Florida-13: Which Florida Candidate has the Best Chance of Winning? It May Be Whitney Fox!

There’s something brewing down in Florida. I’m not sure I trust it given that the state has burned us so many times before, but I can no longer deny it. A New York Times opinion columnist came down to check out the race earlier this month, and she came back impressed by our candidate, Whitney Fox.Even though I came away impressed with Ms. Fox’s verve, I thought: She doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in a district with more registered Republicans than Democrats and President Biden at the top of the ticket. While the local Democrats I spoke to were excited about Ms. Fox — one woman boasted of making over 60 phone calls for her — their mood about the larger state of the party was funereal.That was before Mr. Biden dropped out, and before Ms. Fox went on to win a five-way Democratic primary handily, with nearly 60 percent of the vote.The author of the opinion column went on to explain that the lunatic antics of Rep. Anna Paulina Luna were repulsive to many voters in the district — even those who consider themselves staunch Republicans.The Democratic field was so crowded in part because Ms. Luna is a Trump acolyte and Freedom Caucus member, which makes her vulnerable in a district that Mr. Trump lost to Mr. Biden in 2020, where around 29 percent of registered voters in Pinellas County aren’t affiliated with either major party and around 33 percent are Democrats. When only about 38 percent of voters are Republicans, an aggressively MAGA candidate risks losing the majority.Ms. Luna’s political ascent was very much in the Trump mold — she rose to prominence as a scrappy right-wing influencer — and her bombastic public persona has been fashioned in the former president’s image. She took time out of her busy legislative schedule in May to attend Mr. Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial and appeared in his V.I.P. box at the Republican National Convention in July. In a viral video clip from 2019, she accosted Kamala Harris at an airport over the then-senator’s position on border policy, writing in a Facebook caption that Ms. Harris is a “bad person” with a “sick agenda.” She once compared Hillary Clinton to herpes on Fox News.The question for Whitney Fox is whether or not she can win the Florida district most amenable to flipping towards the Democratic Party thanks to the lunatic Paulina Luna.Like reading election-themed articles? I am continuing a massive series of them each Sunday and Wednesday morning! Make sure to follow #SaveTheMajority and the group Save the Majority so you don’t miss important races down the ballot!Rep. Anna Paulina Luna is part of what I am calling the #MAGADozen. These Republicans in GOP-leaning swing districts are full-throated MAGA supporters and can be beaten. Whitney Fox is one of the challengers I am fundraising for.DONATE TO THESE 15 CANDIDATES TO DEFEAT THE #MAGADOZEN!Whitney Fox for Florida-13Campaign Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | DONATE | VolunteerWhat’s the Big Idea?FL-13 precinct results 2022THIS HOUSE RACE IS RATED AS LIKELY REPUBLICAN, with an R+6 PVIThis district based in Pinellas County used to be represented by Rep. Bill Young for over 40 years. He never faced a close race during his entire tenure representing this area. He died in 2013, leading to a special election that the GOP narrowly won through David Jolly. Jolly did not face any credible opposition in 2014 and it looked like the new incumbent was on track to have a long tenure just like his predecessor.That changed in 2016 as former Gov. Charlie Crist challenged Jolly as a Democrat. The state was mandated to redistrict by the Florida Supreme Court in between 2014 and 2016 which made this district significantly more Democratic-leaning. Crist would win the district 52%-48% leading to the first flip of the Pinellas County district in over 50 years. Crist would have no trouble in 2018 during the blue wave, and he had little trouble dispatching Anna Paulina Luna in 2020 either.2022 was a different story as DeSantis insisted on meddling with the district once again similarly to how it was illegally made after 2010 redistricting. The most Democratic areas of St. Petersburg were placed in the 14th district while red areas of the 12th district were shifted over to this district. Rep. Charlie Crist ran for governor leading to Ann Paulina Luna becoming the likely winner of this seat. Defense contractor Eric Lynn fought hard to retain this district, but Paulina Luna won 53.1% to 45.1%.This actually was a major underperformance when compared to the top of the ticket. I don’t have numbers for how DeSantis and Rubio did in this district but when compared to the blowouts her GOP colleagues secured for their races this was a closer race. 342k people voted in the 2022 election while 406k voted in the 2020 election. Even if all of the missing voters were Democrats this district would be tough to flip as Trump would’ve won it 52.9% to 46.1% in 2020 under the current lines.Here’s where this 13th district race will be won.St. Petersburg: Not all of the city could be excised from the district and what is left is still strongly Democratic. Whitney Fox needs to run up the score as high as possible in what is left in order to have a chance of winning.Clearwater and Dunedin: These cities were narrowly won by Trump by a 51%-48% margin in 2020 and they need to flip in order for Fox to have a chance in 2024. Yes, we are getting into light-red cities and precincts now but the winning margin has to come from somewhere.Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.Largo and the Beaches: The beach communities and Largo are directly north of St. Petersburg. Largo is a light-red city but the others are a deeper shade of red. Fox needs to narrow the gaps in this area to entertain thoughts of winning but that’s easier said than done with Trump on the ballot.Northern Pinellas County: These communities are the ones added to the district that make it redder. Many of them are ones Trump won in a relative landslide. Fox will be in for a world of hurt if these communities continue their trend of voting for the GOP in a straight ticket fashion. Whitney Fox: A New Voice for FloridaFox has a tough task ahead of her in a district Trump comfortably carried.Whitney Fox was born in Tampa, Florida. She was raised there by a single mother who worked as a nurse at the Moffitt Cancer Center. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Florida in 2009.She was the communications director for the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority before running for Congress. Her main achievement in her previous job was the SunRunner Bus Rapid Transit System. She will be strong on transportation issues if elected to Congress and will continue to vote for funding to ensure safe, reliable, and affordable public transportation.One of the issues Fox is emphasizing especially well is the affordability crisis. She is looking to fight corporate greed in the housing market and rent stabilization through Congressional action. She is also looking to tackle the huge insurance problem in the state. She proposes a federal homeowners insurance policy to cover natural disasters and inject stability in the markets. Fox is especially leaning on abortion rights given the Florida reproductive rights amendment having a good chance of passing. Fox is aghast that her daughters have fewer rights than she or her mother did. She would be a vote to codify Roe into law, as well as protect birth control from the attacks of MAGA Republicans.Fox is also promoting the erosion of democracy as a key issue for the district. She pledges to: defend voting rights to ensure every eligible citizen can participate in our democracy; reduce the influence of money and special interests in our political system; support legislation to prohibit members of Congress from trading individual stocks.For more information on her background and priorities I’d watch her interview for the Meidas Touch Network from a couple months ago. She really throws barbs at Paulina Luna while shining through on many of the issues above. YouTube Video Rep. Anna Paulina Luna: The Santos of the SouthRep. Anna Paulina Luna has a history of making things up combined with lunatic statements.Rep. Anna Paulina Luna was born in Santa Ana, California in 1989. Much of her background has been questioned or is considered unreliable information so I won’t spend much time repeating it here. She was an airfield management specialist in the Air Force from 2009 to 2014 and eventually joined the Air National Guard. She has spent time as a swimsuit model, an Instagram influencer, a Hispanic outreach representative for fascist organization Turning Point USA, and a contributor to fascist fake educational outlet PragerU. She even appeared at a We Build the Wall event as a vice president of another conservative outreach group.Paulina Luna is a member of the chaos far-right Freedom Caucus in Congress. She voted against former Speaker McCarthy 11 times before relenting. She has sought to impeach or censure multiple members of the executive branch based on fascist fantasies. She’s even sponsored a resolution to expel Rep. Adam Schiff and have him pay $16M in fines! She’s a loose cannon in an ineffective Congress full of them.To underscore her loose cannon status, Paulina Luna consistently votes to shut down the government or hamstring it in every way possible. She voted against the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 which raised the debt ceiling. She voted against funding the government in November 2023, January 2024, and September 2024. She has even tweeted that she would shut down the government until Biden fully closed the border.Paulina Luna is also an election denier. She strongly believes that Trump won the 2020 election and that there was massive voter fraud. She even attended a screening and red carpet event of the thoroughly debunked 2000 Mules. To encapsulate the absurdity, Paulina Luna wrote a children’s book titled The Legend of Naranja that suggests that Biden stole the 2020 election.Paulina Luna furthermore is a “pro-life extremist” according to her own words. She has even stated that people who do not like abortion bans should move somewhere else! She does not believe in any exceptions for an abortion ban and strongly believes in passing a national abortion ban. Her views are so extreme that even birth control and IVF treatments are under threat if she gets her way in Congress.Paulina Luna is a member of the pro-Putin caucus in the House of Representatives. She has never voted for funding for Ukraine and actually has voted against it multiple times. Paulina Luna would go further than that, however. She would suspend all aid to Ukraine including already pledged aid until the combatants reach a peace deal. This “Ukraine Fatigue Resolution” is nothing short of demanding that Ukraine capitulate to Russia.Florida’s 13th district isn’t some far-right bastion but a GOP-leaning swing seat. Rep. Anna Paulina’s lunatic antics and sketchy background should be disqualifying even here. How Can You Help?Whitney Fox was literally just added to the prestigious Red to Blue program yesterday. This comes after the Democratic field (before the primary) has outraised Rep. Paulina Luna two quarters in a row. Fox did have to spend a lot of her fundraising on a late primary date so donating to her would be a good idea. She probably has replenished her funds by now but Paulina Luna has a huge head start with $866k saved up.With Hurricane Helene barreling towards Florida and causing a monumental amount of damage, all canvassing and phone banking activities have been cancelled for the next couple of weeks. All of Whitney Fox’s efforts are geared towards storm preparation and helping out after the hurricane passes. No doubt once the storm has passed she will kick her campaign back into high gear. To get involved, click the link at the top or the bottom of the article. If polls are to be believed, Whitney Fox does have a chance of pulling off the upset. Both polls of the race are unreliable for different reasons. St. Pete has a track record of being off by a large amount and the other poll is an internal poll from a GOP-leaning organization. It is difficult to see where the race stands with such unreliable gauges.If any GOP representative could lose this district, it is Rep. Anna Paulina Luna. A toxic combination of George Santos and MTG, she spends little time actually caring for her constituents and plenty of time going down the latest far-right rabbit hole. Still, her district is the 34th most vulnerable seat held by the GOP which means actually winning here is quite the stretch.The question for Whitney Fox is whether or not she can win the Florida district most amenable to flipping towards the Democratic Party thanks to the lunatic Paulina Luna.Whitney Fox for Florida-13Campaign Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | DONATE | VolunteerHere is the Defeat the MAGA Dozen Fund on ActBlue! These 15 incumbent members of the GOP are MAGA Republicans residing in swing districts. The challengers are all strong and can win in these tougher districts. Please donate and then share a link to this site on your social media! #MAGADozen