Ges Selmont, a Democratic candidate for Congress in Florida’s 4th District and a Ponte Vedra Beach resident, hosted a fundraising concert last Wednesday, Oct. 17 at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.
Attended by approximately 30 people, the event featured performances by Nashville country music recording artist and entertainer Trey Taylor, local band Ample Angst and others. Selmont referred to the event as a unity concert and an opportunity for people of different ideologies to enjoy a night of music together.
“It really is just an opportunity to try to give back and open up the doors of the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall to everybody and have a nice, unifying night before we go into three weeks of fighting toward Nov. 6 and what’s probably going to be a lot of acrimony … across the country as we come down to these last couple weeks of the election,” said Selmont, who is challenging Rep. John Rutherford, the incumbent and former sheriff of Duval County, for the seat. “We just wanted to kick it off with something nice and positive.”
Selmont noted that the Florida Democratic Party has previously written off certain parts of the state, but this year is working in every county, including St. Johns County, to win votes.
Lisa King, the chair of the Duval County Democratic Executive Committee and a Ponte Vedra Beach native, attended the fundraiser and said Selmont brings a certain level of activism and professionalism that hasn’t been seen from a Democratic leader in the area in a long time.
“That’s really important to a lot of Democrats because, there are Democrats everywhere,” King said. “There are more Democrats than people realize in St. Johns County and they want to feel represented and heard and be able to out and loud and proud.”
