Florida's 13th congressional district is an

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

for the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South or the South Coast, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Tex ...

, assigned to

Pinellas County Pinellas County (, ) is located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 959,107, making it the seventh-most populous county in the state. It is also the most d ...

. See whole Florida state map for 2013, with the 13th district covering Sumter County, Hernando to Marion County:
-->ING2012/PUBLICCOMMENTS/h000c9047_35x42L.pdf h9047_35x42L.pdf
''Congressional Plan: H000C9047''. Chapter No. 2012-2, Laws of Florida. www.flsenate.gov. February 16, 2012. The district includes Largo, Clearwater, and Palm Harbor. In the 2020 redistricting cycle, most of

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

facing

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater i ...

was redistricted into the 14th district, while the rest of

formerly in the 12th district became included in the 13th district. From 2003 to 2012, it encompassed all of

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Ba ...

, DeSoto, and Hardee Counties; as well as most of

Manatee County Manatee County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 399,710. Manatee County is part of the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its county seat and largest ci ...

, 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.

Characteristics

2015 court-ordered redistricting

In July 2015 the

Florida Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Florida is the state supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven justices—one of whom serves as Chief Justice. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geog ...

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."Mary Ellen Klass, "Florida Supreme Court orders new congressional map with eight districts to be redrawn"
''Tampa Bay Times,'' July 9, 2015, February 11, 2016 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.

2022 DeSantis redistricting

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.

Composition

For the 118th and successive Congresses (based on redistricting following the 2020 census), the district contains all or portions of the following counties and communities: Pinellas County (37) : Bardmoor, Bay Pines, Bear Creek, Belleair, Belleair Beach,

Belleair Bluffs Belleair Bluffs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area, more commonly known as the Tampa Bay Area. The City of Belleair ...

, Belleair Shore, Clearwater,

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

, East Lake, Feather Sound (part; also 14th), Greenbriar, Gulfport, Harbor Bluffs, Indian Rocks Beach, Indian Shores, Kenneth City, Largo, Lealman (part; also 14th), Madeira Beach, North Redington Beach,

Oldsmar Oldsmar is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 14,898. The Oldsmar name dates to April 12, 1916, when automobile pioneer Ransom E. Olds purchased of land north of Tampa Bay to es ...

, Palm Harbor,

Pinellas Park Pinellas Park is a city located in central Pinellas County, United States. The population was 53,093 at the 2020 census. The city is the fourth largest city in Pinellas County. The City of Pinellas Park was incorporated in 1914. It is part of the ...

, Redington Beach, Redington Shores, Ridgecrest, Safety Harbor,

St. Pete Beach St. Pete Beach (formerly known as St. Petersburg Beach until 1994) is a coastal city in Pinellas County, Florida. Known as a tourist destination, St. Pete Beach was formed from the towns of Pass-a-Grille, Belle Vista, St. Petersburg Beach, and un ...

(part; also 14th),

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

, South Highpoint, South Pasadena,

Tarpon Springs Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and underwent beautification in 2010. It is part of the Tampa Bay area. The population was 25,117 at the 2020 census. As of ...

, Tierra Verde,

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure a ...

, West Lealman

List of members representing the district

Recent election results from statewide races

Election results

2002

2004

2006

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 The United States House Committee on House Administration deals with the general administration matters of the United States House of Representatives, the security of the United States Capitol, and federal elections. History The Committee on Ho ...

. Preliminary results from an investigation by Congress's

Government Accountability Office The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan government agency within the legislative branch that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the s ...

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. 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, 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.

2008

2010

2012

2014 (special)

The district's seat was vacated following the death of Bill Young. 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%.

2014

2016

2018

2020

2022

2024

References

* *
Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present

External links

Voting inquiry finds reasons to dig deeper
(

Sarasota Herald-Tribune The ''Sarasota Herald-Tribune'' is a daily newspaper, located in Sarasota, Florida, United States, founded in 1925 as the ''Sarasota Herald''. History The newspaper was owned by The New York Times Company from 1982 to 2012. It was then owned by ...

, August 4, 2007)
Congressional task force to begin investigating contested Florida 13 election.
(

The Bradenton Herald ''The Bradenton Herald'' is a newspaper based in Bradenton, Florida, in the United States. History On September 15, 1922, Volume 1, Number 1 was published as ''The Evening Herald''. It was a merger of two weekly papers: the ''Manatee River Jou ...

, March 31, 2007)
Congressional Republicans act to block Congressional Task Force slated to begin investigation into Florida 13.
(

, March 28, 2007)
Memo on voting machines "misfiled" by Kathy Dent's office.
(

, March 17, 2007)
People for the American Way Statement on Newly Revealed ES&S Memo on Possible Machine Malfunction.
(

People for the American Way People for the American Way (PFAW ) is a progressive advocacy group in the United States. Organized as a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, PFAW was registered in 1981 by the television producer Norman Lear, a self-described liberal who founde ...

, March 15, 2007)
August 2006 Memo from Elections Systems and Software warning Florida Supervisors of Elections of a response time issue on their iVotronics touchscreen voting systems.Sarasota: Could a Bug Have Lost Votes?
( Professor Ed Felten, February 27, 2006)
Software Review and Security Analysis of the ES&S iVotronic 8.0.1.2 Voting Machine Firmware, Final Report.
(Florida Department of State, February 2007)

January 19, 2007 * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061206020537/http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=6423 Analysis: Undervoted ballots heavily favored Democrats.(

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region, in the United States. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by pare ...

, November 22, 2006)
Buchanan declared winner; rival Jennings sues
(

, November 21, 2006)
Christine Jennings' "Complaint to Contest Election"
(Filed in Florida Court, November 20, 2006)
Sarasota County Electronic Ballot Screenshots
(Posted on The BradBlog, November 20, 2006)
Christine Jennings' web site.

Vern Buchanan's Congressional web site.
{{coord, 27, 51, 58, N, 82, 44, 54, W, region:US_type:city_source:kolossus-eswiki, display=title 13 1973 establishments in Florida