Candidate · November 3, 2026

Todd Schaefer

On the ballot for U.S. House · Florida's 4th District

No Party AffiliationChallenger
issues with public statements
10

§1On the ballot

Why this matters: This is exactly how the candidate appears on your ballot, from the state's official candidate list.

OfficeU.S. House · Florida's 4th District1,2,3
Party on the ballotNo Party Affiliation1,2,4
StatusChallenger
Also on the ballot

§2Who they are

Why this matters: Background and experience help you judge how someone might do the job. These come from public records and the candidate's own materials.

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Todd Schaefer grew up in Anderson, Indiana, and graduated from Highland High School.5,6 He joined the Navy in 1998, qualified as a nuclear reactor operator, served aboard the USS Topeka, USS Pasadena, USS Ohio and USS Tennessee, and retired in 2018 from NRMD Kings Bay.5 He moved to Fernandina Beach in 2014 and began working as a real estate agent shortly before retiring from the Navy.5

Why they say they're running

His campaign website says he is running as an independent because the two-party system has failed working Americans and big-money interests control both parties.7 It says he feels his service to the country is not finished and that voters deserve to be heard over the money that buys politicians in both parties.5

Websites and accounts

§3What they've said on the issues

Why this matters: These are positions the candidate has stated publicly — on their campaign website or in public statements — summarized in plain words with a link to where they said it. Issues they haven't spoken about publicly are left out.

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Each issue has its own range of views. A position is marked on that range only when the candidate's own statement clearly matches one option; there is no overall left–right score.

Health Care

His campaign website says a single-payer system would save up to $650 billion a year and that there should be no profit motive in health care, and it argues for universal health care.8,9

  1. One government plan for everyone (Medicare for All)
  2. Add a government plan that anyone can choose to buy
  3. Keep the current mix of private and public coverage, including the ACA
  4. Fewer federal insurance rules and more private plan choices, with aid paid to individuals
Marked: the option their statement matches.

Elections and Government Reform

His campaign website says he would cosponsor the Abolish Super PACs Act, which it says would restore $5,000-a-year contribution limits for super PACs, along with stronger disclosure rules and limits on coordination, and says he will never take PAC money.10

  1. Limit spending by outside groups, including by amending the Constitution to overturn Citizens United
  2. Keep spending unlimited but require groups to name their major donors
  3. Keep current rules
  4. Raise or remove limits on donations to candidates and parties
Marked: the option their statement matches.

His campaign website says he will support any effort to bring ranked-choice voting to voters, while noting that it is decided at the state level.8

  1. Use ranked-choice voting in more elections
  2. Let each state or city decide
  3. Ban ranked-choice voting
Marked: the option their statement matches.

Housing

His campaign website says institutional investors have driven up local rents and home prices, and that he would close the 1986 depreciation tax break for single-family rentals and, if possible, end investors' use of 30-year mortgages on rental properties.8,11

Economy, Jobs and Trade

His campaign website proposes a Fair Minimum Wage Act under which the federal minimum wage would rise each year with the cost-of-living formula used for Social Security and be adjusted by region using military housing allowance data.8,12

His campaign website says tariffs should be a last resort to protect American industry and that American consumers are the ones who pay them.13

His campaign website says Florida's right-to-work laws have weakened workers' rights and lowered wages, and that he will fight to strengthen labor rights.14

Courts, Rights and Civil Liberties

His campaign website says technology companies silence diverse voices through shadow banning, algorithms and removals, that limits on speech should come from the law rather than from big tech, and that he will push for protections against these erosions.15

  1. Limit platforms' power to remove or hide lawful posts, for example by tying their legal protection to treating all viewpoints equally
  2. Keep current law, letting platforms set their own rules
  3. Make platforms more legally responsible for harmful content, such as posts their algorithms promote
Marked: the option their statement matches.

Foreign Policy and Defense

His campaign website calls for reducing defense spending through audits, base reductions and moving money to domestic needs.8,16

  1. Increase military spending
  2. Hold it near current levels, adjusted for inflation
  3. Cut military spending
Marked: the option their statement matches.

Family and Social Policy

His campaign website says half of the savings from his proposed American Prosperity Card Act would go to a stronger Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit for working families.17