U.S. House, District 12 (Hillsborough): Kimberly Overman
It was a bit of a surprise to see The Tampa Bay Times recently “recommend” incumbent Republican Gus Bilikrakis over Democrat and former Hillsborough County commissioner Kimberly Oveman. In the write-up, the Times referred to Bilikrakis as “effective,” “measured” and “reasonable.” We’re wondering if the Tampa Bay Times editors even read their own paper.
In 2023, Bilikrakis wrote a letter published in the Times calling for a lighter sentence for a local January 6 rioter, who illegally owned a pile of guns and explosives and attempted to “recruit people for civil war.” Over the last few years, Times reporters also found that Bilikrakis took money from indicted pharmaceutical fraudsters, took credit for legislation he had nothing to do with, and just last year, penned an op-ed in the Times defending his decision to vote for Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
“The One Big Beautiful Bill seeks to reignite the economy after years of debilitating inflation and rising costs during the Biden era,” wrote Bilirakis. Shockingly, the economy did not in fact “reignite.” On the contrary, we can now say the “BBB” was arguably one of the worst pieces of legislation in modern history. Bilirakis should wear that vote like a Scarlet Letter.
Overman is by far more qualified, and would more accurately be called “effective” “measured” and “reasonable,” especially when it comes to affordable housing and health care access. Overman also wants to overturn Citizens United, protect reproductive rights and provide more support to military families. Overman is a no-brainer and an easy choice for U.S. House District 12. —Colin Wolf
U.S. House, District 13 (Pinellas): Leela Gray
Democrat Leela Gray is looking to unseat incumbent Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, who was first elected to represent the Tampa Bay area’s 13th Congressional district in 2022. The 60-year-old Gray, spent over 30 years in the Army, including two combat deployments. When asked on WMNF’s The Skinny if she would impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Gray stated that the leader “should be held accountable.” If elected, Gray says she hopes to take on insurance companies, ban corporate PAC donations and she thinks we need to overturn Citizens United.
Her opponent, Anna Paulina Luna, was ranked as one of the least effective members in congress, and has hardly passed a single worthwhile bill since she was elected. That might be because she spends her time embarrassing her district with a nonstop conveyor belt of high-grade political slop—like when she misidentified a Palestinian student at Brown University and blamed him for a mass shooting, or when she filed a bill to add Trump’s face to Mount Rushmore, or when she got busted for using Claude AI to write a bill. How about last March when she gave Russians oligarchs a personal tour of the United States Capitol? It’s time to elect someone who actually wants to do the work and help District 13. We suggest Leela Gray.—Colin Wolf
U.S. House, District 14 (Hillsborough): Kathy Castor
Kathy Castor, as many a pundit will tell you, is in the fight of her life. Trying to overcome in a new gerrymandered district, the Tampa Bay area’s congresswoman for the last 20 years has somehow turned the race that should’ve favored her Republican opponent (former Florida Rep. Mike Beltran, who won an eight-person primary over the summer) into a “toss up.”
There’s no contesting that Castor, 60, is one of the hardest working lawmakers in Washington D.C. Her wins for the Bay area are indisputable, too, as she’s reliably found funding for local projects.
But Beltran isn’t completely off base to point out that anyone who’s been in D.C. for as long as Castor might need to step down. Some Democrats have even grown lukewarm to her in office after she joined seven Democrats to vote for a resolution “denouncing all forms of socialism” earlier this year.
Not when folks like Beltran are the alternative.
He gets pegged as a “freethinker” for bucking Florida Republicans when he disagreed with them, but his deep allegiance to Donald Trump (he calls himself “MAGA Mike”) should be a warning sign for anyone who actually believes that congress can act as a check on the executive branch.—Ray Roa
U.S. House, District 15 (Hillsborough): Robert People
The Tampa Bay Times didn’t give much insight for not “recommending” Democrat Robert People for U.S. House District 15 over Laurel Lee, other than he’s campaigning on a “shoestring” budget and he’s never held office before. Maybe he didn’t get the ivory tower nod of approval because the Army veteran’s platform includes scary words like “Medicare For All,” “Corporate Accountability” and “No arms shipments to Israel.”
Last week at the Angie Nixon and Bernie Sanders rally, People responded to the suggestion that even the Florida Democratic Party has also kind of brushed him off along with other progressive candidates, despite primary victories from himself and Nixon. He said the party should see how voters are gravitating towards folks unafraid to be impolite. “Those are the ones we want fighting for us in Congress,” People said.
CL editors believe People’s positions are worth supporting.
After all, it was under Lee’s leadership as Secretary of State that the online voter registration portal crashed the night before the deadline, that former felons were confused if they were eligible to vote or not, and that the state expanded voter suppression through unnecessary vote-by-mail changes. Laurel Lee, a DeSantis loyalist, should never be within 10 feet of a public office ever again. It’s time for someone new.—Colin Wolf
U.S. House, District 16 (Pinellas and Polk, part): Kelly Kirschner
Despite facing a familiar name in Florida right wing politics, Republican Sydney Gruters, Kelly Kirschner has always felt like his race for Sarasota’s Florida congressional seat was winnable. “It’s gonna be a healthy margin of victory on November third,” he told this reporter last month.
Kirschner—a third-generation Floridian, former Mayor of Sarasota, and once the youngest city commissioner in the history of the municipality—is not alone. Polling out of the newly gerrymandered Congressional District 16 is tight this week, and for good reason. The third-generation Floridian is on the trail with simple promises: lower the cost of living, protect Medicare and Medicaid, and keep developers in check as they build on the Gulf coast.
Gruters, for her part, continues to lean into her Trump endorsement and the fact that the seat was occupied by a household name Republican Vern Buchanan. A first time candidate with experience as a congressional aide, Gruters—like her husband Joe the chairman of the Republican National Committee—is a Trump loyalist who also made a more than $200,000 salary as the Executive Director of the New College Foundation.
A majority of Gruters’ campaign war chest comes from PACs connected to property insurers and data centers. Kirschner’s PAC donations are miniscule in comparison. His hunch about securing this seat just might be right.—Ray Roa
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This article appears in Oct. 22 – 28, 2026.
