Ricky Knoles

Ricky Knoles (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Florida's 4th Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on August 18, 2026.^[source]

Knoles completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Ricky Knoles was born in Lemoore, California. He served in the U.S. Army from 1996 to 1999. He earned a bachelor's degree from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale in 2005. His career experience includes working as an English teacher and video editor.^[1]

Elections

2026

Florida's 4th Congressional District election, 2026 (August 18 Democratic primary)

Florida's 4th Congressional District election, 2026 (August 18 Republican primary)

General election

The primary will occur on August 18, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. Additional general election candidates will be added here following the primary.

General election for U.S. House Florida District 4

Ronald Sherard and Todd Schaefer are running in the general election for U.S. House Florida District 4 on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Ronald Sherard (No Party Affiliation)
	Submit photo	Todd Schaefer (Unaffiliated)

	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 4

Michael Kirwan, Ricky Knoles, and Brittney Robinson are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 4 on August 18, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Michael Kirwan
		Ricky Knoles
		Brittney Robinson

	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 4

Incumbent Aaron Bean and Anthony Valerio are running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 4 on August 18, 2026.

		Candidate
		Aaron Bean
	Submit photo	Anthony Valerio

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.

2024

Nonpartisan primary election

The primary election was canceled. Beth Clark (Nonpartisan) won the election without appearing on the ballot.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Ricky Knoles (Nonpartisan)

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Knoles in this election.

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

Ricky Knoles completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Knoles' responses.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm a veteran. I served in the military for 3 years. I worked as a teacher for 14 years. I also worked Sheriff deputy for 6 months. I have been married for over 7 years and have two children.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Reform Social Security
Universal healthcare for children
Better care for veterans

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Corruption in politics

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I looked up to my grandparents. My grandfather was on disability but always was able to work hard, My grandmother was a waitress and we knew how to stretch a dollar in order to feed the family. They both show me that it doesn't matter if you have money that if you work hard you can have the life you want. They also taught me that you shouldn't neglect what you have in life.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Trustworthy, caring, and decisive.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Core responsibilities is to be loyal to the voters. You shouldn't represent a party, you shouldn't represent the president, you should always represent the voters first.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I would like to leave a legacy that I helped the people of America. I don't care if they remember my name but instead the policies that I passed in order to make America greater than what it was when I was young.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

First major political event that I remember is when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and I was 13 years old. I had to do a report on how and why the Berlin Wall fell. It gave me a sense that people can really make changes over politicians that do not want to help the people. It showed me the power that the people have if we all unite together.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My very first job was at Hardee's in Virginia Beach and I worked there for about 2 years. I started a job when I turned 16 years old. It taught me how to be responsible when you work in a job.

What is your favorite book? Why?

One of my favorite books is the Thin Man by Samuel Dashiell Hammett. My grandfather first showed me the movie and I loved it so much that I wanted to read the book.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

If I could be a fictional character I would like to be Spider-Man. Because like Spider-Man's Uncle Ben said with great power comes great responsibility. A lot of congressmans have great power, but they don't want to take responsibility for their actions or their policies.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

The thing I struggle about in my life is that I always want to achieve higher than what I did previously. The struggle is to accept things that is out of your hand and learn how to live with it and accept it.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

If the US House of Representative is working correctly, it should represent everybody in each state. However, we don't have that working right now. It sees more like red States versus blue States instead of the United States.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

No, I don't think you should have previous experience in garment in order to be an effective congressman. All you need is the desire to make America great and rely on smart people around you to guide you on this journey. We have seen in the past. There are plenty of people who don't have political experience but only have money to buy their position.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

The greatest challenge is to unite the American people and stop making us being separate by our political party.

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

No, I think House of Representatives should be 3 years because 2 years seem so short and once you get elected you're already campaigning for the next year and are able to concentrate on the issues at hand that affects your state and your country. Each term should be 3 years but limited to 3 terms for a total of 9 years.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

Us House of Representative should have a term limit of 9 years, US Senate should have tern limit of 12 years.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

No, I believe that we can learn from all previous politicians. We learn from their achievements and we learn from their mistakes. And if we try hard enough, we won't make the same mistakes of the past.

Both sitting representatives and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

I hear many stories how people are worried about social security and how the payments each month won't be enough to sustain them when they retire at age 67. With growing costs of health Care, cost of living and if you don't own your own home renting. Most people who are on retirement have to collect Social Security and work a job in their golden years. They tell me they don't like living on Social Security paycheck to paycheck.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Yes, everything is a compromise if you have a two-party system. However, when parties are more interested in there agendas over the agenda of the American people, then compromise has to be vital for the United States to work.

The Constitution says that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House. What role would this power play in your priorities if elected?

I believe that if a bill doesn't truly represent the American people, we shouldn't raise revenue for that program. The problem with raising revenue in Congress is a lot of representatives. Don't want to represent the people but rather represent big companies and themselves.

How should the U.S. House use its investigative powers?

When people are brought in front of Congress, there should be more consequences if they lie under investigation. If someone does not want to answer the question, they should be removed from their position.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

None

Candidates hear many personal stories from voters. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching or memorable?

I've heard stories from parents that their greatest concern is the safety of the children in school. When I went to school in the '80s, parents never had to worry about their kids being shot, but now it seems it's become more of a reality and a norm to expect mass shootings at schools. We always say that we want to put children first and yet we always put them last.

What is an accomplishment that you are proud of?

My greatest accomplishment is having my two children and being married to my wife. Because even if I'm not remembered by anybody else, they will always remember me finally.

What role should the United States government have in the development or use of artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence is the future, but we need to learn how to regulate it so people cannot abuse it or abuse the voters in America. It will take strict guidelines from both parties to agree on how to use AI in government official capacity. We can't stop the future of AI, but we can make sure it benefits the people of the United States.

What legislation would you enact related to election administration in the United States?

I believe legislation for election administration has to be consistent among all 50 states. We have to make sure that the districts represent the real people living there. I also believe that if you were running for anything you have to live within that District, not just own a home.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2024

Ricky Knoles did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Ricky Knoles campaign contribution history
Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2026*	U.S. House Florida District 4	Candidacy Declared primary	$5,020	$4,792
Grand total			$5,020	$4,792
Sources: OpenSecrets, Federal Election Commission *This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

External links

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Candidate

U.S. House Florida District 4

Footnotes

↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 24, 2025

[show]

Florida's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Ashley Moody (R)

Rick Scott (R)

Representatives

District 1

Jimmy Patronis (R)

District 2

Neal Dunn (R)

District 3

Kat Cammack (R)

District 4

Aaron Bean (R)

District 5

John Rutherford (R)

District 6

Randy Fine (R)

District 7

Cory Mills (R)

District 8

Mike Haridopolos (R)

District 9

Darren Soto (D)

District 10

Maxwell Frost (D)

District 11

Daniel Webster (R)

District 12

Gus Bilirakis (R)

District 13

Anna Luna (R)

District 14

Kathy Castor (D)

District 15

Laurel Lee (R)

District 16

Vern Buchanan (R)

District 17

Greg Steube (R)

District 18

Scott Franklin (R)

District 19

Byron Donalds (R)

District 20

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D)

District 21

Brian Mast (R)

District 22

Lois Frankel (D)

District 23

Jared Moskowitz (D)

District 24

Frederica Wilson (D)

District 25

Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D)

District 26

Mario Diaz-Balart (R)

District 27

Maria Elvira Salazar (R)

District 28

Carlos Gimenez (R)

Republican Party (22)

Democratic Party (8)

[1] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 24, 2025

[1]

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Ricky Knoles

Contents

Biography

Elections

2026

General election

General election for U.S. House Florida District 4

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Florida District 4

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Florida District 4

Endorsements

2024

Nonpartisan primary election

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Endorsements

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

2024

Campaign finance summary

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2026 Elections

2025 Elections

Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

Services

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