U.S. ranks behind dozens of countries in subjects we used to lead. More money, more bureaucracy, worse results. That is not a department worth keeping. Parents and communities do not need Washington telling them how to educate their children. Eliminate it. Return the authority and the funding to the states where it belongs.

Strongly Agree

Foreign money in American classrooms is not philanthropy. It is influence. China, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have funneled billions into U.S. universities with strings attached: curriculum influence, research restrictions, and propaganda. Confucius Institutes operated as CCP outposts on American campuses for years. Ban direct foreign government funding of American education. Our children should be educated in American interests, not shaped by regimes that view our classrooms as a battlefield.

Strongly Agree

A child cannot consent to a tattoo, a car loan, or a contract. A child cannot consent to irreversible procedures that alter their body permanently. Puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries on minors are not healthcare. They are experimentation on children who do not understand what they are losing. My Children's Bill of Rights includes protections against these procedures. Adults make their own choices. Children deserve protection from decisions they cannot undo.

Strongly Agree

I believe marriage is a sacred covenant between one man and one woman, ordained by God. That is rooted in my Catholic faith, and I will not soften it for political convenience. The government did not create marriage. It recognized an institution that existed long before any government did. When the state redefines something it did not create, it oversteps an authority it does not have. I treat every person with dignity and respect. That does not require me to abandon what I believe to be true.

I am a Catholic. My faith is not something I practice on Sundays and set aside on Monday. It is the foundation of every decision I make and the reason I am running for Congress. Two verses anchor this campaign. Proverbs 31:8: "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves." That verse is why the Children's Bill of Rights will be the first bill I introduce. Isaiah 6:8: "Here am I. Send me." That verse is why I entered this race. Andrea and I have been married 35 years. We built our lives in the church and have called Tampa Bay home since 1989. The values we built our marriage on are the values I will bring to Congress: faith, service, sacrifice, and the belief that every life has value from its first moment.

Strongly Disagree

Every illegal vote cancels a legal one. This is the Democrat Two-Step. Step 1: open the floodgates and let millions of illegals into the country. Done. Step 2: create an accelerated path to citizenship so millions of new voters support the party that let them in. That locks Republican losses for years and gives Democrats a free hand to push far-left ideology. Voter ID stops Step 2. I support the SAVE America Act. No photo ID, no vote. No path to citizenship if you came here illegally. Period.

Strongly Agree

This is not complicated. Biological males have a measurable physical advantage over biological females. Allowing them in women's sports is not inclusion. It is the elimination of fair competition for every girl who trained for it. The same applies to private spaces. Bathrooms, locker rooms, shelters, and prisons exist to protect women. Erase the biological line, and you erase the protection. My Children's Bill of Rights includes girls' sports protections. Women's spaces exist for a reason.

Nuclear. A 93% capacity factor versus 25% for solar. Clean, reliable, scalable. Pair it with domestic oil and natural gas, and America has the most secure energy grid on Earth. My AESA treats energy dominance as a national security imperative.

No.

No.

Very Conservative

Very Conservative. Pro-life without exception. Pro-Second Amendment. Pro-Israel. Eliminate the Department of Education. Secure the border. Defund sanctuary cities. Energy dominance. Retire the national debt. Protect Social Security and Medicare. Defend religious liberty. I signed the ATR Taxpayer Protection Pledge. I have drafted 41 bills and 4 position papers that reflect these values. My conservatism is not a label. It is a body of work.

Strongly Agree

No child should be collateral damage in a business model. Social media platforms profit from children's attention while exposing them to predators, trafficking, and exploitation. The industry will not police itself. My Children's Bill of Rights includes protections against online exploitation, age verification, a ban on AI-generated child sexual abuse material, and restrictions on data collection targeting minors. If a platform cannot keep children safe, it should not have access to children.

None. The Second Amendment is clear. The problem is not law-abiding gun owners. It is a broken mental health system, a justice system that returns violent offenders to the street, and politicians who refuse to enforce existing law. Every mass shooting brings calls for new restrictions that would not have prevented it. Enforce current law. Fix the mental health crisis. Hold violent criminals accountable. Stop punishing responsible Americans for the failures of government.