Representative Joel Rudman Contact information

Joel Rudman is an American politician and physician who currently serves as a state representative for the 3rd district in the Florida House of Representatives. He was born on March 5, 1970, in Brookhaven, Mississippi, U.S. He is a member of the Republican Party and resides in Navarre, his legislative district’s largest community.

Education: Joel Rudman received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and his MD from the University of Mississippi. He also studied at Tulane University and the University of Wales.

Career: In addition to being a state representative, Rudman is also a Board Certified family physician. He operates a local medical clinic called Holley Navarre Medical Clinic. He also worked for 13 years as a NASCAR staff physician at Daytona International Speedway.

Florida House of Representatives: Rudman was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2022. He ran for office after being accused by the American Board of Family Medicine of “denigrating (their) vaccine efforts”.

Committees: Rudman is a member of several committees including the Commerce Committee, Insurance & Banking Subcommittee, Healthcare Regulation Subcommittee, Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee, and Postsecondary Education & Workforce Subcommittee.

Political positions: Rudman has been transparent about being vaccinated against COVID while arguing against vaccine mandates and against masking mandates. He has also criticized the closing of businesses and lockdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. His campaign website attests that closing of religious spaces for public health purposes is an infraction against the “freedom to worship as you choose.”

In 2023, Representative Rudman became the first Republican legislator to publicly support the idea of Medicaid expansion in Florida. He supports “unfettered Second Amendment rights” on his campaign website. In 2023, he sponsored a bill repealing the statute that allowed unlimited time for background checks in Florida.

Rudman is supportive of incorporating the unincorporated community of Navarre in Santa Rosa County. He believes that swifter use of the death penalty and funding of asylums would improve public safety.