{"id":277195,"date":"2026-05-19T21:31:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T21:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/277195\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T21:31:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T21:31:46","slug":"kathy-castor-gets-boost-from-national-dems-to-keep-her-tampa-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/277195\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathy Castor gets boost from national Dems to keep her Tampa seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

National Democrats are jumping in to protect incumbent Rep. Kathy Castor as she faces an uphill battle for reelection in a redrawn congressional district<\/a> that is now red-leaning.<\/p>\n

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced that Castor is a new member of its \u201cfrontline\u201d program for vulnerable Democratic incumbents in the House. The move offers her campaign more visibility and could potentially steer funds her way.<\/p>\n

Castor announced earlier this month that she\u2019ll run in District 14, which she currently represents, after Florida Republicans implemented a new congressional map<\/a>. The redrawn district covers South Tampa and southeast Hillsborough County. It would have gone for President Donald Trump by more than 10 points in 2024.<\/p>\n

Cook Political Report rates the seat as \u201cleans Republican,\u201d making it one of the most competitive races in the country as Democrats fight to reclaim a House majority in November. Two Democrat-held House seats in South Florida are also considered very competitive under the new congressional map, according to the ratings site.<\/p>\n

\u201cKathy is a battle-tested incumbent with a long record of delivering for her Tampa Bay community,\u201d Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairperson Suzan DelBene said in a statement. \u201cWhile Washington Republicans attempt to rig Florida\u2019s map in their favor, it\u2019s clear Kathy\u2019s stellar record of results will ensure she is reelected this fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans, meanwhile, consider Castor\u2019s seat a key pickup opportunity in their bid to maintain their House majority.<\/p>\n

Two high-profile GOP challengers have entered the race since its boundaries changed: state Rep. Kevin Steele<\/a> of Pasco County and former state Rep. Mike Beltran, who represented parts of Hillsborough and Manatee counties through 2024.<\/p>\n

Beltran launched his campaign over the weekend with $1 million of his own money. He casts himself as a \u201cproven Trump conservative\u201d who has represented southeast Hillsborough before. He listed dozens of endorsements from members of Trump\u2019s legal team, state legislators and other local leaders, including Hillsborough County Commissioner Josh Wostal and two Manatee commissioners.<\/p>\n

Both Steele and Beltran have shown they\u2019re willing to draw upon their own money in the race, posing a threat to Castor, who had raised almost $900,000 for her reelection effort as of March 31.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Times Election Coverage<\/p>\n

Congressional midterms: Can Democrats retake the US House? It could depend on Florida<\/a><\/p>\n

Voter issues: These 4 issues make Florida\u2019s midterms a tougher slog for Republicans<\/a><\/p>\n

Race for the Governor\u2019s Mansion: Is the Florida governor\u2019s race set?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"National Democrats are jumping in to protect incumbent Rep. Kathy Castor as she faces an uphill battle for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[71786,276,8874,8189,118287,118288,6688,585,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-277195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-democratic-congressional-campaign-committee","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-kathy-castor","tag-kevin-steele","tag-mike-beltran","tag-national-democrats","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-south-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277195","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=277195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}