Retired brigadier general, lawyer and Democrat Leela Gray announced Tuesday that she will run for Florida’s Congressional District 13 seat, currently occupied by U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna. Gray’s entrance brings the candidate pool to nine.
Like Luna, Gray comes from a military background: three decades of experience in the U.S. Army versus Luna’s roughly 11 years in the U.S. Air Force.
During her 30-year Army career, Gray led civilian and military teams ranging from 100 to 10,000 people, according to her LinkedIn. As a brigadier general, she served as deputy commanding general of U.S. Army Central, representing the U.S. internationally while shaping policy and strategy for forces deploying to the Middle East.
Gray’s entry into the political arena was accompanied by an early endorsement from Whitney Fox, who ran against Luna in the previous race and lost in the general election. According to a statement made to POLITICO, Fox hopes Gray can accomplish what she could not.
District 13 has been a battleground, flipping from Republican to Democrat in 2016, then back to Republican in 2022. When Luna won the seat in 2022, there was no incumbent – Charlie Crist had resigned to challenge Gov. Ron DeSantis. Luna won that race by three points.
Since 2022, the gap has widened. In 2024, Luna won reelection with roughly 55% of the vote to Fox’s 45% amid Pinellas County’s heavy Republican lean. But the widening margin has not deterred Democrats from targeting District 13 and remaining determined to flip it from red to blue.
As of now, Republican voter registrations continue to climb. The most recent Pinellas County voter registration reports show Republicans leading with 238,663 voters to Democrats’ 191,167 – giving Republicans a nearly 25% advantage.
Still, about 26% of the electorate has no party affiliation, leaving a path for a Democrat to flip the seat again.