Local Democrat Whitney Fox is running for U.S. Congress in Pinellas County’s District 13, against Republican Anna Paulina Luna. Luna is currently in her first term in Congress. Fox won her crowded five-way primary handily, by 60% of the vote and, according to the Cook Political Report, a respected political analyst, the District 13 race is “competitive,” albeit still a “likely lean Republican” district. Fox charges that Luna has done nothing for the people of Pinellas County in her time in Congress, instead, identifying herself with the group of Congressional chaos agents like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Bobert, and Matt Gaetz, desperately seeking attention while accomplishing nothing that serves the interests of her constituents. Fox has benefited from some highly positive press during her run, including a profile piece in the New York Times in September that significantly increased her fundraising.
Democrat Pat Kemp is term-limited out of her current countywide seat on the Hillsborough County Commission where she has served for 8 years. She is now running for the newly created U.S. House District 15, a brand-new district that emerged from the redistricting of Florida in 2022, created due to Florida’s population growth over the last ten years. The sprawling new District now encompasses Northeast Hillsborough County including Lutz, Carrollwood, Temple Terrace, and Plant City, along with parts of Pasco and Polk Counties including Zephyrhills and West Lakeland. Sixty-two percent of the District is in Hillsborough County where Kemp has previously been on the ballot 5 times and has good name recognition there. According to Kemp, the precincts that now comprise this District voted for Trump in 2020 by the lowest margins in Florida, so she is encouraged that this newly created District is competitive and that a Democrat has a good chance to prevail against Republican Laurel Lee, a former Judge and DeSantis’ former Secretary of State. According to Kemp, Rep. Lee in her first term has established herself as just as radical a right-wing conservative Republican as Luna, she’s just quieter about it.
Both Democratic candidates urged voters to remember that each of their Republican opponents voted to defund the government and voted to defund FEMA in the days leading up to the recent hurricanes after the hurricanes were forecasted. Both Republican opponents are also against climate change legislation that might mitigate the effects of more and greater hurricanes on Florida. Both Republicans have resisted legislation addressing the affordability crisis in Florida and around the U.S. But, perhaps the biggest issue that the Democrats have challenged the Republicans on in Florida is the issue of abortion and assisted fertility measures, like IVF. It is an issue that the voters of these two Districts care very deeply about and one where there is a clear divide between the Republicans and Democrats. Both candidates Fox and Kemp hope that the presence of Amendment 4 on this ballot in this election cycle will bring out voters who will be motivated to vote for Democrats.
Republicans Laurel Lee and Anna Paulina Luna were invited to join us on the show but neither responded to the invitation. We are less than one week away from the end of the election. If you have not yet voted, get out and vote!
You can listen to the entire show on demand from our archives here, or from the WMNF app, or as a WMNF MidPoint podcast from your favorite podcast purveyor.
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