Will Furry, a Realtor serving his first term on the Flagler County School Board, revealed his intention to run for Congress less than two weeks after Palm Coast City Council member Charles Gambaro announced his intention to challenge incumbent Randy Fine.
Up to the conclusion of his term in November, Furry will remain a member of the School Board. He is unable to run for two seats. He would be one of several Republicans running against Fine in the August 18, 2026, primary, which would determine his fate.
Another obvious sign that our current representative in Congress is failing to address the demands of the people living in District 6 is the admission of another contender into the congressional campaign, Gambaro stated today. I anticipate a vigorous campaign.
At least two board seats are now available as a result of Furry’s decision: his District 2 seat and the District 1 seat, which is presently occupied by Derek Barrs, a DeSantis appointee who will shortly be replaced by another gubernatorial appointee when Barrs accepts a position in the Trump administration. In that election, Christy Chong’s seat in District 4 is also up for grabs. Chong has not indicated if she plans to run again.
Furry won the seat in 2022 after defeating Lance Alred and Courtney Vande Bunte. Today, Vande Bunte declared she would not be standing for office in 2026. Alred, a member of the East Flagler Mosquito Control District board who was elected, stated that he is now unsure.
To date, three Republicans—excluding Fine, Gambaro, and Furry—have submitted applications to run for the congressional seat. (Until they begin accepting campaign contributions, candidates are exempt from filing qualifying documents.) Given that Fine’s divisive and inflammatory remarks have angered Republican ranks and exposed his seat to contest, it is possible that others may file still. Furry’s seat is vulnerable because of his own rocky tenure. Avoiding defeat in a school board race might be accomplished by running for Congress on a platform of low expectations.
In keeping with an evangelical but incorrect interpretation of the separation of church and state, Furry, who has never been known for his political savvy or insights, framed his upcoming campaign in the standard talking points of hard-right candidates, some of which are still more appropriate for a school board race than a federal one: cut taxes, cut wasteful spending, support vouchers, support parental choice, support Trump and a strong border, and especially glory in faith. According to my interpretation of the Constitution, separation serves to safeguard the church from the state rather than the other way around, he stated. And I believe that everyone experiences a time in their lives when they truly witness God accomplish something significant.
Furry seems to be that huge thing. In a statement, he identified himself as an America First supporter of President Donald J. Trump and a MAGA Republican. Furry claimed that God had called him to run in an interview with GOP operative Janearlyn Dennies’ weekly infomercial on WNZF.
He s calling me to bring representation to the district that I live in, that I currently serve in, and have actually produced results for, and I can take that wisdom to Washington, D.C., with me, Furry said. This weekend, the interview will air. Rich Carroll of WNZF broke the news first.)
Furry stated, “I’m willing to do that for my community, even though it’s a heavy lift for me and my family and everything else.” I appealed to God, “Listen, shut the doors if you don’t want me to do this.” Now just shut them down. But the doors continued to open as I entered. People began to swarm me. Support started to grow, and then, you know, here we are today, announcing that I m running for the United States Congress.
Fine said earlier this yearhe decided to run to help President Trump save the world: God saved his life so that he could save the world, and since he says he needs my help to make that happen, then that s what I m going to do.
Just as Amy Carter had advised her father on nuclear policy, Furry s youngest son influenced him on running for Congress: I asked him, I said, so how do you feel about this? Furry said. You know this will cause me to be very busy, and, you know, be out of town for periods of time to serve our country. And he thought about it for a minute and pondered, and he said, Well, I get to meet Donald Trump. And I said, Well, I ll do everything I can.
Like Gambaro, Furry is critical of Fine and his general foreignness to the 6th Congressional District, where Fine has never lived.
We have somebody who kind of snuck into Congress during a special election, Furry said of the congressman. I don t really look at him as an incumbent. He s more of a placeholder and wasn t properly vetted by the electorate.
Ten minutes into the interview, Denny asked Furry the first issue-related question: what would he do about the national debt? The question seemed to take him by surprise. We have to cut all this wasteful spending, he said, pass, you know, a budget, a balanced budget amendment, and stop borrowing from our grandchildren s futures. He didn t say how. Denny didn t ask him.
Furry claimed he was doging before doging was actually a thing here, a reference to the acronym for the so-called department of government efficiency started by the Trump administration and cloned in redder states like Florida. Furry implied that he d cut spending at the school district.
The previous administration had spent our reserves down to a dangerous level where, when I had our first budget meeting, they had said that we were one percentage point away from the state coming in and taking over our books, he said. That s how bad our finances were when I took over the school board. But then in just two years, we restored that reserve from around $3, a little over $3 million, to over just about $9 million.
Furry was fabricating. The district s reserves never fell to $3 million. The last budget on the previous administration s watch, in July 2022, hada $6.5 million reserve. Furry was seated that November. In his first budget, for the 2023-24 fiscal year, eight months into his tenure, the reservehad fallen to $6 million. It was$9 million this July, buttressed by the last of the Covid-recovery funds made possible by the Biden administration s lavishing of aid dollars on local governments.It is projected to fall backto $7.6 million by year s end as the district contends withdropping enrollment and school voucherssiphoning of district dollars to subsidize private education.
Furrychampions the syphoning.
Parental rights and school choice are two big things right now that are what Florida s modeling for the rest of the country, Furry said. And I think that we are a template. And I believe that I was on the front lines of implementing these policies right here at the local level. And I know I m ready to bring them to Washington, DC as well.
