{"id":199509,"date":"2026-03-20T18:43:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T18:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/199509\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T18:43:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T18:43:20","slug":"kathy-castor-endorses-kyandra-darling-to-succeed-michele-rayner-in-hd-62","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/199509\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathy Castor endorses Kyandra Darling to succeed Michele Rayner in HD 62"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor<\/a> is backing Kyandra Darling\u2019s<\/a> bid to succeed St. Petersburg Democratic state Rep. Michele Rayner<\/a> in House District 62.<\/p>\n

Castor endorsed Darling, a St. Petersburg-based community engagement leader, over former state Rep. Wengay Newton<\/a> in the Democratic Primary. Rayner is vacating the seat to pursue a Senate campaign rather than seek re-election, and no Republican has filed for the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day in Congress, I fight to lower costs for working families \u2014 from addressing the housing crisis to bringing down the price of prescription drugs and defending access to quality, affordable health care. I know how important these issues are for families working hard to make ends meet,\u201d Castor said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m proud to endorse Kyandra in this race. She\u2019s a working mom and a leader who shares my commitment to affordability and expanding opportunity. I know Kyandra will be a strong partner in the Florida legislature, working together to deliver real relief to Tampa Bay families.\u201d<\/p>\n

HD 62 spans parts of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties and is expected to remain a Democratic seat. Darling, a fourth-generation St. Petersburg resident, has built her career around community engagement work, partnering with nonprofits and public institutions across Pinellas County and focusing on connecting residents with resources and services.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

According to her campaign website<\/a>, Darling started her career in the office of then-U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist and later worked as a legislative aide to St. Petersburg City Council members Steve Kornell and Lisa Wheeler-Bowman. She left that line of work to enter the nonprofit sector, aiming to address gaps left unaddressed by policy.<\/p>\n

Darling is campaigning on a platform aimed at addressing cost of living, protecting freedoms and rights, improvement for local schools, neighborhood safety and access to affordable health care<\/p>\n

Darling has outraised Newton. Her campaign has reported $76,726 in donations, and $56,711 in expenditures as of Dec. 31, while Newton reported $19,789 in donations and $8,720 in expenditures during that same time frame. Castor\u2019s endorsement adds to Darling\u2019s early momentum ahead of the Aug. 18 Primary.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongresswoman Castor has been a tireless champion for the people of Tampa Bay and a leader who consistently puts families first,\u201d Darling said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer record is remarkable, including passing landmark climate legislation and securing billions in federal funding for our region to address key priorities such as infrastructure, education, and good-paying jobs. I\u2019m grateful for her support and proud to have her partnership as we work to build a future where every family in Florida has the opportunity to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor is backing Kyandra Darling\u2019s bid to succeed St. Petersburg Democratic state Rep. Michele Rayner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[821,822,8874,823,824,202,204,203,199,201,200,826],"class_list":["post-199509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-hd-62","tag-house-district-62","tag-kathy-castor","tag-kyandra-darling","tag-michele-rayner","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-wengay-newton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199509","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=199509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}