Florida congressional race: Retired Army Brig. Gen. Leela Gray challenges Rep. Anna Paulina Luna
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - As usual, the race for control of Congress is running through the Tampa Bay region.
Florida 13th Congressional District race
What we know:
One of the seats Democrats are targeting is in the northern half of St. Petersburg and held by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna.
Retired Army Brig. Gen. Leela Gray is the Democratic nominee.
"I've been retired eight years and I never aspired to be in politics, but I've always aspired [to] serve," Gray said.
The former Army communications officer who battled terrorist propaganda is now hunting for votes in a race against the three-term incumbent.
"It is almost unconscionable to me that we have people that are telling me to my face that they can't survive," Gray said. "They feel forgotten."
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna district challenge
By the numbers:
But for Gray, Florida's 13th Congressional District is an uphill battle.
Not only did Luna win it by 10 percentage points last time, but the district was redrawn by Florida Republicans to be another 1.5 points in their direction, creating a Trump +13 percentage-point margin based on the 2024 vote.
Luna has largely backed the Trump administration.
"The piece of legislation that I'm happiest to have voted on was the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ because of the tax impacts that it had," Luna said.
But Luna has gotten sizable media coverage for her efforts to investigate supposed UFO encounters, ban congressional stock trading and to punish members who commit sexual harassment.
"We just had a member of Congress literally sexually harass a woman that lit herself on fire, and you guys all protected him," Luna said during a recent hearing.
But Gray criticized the Big Beautiful Bill for its impact on Medicaid and SNAP, and says Luna has backed U.S. military action in Iran, which has raised gas prices and Trump's tariffs.
Economic policies and debate challenge
What they're saying:
Gray is challenging Luna to a debate on TV.
"I think that's really important for our constituents to hear both of us talk about the problems," Gray said.
Gray has released an internal poll that showed her leading in the race by five points.
But Luna responded on X, posting a screenshot of her 2024 opponent making a similar claim with the caption, "Lol where have I seen this before? Election year, same **. She is down over eight points."
Congressional handicapper Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia says the race seems to lean Luna, so far.
"I still think that Republicans are favored in this seat, but it is kind of an interesting one to watch down the stretch," Kondik said.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from candidate statements by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and Democratic nominee Leela Gray, public campaign postings on X and political analysis from Kyle Kondik at the University of Virginia.