Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp has filed to run for the seat in Florida's 15th Congressional District, which is currently held by Republican U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee.
One other Democrat, Kris Fitzgerald, has also filed. An independent candidate is also in the race, Alexander Peterson.
The Cook Political Report does not list CD 15 in its competitive districts, but Kemp said she believes it is winnable by the right Democrat. The electorate is about 34.6% Republican, compared to about 33.3% Democratic, according to the most recent L2 voter data. Another nearly 30% of voters in the district are nonpartisan, meaning Kemp's assessment may be accurate.
Historically though, Democrats have not been successful in the district, which spans parts of east Hillsborough County and into Polk County, including Lakeland.
Kemp, a Democrat, filed for the race on Friday, according to the Federal Election Commission. Kemp told the Tampa Bay Times ahead of her announcement Saturday that she was recruited to run for the seat by both national and state-based Democratic groups.
Lee has already raised nearly $582,000 for the race, with about $438,000 of that still on hand, according to campaign finance data filed with the Federal Election Commission. Her husband, former state Sen. Tom Lee, also has remaining campaign funds that could be used to help his wife's re-election.
Peterson has not yet filed any campaign finance reports and Fitzgerald has raised just over $17,000.
Kemp told the Times she has already spoken with prospective donors and believes she has "the opportunity to compete financially."
The opportunity may be ripe for Democrats to flip a district that has long been elusive. Former President Donald Trump, now the GOP's presumptive nominee in the 2024 Presidential Election, recently called on someone to run against Lee in the GOP Primary.
It's a move that he made after she had supported Gov. Ron DeSantis in the GOP Presidential Primary. While she has since backed Trump, the former President isn't one to forget a slight.
If Lee draws a Primary challenger, it will force her to spend campaign cash just to get to the General Election, and could also force her further to the right, which could give Democrats an opening among independent and moderate voters.
Kemp is term-limited in her current seat on the Hillsborough County Commission. She began work in politics as an aide to U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor when she served on the Hillsborough County Commission. Kemp later chaired the Hillsborough County Democratic Party.
Kemp was first elected to County Commission in 2016, winning a crowded Democratic Primary and going on to defeat Republican Tim Schock in the General Election. She had run for Commission two years earlier, but lost to then-incumbent Commissioner Al Higginbotham.
One of Kemp's most impressive feats, however, might have come in 2020, the last time she was on a ballot. Then, she ran and won against longtime Republican Commissioner Sandy Murman, and both were technically incumbents (Commissioners often seat swap to avoid term limits, moves that can often pit colleagues against one another).
Kemp hasn't said what her focus will be in a congressional race, but in the past she has been a vocal proponent for transit, strongly backing various efforts to impose a sales tax for regional transportation and transit improvements.
Kemp has experience working in both a majority and minority. When she joined the Commission in 2016, Republicans had the majority. That changed in 2018 when Democrats flipped control, and then expanded their majority in 2020.
But in 2022, amid what turned out to be a red wave in Florida despite Democratic overperformances elsewhere in the country, Republicans reclaimed their majority.
Kemp, partly based on her ability to govern from the minority, ranked in Florida Politics' list of Most Powerful Politicians in the Tampa Bay area last year. At the time, political insiders described her as resilient and focused, as well as having a "handle on unwieldy policy issues."
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