Spectrum News 13 and Spectrum Bay News 9 are teaming up with AARP to air candidate conversations featuring contenders in two closely watched Florida congressional races ahead of next month’s Primary.
The one-hour programs will spotlight candidates running in Florida’s 11th and 16th Congressional Districts and will air at 7 p.m. on July 22 and July 29, respectively. The conversations will be prerecorded at the stations’ studios and moderated by Spectrum anchors Holly Gregory and Ybeth Bruzual.
The CD 16 conversation will feature Republicans Sydney Gruters and Eddie Speir and Democrats Jon Harris, Kelly Kirschner, Tamika Lyles, Glenn Pearson and Jan Schneider. No-party candidate Mark Davis will also take part.
Gruters, the wife of Republican National Committee Chair and state Sen. Joe Gruters, is viewed as the front-runner in CD 16, which opened up this cycle after longtime U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan announced he wouldn’t seek an 11th term representing the seat. Notably, Sydney Gruters has received endorsements from Buchanan and President Donald Trump.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee put CD 16 to its “Districts in Play” list after redistricting looped a Democratic-leaning chunk of Pinellas. The seat now encompasses all of Manatee County and parts of Pinellas, DeSoto, Hardee, Polk and Sarasota counties — but most election forecasters rate it as a GOP hold.
The CD 11 conversation will feature Republicans Carey Baker, Ivette Palomo, Nizam Razack and Tim Wilkins; Democrats James Pericola, Royal Webster II and Dan Williams; and Libertarian Ralph Groves. Notably absent from the list is Joe Strada, a Republican who has seeded his campaign with a $5 million loan and racked up some notable endorsements, including a recent nod from Attorney General James Uthmeier.
The field is competing to succeed Republican U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster, another longtime member of the Florida delegation who announced his retirement earlier this year. Similar to CD 16, the Central Florida-based seat is expected to remain red. Trump carried the district over Kamala Harris 57%-42% last cycle.
The conversations will air on Spectrum Bay News 9 and Spectrum News 13 — channel 9 in the Tampa Bay media market and channel 13 in the Orlando market, respectively — and will also be available to stream through the Spectrum News app, which is available for Xumo Stream Box and Roku devices as well as the Apple App Store and Google Play.
