About
Never give up on our people
Marine. Teacher. Lifelong Volusia. American, Conservative candidate for Florida’s 6th Congressional District (FL-6). People first — because both parties have failed them.
Who I am
Michael L. Gist
I am a veteran of the Marine Corps, a former public school teacher, and a lifelong resident of Volusia County, running as an American, Conservative for Congress in Florida’s 6th District.
My family has lived, worked, and served here for over 100 years. I look up to my grandparents — particularly my grandmother, Bernice Anderson Gist. She taught our family to invest in people and place, not just chase personal comfort or elite circles.
I am running as an American because both parties have failed the PEOPLE. Parties are too often about elites, not the people. I’m about the PEOPLE and representing us authentically.
I told my former students I would never give up on them. My mother taught me the same. Running for Congress is me keeping that promise to my family and to every family in our district.
From different backgrounds we forge one — united in the endless pursuit of FREEDOM.
E Pluribus Unum · My vision
A century here
Bernice Anderson Gist came home to Ormond Beach
100 years
This community is home
The Gist family has lived, worked, and served in Volusia County for over a century. This is not a district Michael discovered on a map.
1939
Bernice Anderson Gist
His grandmother worked for the Bouvier family in New York, helping care for a young Jacqueline Bouvier — later Jacqueline Kennedy. She received a glowing recommendation. She could have stayed in the comforts of Long Island. She chose to return to Ormond Beach, even though the community was segregated, because she believed in its potential and wanted to raise her family here. Invest in people and place — not elite circles.
1996–2013
United States Marine Corps
Fourteen years of military service in the Marine Corps Reserve. The lesson from service: parties protect themselves. The people come last — unless someone makes them first.
Teacher
Never give up on our people
Years as a public school teacher. He told his students he would never give up on them. His mother taught him the same. Running for Congress is keeping that promise.
2026
On the ballot — November 3
Qualified as No Party Affiliation for Florida’s 6th Congressional District. Day one in Congress: introduce the Freedom Accounts Act of 2027.