# Mike Beltran > [!note] Stub > This is a short entry that hasn't been fully written yet. **Mike Beltran** is a Republican attorney and former Florida state representative from the Tampa area who is running in 2026 for Florida's 14th Congressional District against Democratic Rep. [[Kathy Castor]]. The race is covered at [[FL-14-2026]]. Beltran was born in New York City and practices law in the Tampa Bay area. He served in the Florida House from 2018 to 2024, representing parts of eastern and southern Hillsborough County (and, in his last term, part of Manatee County), and did not seek a fourth term in 2024, saying his growing law practice made public service difficult. In the Legislature he sponsored a safe-haven law that lets parents surrender infants to hospital staff, and in 2023 he filed an amendment to allow open carry of firearms, then withdrew it. He supports a full ban on abortion. He won an eight-candidate Republican primary on August 18, 2026, with 45.6 percent of the vote, ahead of former state Rep. Kevin Steele with 30.2 percent. Federal Election Commission reports show he has lent his campaign about $2 million of his own money. After the primary he removed several mentions of [[Donald Trump]] from his campaign website. The [[Freedom Caucus Fund]], the House Freedom Caucus's election committee, reported about $584,000 in September advertising supporting him. ## Connections - [[FL-14-2026]] · [[Kathy Castor]] · [[Donald Trump]] - [[Freedom Caucus Fund]] · [[House Freedom Caucus]]