Bilirakis urges turnout, outlines policy priorities at Timber Pines meeting

Gus Bilirakis turned a Spring Hill club meeting into a blunt pitch for turnout, telling members of the Republican Club of Timber Pines that the battle for the House could come down to “30 or 35 marginal seats.” In Timber Pines, the message landed less like a party speech than a warning that local voters in places such as Hernando County still matter in a national fight.

Bilirakis, who represents Florida’s 12th Congressional District, said Republicans needed to keep organizing neighborhood by neighborhood if they wanted to stay competitive. He linked that argument to a familiar conservative appeal to unity, invoking Ronald Reagan’s idea that people can disagree often and still remain friends. He also pointed to the last time Republicans held the House majority while also controlling the White House, saying that was in 2002.

Beyond turnout, Bilirakis outlined the policy issues he said he was working on in Washington. Those included legislation on name, image and likeness rules for college athletes, keeping AM radio available in cars, and eliminating taxes on Social Security. For many Spring Hill and Timber Pines residents, those are not abstract talking points. Social Security checks help pay monthly bills in a retiree-heavy area, while AM radio still matters during storms, power outages and other emergencies when cell service can fail.

He also made the case for the Major Richard Star Act, which would let certain disabled veterans receive both veterans’ disability compensation and retired pay for combat-related injuries. H.R. 2102 was introduced in the 119th Congress on March 14, 2025, and Congress.gov listed 313 cosponsors. The Congressional Budget Office estimate cited by Stars and Stripes put the bill’s 10-year cost at $9.75 billion. Bilirakis’s House biography says he serves as a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and chairs the Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee, assignments that fit his push on communications and technology issues.

Jeff Holcomb closed out the meeting and shifted the focus to Tallahassee, where he said the volume of filed bills shows how much work still moves through the Florida House. His sponsored measures for the 2026 session included HJR 27 on term limits for county commissioners and school board members, HB 29 on the sale and purchase of ivermectin, HJR 67, HB 69 and HB 71 on homestead property taxes, and HB 451 on mental or nervous injuries suffered by 911 public safety telecommunicators.

The Republican Club of Timber Pines says it exists to support Republican candidates and inform residents on local, state and national issues, and the evening reflected that role. In a county where retirees, veterans and emergency-response workers all feel state and federal policy in daily life, the meeting tied campaign rhetoric to decisions that could shape Hernando County’s taxes, services and disaster readiness.