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Full Text of John Liccione’s Campaign Speech
Candidate: John Liccione Race: U.S. House, Florida District 13 (Democratic Primary) Venue: Greater Pinellas Democratic Club Candidate Forum, Toastmasters,
May 14, 2026 | Clearwater, Florida
My name is John Liccione. I’m an NSA intelligence analyst veteran and a cybersecurity executive, and I recently founded a new cyber company called Ballotir. It’s like Palantir — on the side of the angels. Our slogan — and this is not an advertisement for the company, it’s just what I’m already doing to protect your votes — our slogan is: We make elections tenable.
I’d like to start with a bit of a prayer, from an old bluegrass song.
That devil’s train is long and black. It rides the rail of tears. It’s headed for destruction now with a drunken engineer.
Oh, see the greatness of that crowd that waits beside the track. They’re leaving on that devil’s train And they’re never coming back.
O Lord, please stop that devil’s train before it’s too late.
And teach them how to bow their heads before they seal their fate.
The way to approach an NPA, a Republican — even a MAGA Republican — is like that. Appeal to the core religious values that many of them have abandoned. That’s how we win Pinellas County. That’s how we win District 13. That’s what we have to do to win.
Now I’m going to shift into something closer to a briefing than a political speech, because what I’m actually doing — not just talking about doing — is what I think should be a consideration when you decide who to vote for in this primary
This is a picture of District 16. The fat red line is where it used to be — before May 4th, before DeSantis signed it into law. And that creepy little thinner red line is the red tide that’s crossing two bays, snatching away our South Pinellas County voters and deporting them into District 16 — a district that’s too red for their votes to make a difference if you’re a Democrat.
I call it the Luna Protection Racket. Protecting an incumbent like this is a violation of the Florida Constitution, irrespective of the partisan element of it. If you’re doing this to protect an incumbent the way they’re doing it for Luna — and this is the second time since 2022 — that’s unlawful under that part of the Constitution.
So at 11 o’clock on May 4th, a few hours after DeSantis signed it into law, I filed my Stop the Map lawsuit. I’ve passed some of the briefings out on this: Liccione Files Emergency Lawsuit to Stop DeSantis Voter Protection Racket Double-Cross Gerrymander. Bring our voters home. Leave Pinellas alone. That’s what this is about.
I filed it right here, in the Sixth Circuit Court in Clearwater, in District 13. And it’s sitting on a judge’s desk. His name is Michael Andrews — a Jeb Bush appointee, an institutionalist judge — and he’s been sitting on this lawsuit since noon on May 5th. That’s about seven days now, considering whether to grant an emergency temporary injunction to stop the implementation of this map in our county right now.
There are other lawsuits — statewide lawsuits that Mark Elias’s Democracy Docket has filed up in Tallahassee, and there’s another one. That’s his lawsuit. It’s a shotgun, statewide. Mine is a laser. Mine hands this Jeb-Bush-appointed judge the power to stop the map statewide with the stroke of a pen. And he’s been sitting on it for seven days. So stay tuned.
That’s issue 1A. My number 1B issue is to put kids first, above all else. I’ve declared war on child sex trafficking. That was my first initiative, and it’s up there on my website, johnforpinellas.com. The way we take down this RICO enterprise — in Florida and up in D.C. — is to expose these rings that are exploiting our children, and those who enable them. And Luna is the queen on that one.
So thank you. I appreciate you. Thanks for coming out.
Or via Zelle via John@JohnForPinellas.com
JohnForPinellas.com
Paid for by John Liccione for Pinellas.
