LARGO, Fla. — In Florida’s 13th Congressional District, every meeting with a prospective voter matters for the two candidates vying to represent Pinellas County in Congress, a seat considered to be one of the more competitive races in the state with the balance of power in the U.S. House up for grabs.
Redrawn after the 2020 election and becoming a more red-leaning area, the 13th District encompasses most of Pinellas County, west of I-275.
Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-Seminole) is seeking a second term in D.C., on Monday she was knocking on doors and meeting with voters in Clearwater.
“We've talked to over 110,000 people on the phone and knocked over 61,000 doors,” Luna told 10 Tampa Bay, praising her grassroots campaign.
The conservative firebrand has made a name for herself in the past two years, drawing praise from Trump Republicans and criticism from Democrats.
“Right when I first got elected, I promised people that I would not go up there and become a part of the problem. And so what I've been able to do is a I filled every single one of my campaign promises, but also to bring common sense and perspective to a place that is honestly systemically broken,” said Luna, while highlighting her battle to get beaches renourished.
Democrats don’t view her time in Congress that way, including her challenger Whitney Fox, a political newcomer who last worked for the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority.
“We need somebody in Washington who's going to work for our community. Unfortunately, we have a representative who has done nothing for Pinellas County and just causes chaos in Washington with partisan politics divisiveness,” Fox told 10 Tampa Bay.
Both Fox and Luna are young moms but that’s where their similarities end, each labels the other as extreme.
So we asked each candidate a series of questions, why they’re running and where they stand on the issues, full responses are below:
Why are you running for office, what’s at stake with this election?
Luna: The number one thing I've talked to and heard back from after over door, knocking 61,000 doors and making 110,000 phone calls, is people do want, do not want, the same representation that they've always seen happen nationally. Right when I first got elected, I promised people that I would not go up there and become a part of the problem. And so what I've been able to do is I filled every single one of my campaign promises, but also to brought common sense and perspective to a place that is honestly systemically broken. So I was able to introduce legislation that would cap student loan interest at 3%, cut taxes on tips, social security, we battled it out with the Army Corps of Engineers in regards to beach renourishment for Pinellas County specifically worked with all of our mayors on that issue, and then, most recently, actually met with Joe Biden after we were hit not just by one hurricane, but two. So what I can tell you is, right now, what we're seeing is there's a massive shift. I don't just think it's the Republican Party, but I think it's also Independents and Democrats that want there to be more representation in Washington, that are normal people that are not a part of the problem. And I’m exactly that.
Fox: One of the reasons why I decided to run is we need somebody in Washington who's going to work for our community. Unfortunately, we have a representative who has done nothing for Pinellas County and just causes chaos in Washington with partisan politics divisiveness, we need somebody who's actually going to get to work addressing the affordability crisis, home insurance, housing, protect our prescription drug costs and Social Security and Medicare, and protect our reproductive freedoms. And there's a lot at stake this year, because we need somebody who's actually going to go to DC and work with other people to get those things.
Prior to redistricting ahead of the 2022 election, this seat in Congress was historically represented by more moderate candidates, your opponent characterizes your policies as extreme, what do you make of that characterization, what would you say to voters?
Luna: Well, that was done, I think, from people that have lost races against me, not just once, but twice. And so what I will say, if you actually look at my record, and actually being someone that will pursue other avenues of fixing problems. For example, when the Army Corps would not respond to Charlie Crist, when the Army Corps would not respond to Gus Bilarakis, I actually met with all of our beach mayors, and I said, Okay, guys, here are options. And actually took a vote and had those mayors say, Okay, we want you to try to defund this position. So that's exactly what I did. So what I will say is that I am a person when I go and I talk to people, they understand that I'm not advocating for special interest in Washington. I'm advocating directly for the people. And so I think it's always easy for the media to kind of paint a boogeyman, but if you're going to call me a conservative extremist, then you're essentially calling all the people that elected me conservative extremists. So we know that Pinellas County right now if you look at the national polling, is indeed Republican, but FL-13 specifically is a Red county. And so I'm not advocating for my own interests. I'm advocating for the people that sent me to Washington.
Fox: We talk to people all the time about my experience of working throughout my career with Democrats and Republicans at all levels of government to actually get things done for Pinellas County. I mean, that's how our government was built to function, and that's what we're doing in our race, is we're bringing people together, Democrats, independents and Republicans who are supporting me because they just want their representatives to work for them, and many of them, regardless of party affiliation. And that's been a big promise of mine, and my campaign is regardless of party, I'm here to represent everyone and would be very proud to do so because we need someone to address the issues, and that's what's most important, regardless of what party affiliation you're with, if you don't get the job done, Pinellas County is going to vote you out, and we're going to see that [Tuesday].
You’ve talked with voters, we’ve talked with voters many signal the economy, inflation recently as one of the biggest concerns. How would you and how should Congress begin to address growing affordability problems?
Luna: I was actually one of the 20 members of Congress that negotiated for there to be single-subject spending bills, and also to get the spending under control. So a lot of people, I know this sounds crazy, but when I talk to them at the doors, they're like, what does the national debt have to do with what you're voting on? And also, how does that affect me? Well, when you keep voting for money that you don't have, it leads to a rise in inflation, and inflation is what makes things more expensive. And so for us specifically, you can still fund programs, but we don't need to be spending money on things that we can't afford, or, frankly, sending our tax dollars overseas to countries that aren't paying into our actual tax system. And so what I will tell people is I'm a huge, a huge advocate for cutting regulation because it does boost economy, and I want to lower taxes, not for corporations but for individuals. And that's exactly why I cosponsored the legislation that I did.
Fox: There's a huge affordability crisis because of all these issues. And at the top of that list, I'm hearing home insurance. Home Insurance is a huge problem. And many people will say, Oh, that's a state issue. I'm not taking that as an answer, because it's not getting addressed at a state level, and there are things we can do at a federal level to alleviate this burden that the working class families are putting on themselves because of the home insurance crisis. So we've put together a plan to address home insurance and that's on my website at Whitney Fox for congress.com under priorities, you can see my home insurance plan, and part of that plan is to come up with a National Natural Disaster Protection Program, because this has become an issue nationwide, not just in Florida.
One of the other high-profile issues nationwide is Abortion rights, likely driving many women to the polls with Amendment 4 on the ballot. How are you voting on it?
Luna: They say “tell me how you're going to vote on Amendment 4. But we don't care. But we don't care about you on Amendment 3 or any of the other amendments.” What I will say is, I have not personally changed my perspective on how I view life, but what I will tell you is, after the overturning of Roe v Wade and a lot of people, specifically, the Democrat messaging on this is intentionally meant to confuse voters, it is not a federal issue, which is why I keep telling people. I'm not going to tell you how to vote on that, but what I will tell you is specifically on Amendment Four, what it allows is for extreme late-term abortion. That's not me making that up. That is literally what it says, meaning that my son, who came early, according to this piece of legislation, would be allowed to be aborted up to the time of birth. I think that is weird and bizarre to support something like that, even if you are for exceptions because it is so extreme.
Fox: I'm absolutely voting yes on Amendment 4. I and so many people in Florida believe that women deserve the freedom to make their own healthcare decisions. I mean, we have doctors leaving our state. Women are struggling and some dying. I mean, my daughters are currently growing up with fewer rights than I did. We have to protect our reproductive freedoms statewide with Amendment 4, but it will mean nothing if we have people in office like Anna Paulina Luna, who supports a national abortion ban without exceptions for rape, incest or even to save the mother's life. It's too extreme, and the majority of voters do not agree with that.
After two devastating hurricanes, I think some of these issues have taken a back seat in the minds of Pinellas County voters, as they continue to pick up the pieces post-Hurricanes Helene and Milton. What should and can Congress do to continue supporting people here in Florida through these disasters?
(Congresswoman Luna your opponent has criticized you for voting against FEMA funding earlier this year. )
Luna: That was a complete lie. There was never, ever any such thing as a FEMA bill. And she did that because she hasn't even been able to break over five in the polling, which is exactly why Joe Biden didn't call her to meet with her, or wouldn't even endorse her. In fact, he called me. I met with him, along with Senator [Rick} Scott. What I can tell you is, there's a continuing resolution that had a bunch of stuff in it that was not for the American people. It was bad. And people in this county called me and said, we don't want you to support that. What I will tell you is I have co-sponsored legislation with [Rep.] Jared Moskowitz, who is a Democrat, to replenish FEMA funds, up to $15 billion only for hurricane-impacted victims. What we found out is $1.01 billion of the FEMA dollars went to actually housing illegal immigrants. So while you have people in Pinellas County that have been denied their claims. You had illegal immigrants that were getting access to that, and that's simply not fair, and I'll continue to advocate against that because I think it's wrong. But not just that. We also had business owners that had SBA also denying their claims. So you have a federal government again that's broken, and us advocating for our local constituents taken thousands of cases in regards to that, and ever since the hurricane, we've actually been out in the field. You know, the one thing I hate about campaigning is the disingenuous messaging. So a lot of the local press not saying you guys, but they didn't report on our polling. They didn't report on Joe Biden meeting with us. In fact, they tried to prop her up. But the fact is that she's an extremist environmentalist. She's advocated for people having their gas-powered cars banned. She's profiting personally off of stocks from a company that's controlled by China and tied to the CCP. And frankly, that's not going to resonate with Pinellas County voters, which is why I'm actually polling to win this election.”
Fox: We need more disaster relief funding. And if I wasn't fired up about running for office against Luna before, after these hurricanes, you better believe I am fired up because we need a representative who is going to fund disaster relief, not someone like Luna who has repeatedly voted against disaster relief funding, including the day before Hurricane Helene hit. Not only has she voted against it, but then she continues to lie about FEMA funding. Going to North Carolina for a rally for a presidential race, saying that FEMA is not helping districts just because they're red, which is not true. Or saying that FEMA funding is going to illegal immigrants instead of hurricane victims, also false. That is a lie that has been proven. We need a leader who is actually going to tell the truth and getting those resources to the people in this district who are so desperately in need of it. I am running because we deserve so much more, and that's what I plan to do when in office.”