John,

If you and I haven't met yet, my name is Josh Weil. I'm a single father, Democrat, and public school teacher running in the Special Election for Florida's 6th Congressional District - the bellwether first election of 2025.

As we begin to hit our stride after a whirlwind first few weeks of this campaign, I haven’t yet had the chance to sit down and write out the story of who I am & why I’m running so let me tell you about why you should put your belief into this scrappy campaign that stands to topple the GOP's razor thin 1-vote majority.

My career has been defined by work with at-risk or post risk populations in public schools.

I worked for three years in juvenile detention under the FL Department of Juvenile Justice, then for two years at University Behavioral Center, a residential mental health hospital for teens.

In these programs, kids were typically 5 years behind grade level and the programs were extremely underfunded and under-resourced. As a result I had to wear a bunch of different hats - teacher, therapist, parent, and more. It’s a helluva a job (literally), and it’s not for everybody, but I am proud to have made a tangible impact with these students and this experience was foundational in making me the teacher that I am today.

I now work in Florida’s Osceola County public schools where I am on the leadership team of Kissimmee Middle School - a title one school (schools which have a high population of low income families and in turn receive lots of extra supplemental funding, all students receive supplemental funding).

On the leadership team of Kissimmee: I’m an instructional coach for teachers, the Dean of Students where I handle behavior issues with students and families, and the MTSS coordinator - a role required under education law where I monitor/track student data across the school and then coordinate interventions and individualized education plans (IEPs) for students who are underperforming.

In my first year where I oversaw Math, scores went down in every category at my school except math which went up one point. In my 2nd year, I oversaw all of STEM where we made major gains in both categories and became the highest gaining school in the whole county/district for that category.

I have devoted my life’s work to solving challenges that seem insurmountable to most, to uplifting students and classrooms that society and our GOP state legislature have written off. So when I read that a special election would be held in my community for a vacant House seat following a Trump cabinet appointment, I saw an opportunity to tackle a challenge that I am uniquely qualified to take on and conquer.

Before our launch, we were warned by Doubting Thomases that the Democratic base was burnt out, defeated, and apathetic in the aftermath of Kamala Harris’s defeat. We were told that we would be hard pressed to find people who would donate and or volunteer on this race. They told us to give up.

My belief then and ever more so now is that when the chips are down and we’re backed into a corner is when we fight the hardest—and now I am vindicated every day as Democrats from across the US pour in to fight with us.

Together, we can rob the GOP of their 1-vote majority and restore hope to a movement reeling from our 2024 defeat - can you make a donation today -- split with Hold Them Accountable -- to help us rapidly scale this campaign in time for our April 1st election?

Thank you for being a part of this movement to stop Project 2025 and send a teacher—not a book banner—to Congress. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we cannot afford to miss it.

Yours in the fight,
Josh Weil Democrat for Florida’s 6th