{"id":349270,"date":"2026-07-23T00:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T00:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/349270\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T00:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T00:05:08","slug":"abc-florida-gulf-coast-chapter-backs-gop-congressional-slate-in-bulk-endorsement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/349270\/","title":{"rendered":"ABC Florida Gulf Coast Chapter backs GOP Congressional slate in bulk endorsement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Associated Builders and Contractors Florida Gulf Coast Chapter<\/a>\u00a0is weighing in on a string of U.S. House races running from the Tampa Bay region to Southwest Florida.<\/p>\n

The construction trade association on Tuesday threw its support behind Republican incumbent U.S. Reps.\u00a0Gus Bilirakis\u00a0in CD 12, Anna Paulina Luna\u00a0in CD 13,\u00a0Laurel Lee\u00a0in CD 15,\u00a0Greg Steube\u00a0in CD 17 and\u00a0Scott Franklin\u00a0in CD 18 as well as GOP hopefuls\u00a0Kevin Steele\u00a0in CD 14,\u00a0Sydney Gruters\u00a0in CD 16 and\u00a0Catalina Lauf\u00a0in CD 19.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida\u2019s construction industry depends on leaders who understand that strong infrastructure, a skilled workforce, and a healthy economy don\u2019t happen by accident,\u201d said\u00a0Steve Cona III, President and CEO of ABC Florida Gulf Coast Chapter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese candidates have demonstrated a commitment to free enterprise, reducing unnecessary regulations, protecting taxpayer dollars, and creating an environment where contractors can continue building the schools, hospitals, roads, manufacturing facilities, and commercial projects that keep Florida growing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incumbent slate is mostly running in districts that have preserved their partisan edge after new congressional maps took effect earlier this year \u2014 Bilirakis, Lee, Steube and Franklin are viewed as strong favorites in November. The exception is Luna, whose Pinellas- and Pasco-based seat was\u00a0a Democratic target<\/a>\u00a0under the old map and remains one under the current one.<\/p>\n

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

CD 16 and CD 19 are likewise considered Republican holds.<\/p>\n

Sydney Gruters, the wife of Republican National Committee Chair and state Sen.\u00a0Joe Gruters, is viewed as the front-runner in CD 16 \u2014 the seat currently held by\u00a0retiring<\/a>\u00a0U.S. Rep.\u00a0Vern Buchanan. Notably, she launched her bid with a \u201cComplete and Total<\/a>\u201d endorsement from the President.<\/p>\n

Lauf, meanwhile, is one of 10 Republicans who qualified for the ballot in CD 19, the District currently represented by\u00a0Byron Donalds, who forwent re-election to run for Governor. The field also includes former U.S. Reps.\u00a0Madison Cawthorn\u00a0and\u00a0Chris Collins, media executive\u00a0Jim Schwartzel, and former Illinois state Sen.\u00a0Jim Oberweis.<\/p>\n

CD 14 is the biggest question mark on ABC\u2019s list. Steele is running for the nomination as Republicans seek to hold the Tampa Bay-area District that, while redrawn by Gov.\u00a0Ron DeSantis\u2019\u00a0administration to favor the GOP, appears amenable to re-electing longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a recent St. Pete Polls survey<\/a>\u00a0found her up 46%-39% over Steele; she holds a similar lead over his Primary competitor, former state Rep.\u00a0Mike Beltran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Associated Builders and Contractors Florida Gulf Coast Chapter\u00a0is weighing in on a string of U.S. House races running…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[53819,8861,73210,112139,69613,107429,142921,66029,142922,142923,73211,28,30,29,8868,8869,8189,8875,8883,102941],"class_list":["post-349270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-abc-florida-gulf-coast-chapter","tag-anna-paulina-luna","tag-catalina-lauf","tag-cd-12","tag-cd-13","tag-cd-14","tag-cd-15","tag-cd-16","tag-cd-17","tag-cd-18","tag-cd-19","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-greg-steube","tag-gus-bilirakis","tag-kevin-steele","tag-laurel-lee","tag-scott-franklin","tag-sydney-gruters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349270","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=349270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}