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Kimberly Overman at New World Tampa, on Aug. 18, 2026 Credit: Colin Wolf<\/p>\nKimberly Overman at New World Tampa, on Aug. 18, 2026 Credit: Colin Wolf<\/p>\n
Florida held its primary election yesterday, and here are the candidates from around Tampa Bay who will advance to the general election on Nov. 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The deadline to register for the general election ends Oct. 5. Early voting starts Oct. 19- Nov. 1 with election day on Nov. 3.<\/a><\/p>\n Kimberly Overman District 12<\/p>\n Kimberly Overman won 52.7% of the vote, while her opponent, Darren McAuley, trailed with 47.4%. Overman will run against Republican incumbent Gus Bilirakis, who ran uncontested for his primary. District 12 includes Pasco and a portion of Hillsborough County.<\/p>\n In a victory speech last night, Overman said Bilirakis represents the Washington status quo, as she said in her acceptance speech.<\/p>\n \u201cThis race is about sending a leader to Washington who will put Floridians first,\u201d said Overman while speaking to a crowd at New World Tampa. \u201cIt\u2019s also about a big tent that welcomes Independents and unaffiliated voters, and Republicans into our cause, and those who are sick and tired of politics as usual.\u201d<\/p>\n Leela Gray District 13<\/p>\n In CD 13, Leela Gray earned 65% of the vote. Her opponents, teacher Brandt Robinson, received only 26.4% while activist John Liccione got 8.6%. Gray will face incumbent Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who ran uncontested. District 13 covers a majority of Pinellas County and partially covers Pasco County.<\/p>\n \u201cThese vibrant people that care about our community, that care about their neighbors, that care deeply about America, but feel forgotten,\u201d Gray previously told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. \u201cIt really just tells me that Washington politicians are not listening. That Luna is not focused on the people in this community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Kathy Castor District 14<\/p>\n Incumbent candidate Kathy Castor, who has represented District 14 for 20 years, went uncontested. Mike Beltran won the Republican primary, earning 45.6% of the vote, which was good enough to beat Kevin M. Steele (30.2%) who recently resigned from the state house while facing scrutiny over his residency<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Self-described \u201cMAGA Mike\u201d wants to unseat \u201ccareer politician\u201d Castor with his platform supporting 100% of Trump\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n CD14 is a newly redrawn district and presents Castor with the biggest challenge of her career.\u00a0<\/p>\n Robert People District 15<\/p>\n Robert People won his primary with 53.7% of the vote against Christopher Irizarry who earned 46.4% of the vote. District 15 covers a portion of Citrus, Hernando, Pasco and Hillsborough counties. People will face incumbent Republican Laurel Lee.<\/p>\n Kelly Kirschner District 16<\/p>\n Kelly Kirschner won the primary seat with a landslide of 43% of the vote. Kirschner faced off against Tamika Lyles 19.9%, Jan Schneider 15.4%, Jon Harris 12.5% and Glenn Pearson 9.2%. The incumbent Republican Vern Buchanan is retiring<\/a> after 20 years in his district. This opened the primary for Republicans with Sydney Gruters\u2014wife of Trump-backed Florida state senator and RNC chairman Joe Grueters\u2014winning with 63.5% of the vote against Eddie Speir (21.3%) and Ed Pope (15.3%). District 16 covers portions of Polk, Hardee, DeSoto, Manatee, Sarasota and a small portion of Pinellas County.<\/p>\n Other primary Democratic congressional winners around Florida:<\/p>\n Incumbent Gay Valimont D1, Amanda Marie Green D2, Seth Harp D3, L.J. Holloway D4, Rachel Grage D5, Eric Yonce D6, Bale Dalton D7, Jennifer Jenkins D8, Darren Soto D9, Maxwell Frost D10, James Pericola D11, Matthew Montavan D17, Curtis Gibson D18, Victor Arias D19, incumbent Debbie Wasserman Schultz D20, Pia Dandiya D22, incumbent Lois Frankel D23, Oliver Gilbert III D24, Jared Moskowitz D25, Nicole Locklin D26, Eliott Rodriguez D27 and Phil Ehr D28.<\/p>\n District 21 is still counting votes between Democrats James Martin and Bernard Taylor.<\/p>\n Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in August 13 \u2013 19, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t