Leela Gray brings veteran background to challenge Anna Paulina Luna in CD 13

A retired Brigadier General just launched a battle against U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna.

Democrat Leela Gray early on Tuesday filed against the Pinellas Republican. With Luna already targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Gray immediately emerged as a key candidate in the 2026 Midterm contest.

“I’ve always had a history of stepping up when there’s a need, it’s in my blood to solve problems and to be part of the solution and not part of the problem,” the Treasure Island Democrat said.

Luna first won election in 2022 and then won re-election in 2024, both times against nationally backed Democrats. But while she emerged as a darling of national conservative media figures, Gray said she senses Pinellas voters have grown tired of her partisan theatrics.

“Congressman Luna is not focused on the issues, and she hasn’t been in the last three years,” Gray said. “She’s forgotten her district, and we need somebody that’s going to put the needs of Pinellas County above their own agenda. I’ve lived an entire life of service over self, and I’m going to continue to do that.”

Gray is the ninth Democrat to file against Luna this cycle. But only one candidate so far, Earle Ford, raised more than $100,000 in 2025. That means the nomination remains competitive. And national Democrats have already signaled interest in Gray. Over a 30-year Army career, she rose to the rank of Brigadier General Army.

Gray served at the Department of State’s Global Engagement Center and as the Chief of Legislative Affairs for the U.S. Army Reserve. That makes her familiar with the workings of Washington and Capitol Hill. She brings particular policy expertise in the fields of cyber and information warfare.

“My entire background was all about getting things done and things getting done,” she said, noting her various leadership posts in the Army.

“Each one of those commands had a wide variety of people in those commands from a wide variety of backgrounds, and several of those commands were strewn throughout the United States,” she said.

“What I learned very early on was that you learn to work with people from a variety of backgrounds and from a variety of experiences, but if you focus on the fact that you actually have a problem to solve, you can get away from the incivility that’s going on and the distraction that is going on, and focus on the problem and come up with good solutions. That would be the same scenario in Congress.”

Gray earned a law degree from Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, within the district. But she said her family has been rooted in the Pinellas region for 22 years. She moved to the area when her daughter was 2 years old and went to college in Florida.

“We moved here from the Northern Virginia area, and just immediately fell in love with this, these communities,” Gray said. “I don’t ever want to leave, quite frankly. I’ve had, you know, have had the opportunity to go to other places, but I always come back.”

Now she hopes to represent the region in Congress.