Radio host and author Dan Bongino has filed to run for Curt Clawson's open seat in Florida's 19th Congressional district, joining two other Republicans in the race.
Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and New York City police officer, wrote the 2013 best-seller "Life Inside the Bubble," detailing his time with the Secret Service, according to the website
Sunshine State News. He has his own podcast and has filled in for national talk show host Sean Hannity and Mark Levin.
He joins Chauncey Goss and Francis Rooney in the GOP primary. Clawson announced he won't seek re-election, saying he wants to spend more time with his ailing father.
The southern Florida district covers the west coast of Florida from Fort Myers to Marco Island.
In 2014, Bongino nearly beat Democratic U.S. Rep. John Delaney for Maryland's 6th Congressional district, losing by two percentage points, said the
Washington Post, noting that he may have been considering running against Democrat Patrick Murphy in Florida's 18th Congressional district.
Bongino told the
Naples Daily News there should be a united effort between federal, state, and local authorities in fighting crime, and he believes a small group of repeat offenders are driving the crime rate.
"Nobody's going to open a business if they think they're going to get robbed," Bongino said. "We're going to get that .001 percent of the people off the streets. We're going to do it fast. I watched (former New York City Mayor) Rudy Giuliani do it quickly. Literally within a matter of weeks."
Former Florida U.S. Rep. Allen West, a Bongino supporter, said the former police officer became "disturbed" by some of the things he saw while working under President Barack Obama that prompted him to run for office.
"Dan Bongino is a true American hero," West said, according to the Sunshine State News. "He put his life on the line to protect two presidents, and I have no doubt he'll guard our conservative values and the Constitution with the same valor."
Bongino's latest book "The Fight: A Secret Service Agent's Inside Account of Security Failings and the Political Machine" was released in January.
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