Politics
Nicole Crosby’s District 2 recruit lives in District 5 — and his household is suing the county he wants to help run
Where does Nicole Crosby find these candidates?
Since the Blue Wave Democrat behind the Facebook page roiling St. Johns County politics went full time running Republican campaigns, her Fight for St. Johns County operation has backed a variety of candidates. Her most recent acquisition, Martin Pyszczymuka, is a grassroots stretch even for her.
The first thing that jumps off the page is that he doesn’t live in the district he’s running for. Pyszczymuka is seeking southwest St. Johns County’s District 2 seat — which runs from Shearwater and SilverLeaf down to Hastings — from his home in Beachwalk, in District 5. He landed there about four years ago after relocating from the deep-blue state of Hawaii.
Jacksonville Today’s Noah Hertz reports that Pyszczymuka did not live within District 2 when he filed and says he is in the process of moving there. His financial disclosures show a second Beachwalk home he rents out, and his campaign bio says he owns an out-of-state business installing drywall and ceilings for commercial projects.
An interesting line of work for the candidate Hertz identifies as taking the hardest line against growth in the race.
You might ask why the retired FBI agent and former Rutgers defensive lineman — St. Johns Citizen’s Selim Algar has the résumé — didn’t wait until 2028 and run at home in District 5, having lived in St. Johns County barely four years before stepping forward for county office.
Part of the answer is that Commissioner Ann Taylor already holds District 5 and already votes Crosby’s agenda, which left Crosby needing a candidate for District 2 with no homegrown option in sight. The rest of the answer is on the court docket.
District 2 is the seat Crosby has been pining after for years, the one held by her social media archrival Sarah Arnold. The Fight for St. Johns page attacked Arnold relentlessly, mostly variations on the claim that she is controlled by landowners and developers, along with the occasional audit of her handbag collection.
Crosby won’t get the head-to-head she wanted. Arnold is not seeking re-election and faces two misdemeanor counts over a fake voter guide, to which she has pleaded not guilty. That leaves four Republicans in the Aug. 18 Primary, three of whom lived in the district when they filed.
Pyszczymuka first appeared on the county government’s radar with a bone to pick. On March 18, 2025, he spoke during public comment at the County Commission for the first time, per the official minutes, criticizing the investigation, retaliation and hostile work environment he said his spouse faced as a county employee. Crosby spoke at the same meeting, going after the law firm hired to conduct the investigation.
His spouse, a former supervisor in the county’s Growth Management Services Department, was escorted out of the building in February 2025, kept on administrative leave and fired that April. In October 2025, she sued St. Johns County under the Florida Whistleblower Act, alleging she was punished for reporting a sexual harassment complaint up the chain, News4JAX’s Ariel Schiller reported.
Her complaint leans in part on the Commissioners themselves. General Allegation 23 cites the Board’s Feb. 4, 2025 call for an investigation into her retaliation complaints. That was the meeting where, per the minutes, Commissioner Krista Joseph asked the Board to authorize an independent investigation by an outside firm, and the County Attorney committed to engaging the county’s labor attorney and reporting back.
The plaintiff’s attorneys now use that call from the dais to cast doubt on the county’s handling of the termination.
None of that stopped Joseph and Taylor, two sitting members of the governing board of the county Pyszczymuka’s spouse is suing, from endorsing him within weeks of his announcement.
“We’ve never had a clearer opportunity to shift the control of our county over to residents,” Taylor’s endorsement read on Crosby’s page. The endorsements landed Feb. 25 and 26, with more than 100 days still remaining before candidate qualifying closed.
Then there’s the calendar. The court has set the case for trial during the two weeks beginning May 17, 2027, with pretrial mediation ahead of it in September. Had Pyszczymuka waited to run at home in 2028, the litigation his household stands to benefit from financially would be resolved before he ever took an oath.
Seated in District 2 this November, he would instead spend the entire run-up to trial as one of five votes overseeing the defendant, alongside Crosby allies Joseph and Taylor. Three votes on a five-member commission could find many different avenues to affect the outcome.
Pyszczymuka’s campaign website lists his values as “Integrity Leadership Faith.” I like how Crosby threads the needle there. He isn’t affirmatively claiming to have integrity, just listing it.
The litigation grinds on in the meantime. And in case you were wondering, St. Johns County taxpayers are funding the cost of defending against it.
___
Ed. note: This story was drafted with assistance from AI. Editorial judgment, sourcing, and final review were performed by Peter Schorsch and the Florida Politics editorial team.
The post Nicole Crosby’s District 2 recruit lives in District 5 — and his household is suing the county he wants to help run appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..