Michele Rayner will run for Florida Senate in 2026

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A Florida state rep talking inside a radio studio
Rep. Michele Rayner-Goolsby inside the WMNF studio in Tampa, Florida on July 21, 2023. / Photo by Ben Montgomery

©2024 The News Service of Florida

Weeks after her reelection to the Florida House, state Rep. Michele Rayner announced she will run for the state Senate in 2026.

Rayner, a St. Petersburg Democrat elected to the House in 2022, is seeking to succeed Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, who will leave Senate District 16 in 2026 due to term limits.

The district is made up of parts of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. Rayner, an attorney, announced her candidacy in a social media post on Monday, pledging to “continue to hold members of the majority party, state and federal government accountable to Florida families, bring resources back to our community, and fight for every Floridian.”

Republicans hold a 85-35 supermajority in the state House, and the GOP also has a supermajority in the Senate.

“I know right now we need leaders who will work to bring our communities together instead of leaders who are fighting for a radical agenda by dividing us,” Rayner posted on X.

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