Costello strongly condemned DeSantis's charges, declaring, "While DeSantis continues to call me a career politician...he travels around campaigning and aligning himself with Washington insiders." Ultimately, Costello placed second to DeSantis, who would later go on to win the general election, receiving 23% of the vote to DeSantis's 39%. When State Representative Dave Hood, Jr. decided to run for a seat on the Volusia County Circuit Court rather than seek re-election, Costello jumped into the race to succeed him in the 25th District, which is based in eastern Volusia County, including Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach Shores, Port Orange, Ponce Inlet, and New Smyrna Beach. Costello won the Republican primary unopposed, and faced Noel Bickford, a retired healthcare executive and the Democratic nominee, in the general election. He campaigned on promoting job creation, increasing protection of the environment, and preserving home rule of local governments, as his work was not done in elected office, declaring, "I never intended to get out of politics. I'm looking forward to going back to work." Costello ended up defeating Bickford by a wide margin, winning 59% of the vote. When Rep. Ron DeSantis decided to run for Marco Rubio's U.S. Senate seat after Sen. Rubio entered the 2016 Presidential race, Fred Costello entered the race to fill DeSantis' seat in Florida's 6th Congressional District. Fred was one of 6 Republican candidates until Sen. Rubio dropped his Presidential bid, and Rep. DeSantis opted to drop out of the Senate race to run for re-election. Costello remained in the race (as promised). G.G. Galloway, an Ormond Beach based realtor also remained in the race with Rep. DeSantis. The incumbent Congressman won 57.73% of the Republican primary vote. Costello won 28.70% and Galloway won 14.57%. When Rep. Ron DeSantis opted to run for Governor of Florida instead of re-election, Fred Costello entered the race for Congress in Florida's 6th Congressional District. He launched his campaign with a series of rallies in Ormond Beach, Palm Coast, St. Johns County, Deltona, and Mount Dora. His opponents in the race initially included Michael G. Waltz, John P. Ward, and Jimmy Johns, all of whom live in Congressional District 4. Fred established a campaign theme: "Fred stands for US" emphasizing years of public elected and volunteer service as a local leader attending to the issues of his constituents in the community.