PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — At a party celebrating his landslide victory before fellow Republicans, sheriff's nominee Richard Del Toro spoke to an applauding crowd.
"As you can tell I'm a little fired up right now," said Del Toro, before he spoke to me about the November election and his Democratic opponent Steven Giordano.
"I think our challenger needs to think long and hard if he wants to stay in this race," he said. "The people I'm running against really don't qualify to be a chief of police let alone a sheriff. We're really not going to back down from anybody."
"I have no comment on anybody else," countered Giordano, telling me he's ready to be sheriff with experience as a former nuclear plant security officer, and former corrections officer in the St. Lucie County Jail.
WATCH: Richard Del Toro claims victory in Republican primary
I asked Giordano why he switched parties and why this former registered Republican chose to be a Democrat.
"Because politics don't matter to me," said Giordano. "I'm people over politics. Steven Giordano's here to help the people help the community."
I asked why he didn't run as an independent if it's not about politics.
"You probably never win to be honest with you," Giordano added. "People vote party lines."
WATCH: Steven Giordano explains to WPTV why he changed parties
I also pressed Giordano about his fundraising, considering Del Toro claims to have raised more than $600,000 just for the primary.
I looked into Giordano's campaign finance records, and found he raised $239,000 but $227,000 was his own money.
He told me he recently withdrew that money from his campaign because it doesn't accrue interest.
"I feed my account as it needs to go and it's not about money, it's about the people and what we can do as each candidate," Giordano added.
As a candidate, Giordano said the campaign will show he can compete with Del Toro, who is fresh from a decisive primary win.
