| State: | Florida |
| District Number: | 13 |
| Image Caption: | Interactive map of district boundaries since January 3, 2023 |
| Representative: | Anna Paulina Luna |
| Party: | Republican |
| Residence: | St. Petersburg |
| English Area: | 429[1] |
| Distribution Ref: | [2] |
| Percent Urban: | 99.99 |
| Percent Rural: | 0.01 |
| Population: | 763,693[3] |
| Population Year: | 2022 |
| Median Income: | $65,785 |
| Percent White: | 74.0 |
| Percent Hispanic: | 11.1 |
| Percent Black: | 6.6 |
| Percent Asian: | 3.5 |
| Percent More Than One Race: | 4.1 |
| Percent Other Race: | 0.8 |
| Cpvi: | R+6[4] |
Florida's 13th congressional district is an electoral district for the U.S. Congress on Florida's Gulf Coast, assigned to Pinellas County.[5] [6] The district includes Largo, Clearwater, and Palm Harbor. In the 2020 redistricting cycle, most of St. Petersburg facing Tampa Bay was redistricted into the 14th district, while the rest of Pinellas County formerly in the 12th district became included in the 13th district.
From 2003 to 2012, it encompassed all of Sarasota, DeSoto, and Hardee Counties; as well as most of Manatee County, except for a small northern coastal portion that was then located in the neighboring 11th congressional district. It also included a small section of Charlotte County. Most of that district is now the 16th congressional district, while the current 13th covers most of what had been the 10th district from 1993 to 2013.
The district is currently represented by Republican Anna Paulina Luna.
In July 2015 the Florida Supreme Court overturned the boundaries of the state's congressional districts, ruling that "the maps were the product of an unconstitutional political gerrymandering". It expressed its distrust of lawmakers and "provided detailed instructions on how to repair the flawed map in time for the 2016 election."[7]
With the future of the boundaries of the district undetermined, the Republican Party may abandon it. This was where (under slightly different boundaries) William C. Cramer was elected to Congress, and he helped build the Republican Party in Florida and the South. He held office from 1954 to 1970. Republican C.W. Bill Young essentially represented the district from 1971 to his death in 2013. But demographics have continued to change, and more recently it has been a swing district. Several Democrats may be interested in running for the seat.
Despite the July 2015 Florida Supreme Court ruling overturning a blatantly redistricted congressional map, in which the 2012 legislature redrew Tampa's 14th District to include portions of the City of Saint Petersburg and black populations in southern Pinellas County, Governor DeSantis' administration redrew Pinellas County's 13th District to be exclusive of these known Democratic areas. Under the Fair Districts constitutional amendments that Florida voters approved in 2010, legislators are forbidden to draw districts that intentionally favor or disfavor incumbents or parties. In September of 2023 Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh determined the redistricting plan pushed by Ron DeSantis violated the state constitution and is prohibited from being used for any future U.S. congressional elections.[8]
| Representative | Party | Years | Cong ress | Electoral history | Congressional map | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District created January 3, 1973 | ||||||||
| align=left | William Lehman | Democratic | nowrap | January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1983 | Elected in 1972. Re-elected in 1974. Re-elected in 1976. Re-elected in 1978. Re-elected in 1980. Redistricted to the . | 1973–1983 | ||
| align=left | Connie Mack III | Republican | nowrap | January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1989 | Elected in 1982. Re-elected in 1984. Re-elected in 1986. Retired to run for U.S. Senator. | 1983–1993 | ||
| align=left | Porter Goss | Republican | nowrap | January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1993 | Elected in 1988. Re-elected in 1990. Redistricted to the . | |||
| align=left | Dan Miller | Republican | nowrap | January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2003 | Elected in 1992. Re-elected in 1994. Re-elected in 1996. Re-elected in 1998. Re-elected in 2000. Retired. | 1993–2003 | ||
| align=left | Katherine Harris | Republican | nowrap | January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2007 | Elected in 2002. Re-elected in 2004. Retired to run for U.S. Senator. | 2003–2013 | ||
| align=left | Vern Buchanan | Republican | nowrap | January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2013 | Elected in 2006. Re-elected in 2008. Re-elected in 2010. Redistricted to the . | |||
| align=left | Bill Young | Republican | nowrap | January 3, 2013 – October 18, 2013 | Redistricted from the and re-elected in 2012. Died. | 2013–2017 | ||
| Vacant | nowrap | October 18, 2013 – March 13, 2014 | ||||||
| align=left | David Jolly | Republican | nowrap | March 13, 2014 – January 3, 2017 | Elected to finish Young's term. Re-elected later in 2014. Lost re-election. | |||
| align=left | Charlie Crist | Democratic | nowrap | January 3, 2017 – August 31, 2022 | Elected in 2016. Re-elected in 2018. Re-elected in 2020. Retired and resigned to run for Governor of Florida. | 2017–2023 | ||
| Vacant | nowrap | August 31, 2022 – January 3, 2023 | ||||||
| align=left | Anna Paulina Luna | Republican | January 3, 2023 – present | 118th | Elected in 2022. | 2023–present | ||
| Year | Results | |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | George W. Bush 55% – Al Gore 45%[9] | |
| 2004 | George W. Bush 56% – John Kerry 44% | |
| 2008 | John McCain 52% – Barack Obama 47% | |
| 2012 | Barack Obama 50% – Mitt Romney 49% | |
| 2016 | Hillary Clinton 50% – Donald Trump 46% | |
| 2020 | Joe Biden 51% – Donald Trump 47% |
Election officials certified Buchanan as the winner of the race over Jennings by 369 votes. Buchanan was declared the winner after a mandatory recount and analysis of alleged voting machine errors in the race. The primary controversy in this race was that over 18,000 ballots (or roughly one in six) cast in Sarasota County apparently did not register a vote for this race, far higher than in the two previous elections involving Jan Schneider, but lower than the undervote in 2000. Sarasota County voted for Jennings by a six-point margin. Jennings refused to concede the race and pursued administrative and legal challenges to the result, including an appeal for an investigation of the election with the House Administration Committee.[10] Preliminary results from an investigation by Congress's Government Accountability Office concluded that there was no evidence that the voting machines caused the high undervote, but that inadequate testing made it impossible to prove their complete reliability.[11] Sarasota County has since moved to optical scanned paper ballots as a result of a 2006 referendum vote.
According to a statistical study published in 2008,[12] the missing votes were caused by the ballot screen layout. The authors' best estimate on what the result would have been, had this problem not occurred, gave victory to Jennings at a 99.9% confidence level, and a mean margin of victory for her of 639 votes.
The district's seat was vacated following the death of Bill Young.[13] A special election was held on March 11, 2014 to replace him. The election was won by Republican David Jolly with 48.52% of the vote over one-time gubernatorial candidate Democrat Alex Sink's 46.64% and Libertarian candidate Lucas Overby's 4.84%.