Assumed congressional office in 2017. Former Career: U.S. Army Soldier. Education: Harvard Extension School. Currently resides in Hutchinson Island. Brian Mast serves as the Republican U.S. representative for Florida’s 18th congressional district. Mast was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His maternal grandparents were immigrants from Mexico. After graduating from High School in 1999, Mast enlisted in the United States Army Reserve and later transitioned to the active U.S. Army, becoming an explosive ordnance disposal technician. He served in Afghanistan and on September, 2010, Mast took a wrong step into an IED along the road. The explosion resulted in the amputation of both his legs and one of his fingers. Mast first considered running for office while recovering from his injuries at Walter Reed Medical Center in 2015. In 2016, he obtained an A.L.B. from the Harvard Extension School, where he studied economics, with minors in government and environmental studies. Mast won the 2016, general election with 53% of the vote. After voting in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, his constituents rated him at a 40 percent approval rating and 45 percent said they were disappointed with his work in Congress. Although a supporter of the Second Amendment, Mast supports a ban on assault weapons in the United States, citing his military background—"I cannot support the primary weapon I used to defend our people being used to kill the children I swore to defend." Mast rejects the idea that the Second Amendment protects the rights of civilians to bear "any and all" arms. He voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and pass the American Health Care Act. In October 2017, Mast said he would support a Republican proposal to cut U.S. funding to the United Nations.