The math creates a tough challenge for any Democrat running. Cook Political Report lists the district as \u201clikely Republican\u201d<\/a> with a 5-point advantage for the GOP. But Fox sees hope that Gray can finish what she started.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen my campaign ended in 2024, I promised myself that when the right candidate came along, I wouldn\u2019t hesitate to endorse her, support her, and share everything I learned competing in this district,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cLeela is that candidate,\u201d Fox first told POLITICO Florida after Gray\u2019s campaign announcement Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite the seemingly long odds, CD 13 is among the top pickup opportunities for Democrats in Florida, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has already targeted<\/a> it.<\/p>\n Gray is the ninth Democrat to file against Luna this cycle. But only one candidate so far,\u00a0Earle Ford, raised more than $100,000 in 2025. That means the nomination remains competitive. And national Democrats have already signaled interest in Gray. Over a 30-year Army career, she rose to the rank of Brigadier General.<\/p>\n Gray served at the Department of State\u2019s Global Engagement Center and as the Chief of Legislative Affairs for the U.S. Army Reserve. That makes her familiar with the workings of Washington and Capitol Hill. She brings particular policy expertise in cyber and information warfare.<\/p>\n \u201cMy entire background was all about getting things done and things getting done,\u201d she said, noting her various leadership posts in the Army.<\/p>\n \u201cEach one of those commands had a wide variety of people in those commands from a wide variety of backgrounds, and several of those commands were strewn throughout the United States,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I learned very early on was that you learn to work with people from a variety of backgrounds and from a variety of experiences, but if you focus on the fact that you actually have a problem to solve, you can get away from the incivility that\u2019s going on and the distraction that is going on, and focus on the problem and come up with good solutions. That would be the same scenario in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n Gray earned a law degree from Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, within the district. But she said her family has been rooted in the Pinellas region for 22 years. She moved to the area when her daughter was 2 years old and went to college in Florida.<\/p>\n Luna first won election\u00a0in 2022<\/a>\u00a0and then won re-election\u00a0in 2024<\/a>, both times against nationally backed Democrats. But while she emerged as a darling of national conservative media figures, Gray said she senses Pinellas voters have grown tired of her\u00a0partisan theatrics<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cCongressman Luna is not focused on the issues, and she hasn\u2019t been in the last three years,\u201d Gray said. \u201cShe\u2019s forgotten her district, and we need somebody who\u2019s going to put the needs of Pinellas County above their own agenda. I\u2019ve lived an entire life of service over self, and I\u2019m going to continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whitney Fox, the 2024 Democratic nominee for Florida\u2019s 13th Congressional District, is backing a new candidate vying for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[69612,69613,69614,28,30,29,37246,69615,69616],"class_list":{"0":"post-143466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-2026-midterms","9":"tag-cd-13","10":"tag-earle-ford","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-florida-headlines","13":"tag-florida-news","14":"tag-floridas-13th-congressional-district","15":"tag-leela-gray","16":"tag-whitney-fox"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/KIR25002-Web-Ad-3-e1760498324308.jpg\")
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