Nearly two decades ago, Mike Klein campaigned across the country with former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, in his 2008 bid for U.S. president.
Kucinich traveled from Ohio to endorse his former campaign manager, who’s now running for a seat in the U.S. Congress to represent Florida’s District 3, which encompasses 12 counties across north-central Florida. When someone like Klein chooses to run, Kucinich said, you show up for them.
On Thursday evening, Kucinich joined the independent candidate on stage at the Hippodrome Theatre to campaign and speak on the state of war and peace in America.
Roughly 40 campaign supporters, Gainesville residents, campaign staff and students gathered in the theater for the “Iran War & Peace” event, which was organized by UF College Independents and Klein’s campaign team.
Over the course of two hours, Klein and Kucinich discussed foreign policy, congressional war powers, money in politics, the path for an independent in Congress and Klein's core values.
“This country is at a historic inflection point,” Kucinich said. “In our heart of hearts, most Americans are independent thinkers; they like to think for themselves … [Klein] will show that it’s possible to get elected without being connected to the political party.”
Throughout the evening, Kucinich discussed his experience in office, including his opposition to invading Iraq in 2003 and his introduction of impeachment articles against former President George W. Bush in 2008.
During the event, Kucinich said members of Congress, regardless of party, should not have allowed the White House to wage undeclared military campaigns abroad without formal congressional declarations.
When Congress unlawfully surrenders the power to wage war to the executive branch, he added, the government is likely to engage in more foreign conflicts.
Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress holds the formal power to declare war, while the president serves as commander-in-chief and directs military operations. However, the last four presidents have expanded executive authority and circumvented formal declarations of war by targeting ambiguities in the Constitution, redefining legal terms and leveraging legislative loopholes.
If elected to Congress, Kucinich said, Klein will act as an important unaligned, independent swing vote in a currently divided House.
“He’s incorruptible," Kucinich said. “Think about what it would mean to have a member of Congress who couldn't be corrupted.”
Klein, a United States Military Academy alumnus and U.S. Army veteran, is running against incumbent Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., and Democratic candidate Seth Harp.
Klein said he’s running for office because he doesn't want Cammack to be his representative. He added his decades of experience managing political campaigns and his background as a Gainesville local makes him a strong candidate.
As an independent candidate, Klein said his bid for office stems from bipartisan dissatisfaction. Voters across party lines share similar frustrations with corruption and unchecked authority in Washington, he added.
“I stopped seeing politics as left and right, and I started seeing it as corrupt and not corrupt,” Klein said. “People are angry across the board. Politics is completely up in the air right now.”
Klein hopes to win the election by appealing to Democrats, Republicans and nonparty voters, he said.
During a Q&A session at the end of the event, one resident asked how a lone independent could make an impact in Congress.
Klein said that by refusing to align with either party, a nonpartisan representative could carry leverage in a divided House, forcing parties to appeal to an independent based on a policy's merits rather than relying on party loyalty.
When asked about his most important core value, Klein said he prioritizes integrity. Even when it's unpopular or uncomfortable, he said, it’s most important to speak the truth.
William Dahlmeier, a 21-year-old UF industrial engineering senior, said Thursday’s event offered him an opportunity to learn more about Klein’s candidacy.
He went into the event knowing little about the candidate, he said, but emerged with admiration for Klein’s position on avoiding foreign intervention and corporate election funding.
“I think that it's a pretty commonly held sentiment among people under 30 that Trump has — and the Republicans have — failed us, but also I think the Democrats are ineffectual and have failed to hold a serious opposition to the Trump regime,” Dahlmeier said.
UF College Independents, which hosted the event alongside Klein’s campaign, is a campus organization that began this fall. Thursday’s event was one of the first hosted by the club.
Olivia Sayani, a 21-year-old UF political science senior and the organization’s president, said the forum and club reflect a growing demand among students for a space for civic engagement.
“A lot of people needed a space to voice their feelings about issues … in a space that wasn't really defined by one of the two major parties, that we could challenge ideas, have critical conversations with one another and learn from one another,” Sayani said.
For Klein, seeing so many young people attend the event reinforced his commitment to his campaign.
“Their enthusiasm and hope feeds back to me,” Klein said, “like I'm doing this for the right reasons.”
Contact Ray Garcia at rgarcia@alligator.org. Follow him on X @raygarciafl.
Ray Garcia is a first-year Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law and Public Relations double major at UF, serving as this fall's K-12 education reporter. This is Ray's first semester at The Alligator. Outside of writing for The Alligator, you can often find him spending time with friends, reading, listening to music, or sidequesting around Gainesville.
