Primary Results Yield Political Surprises

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — Anna Paulina Luna admits the odds were stacked against her when she entered Florida's 13th Congressional District race a year ago, a seat held by the well-known former Florida governor and two-term congressman Charlie Crist.

The St. Petersburg Republican was told she was too young, too inexperienced and lacked the political connections and resources needed for a successful run for a congressional seat.

But, the 31-year-old Air Force veteran of Mexican descent was raised by a single mother in a low-income neighborhood in Southern California surrounded by gangs, homelessness and drugs. It was there that she learned to overcome the most daunting obstacles.

"Most looked at me as the underdog," said Luna of her race for the congressional seat. "I was sabotaged, blockaded, attacked, publicly slandered and lied about. Yet I still fought, and I fought hard."

The results of that hard work scrolled across television news screens Tuesday night as Luna garnered 22,930 of the 62,000 ballots cast to win the Republican nomination for the seat to be decided in the general election Nov. 3.

In the upset of the night, Luna won over lobbyist and former Senate staff member Amanda Makki, veteran and retired firefighter George Buck and former attorney and GOP leader Sheila Griffin.

Her victorious evening culminated with a tweet of congratulations from President Donald Trump.

That wasn't the only surprise of the evening.

In a close race, 15th congressional district Incumbent, attorney Ross Spano, R-Riverview, lost to Lakeland City Councilman Scott Franklin by less than 1,500 votes. Franklin garnered 51.23 percent or 30,718Republican votes to Spano's 48.77 percent or 29,240 votes.

Pundits attribute the loss to the fact that the U.S. Department of Justice and the Florida Bar are investigating Spano for campaign finance violations during his 2018 run for office. Complaints to the Federal Elections Commission and the Office of Congressional Ethics allege Spano illegally loaned his campaign $180,000 that was borrowed from two friends.

The 15th congressional district, which includes most of Polk County and east Hillsborough County, sits smack in the middle of the Interstate 4 corridor, America's battleground for swing voters.

The district has long been a Republican stronghold. Prior to Spano's election, the seat was occupied by Republican Dennis Ross since 2011.

However, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee listed the district among the seats they hope to flip during the 2020 election. So Tuesday's Democratic primary run for the seat was among those closely watched by party leaders.

When all ballots were tallied, former award-winning television journalist Alan Cohn was declared the winner with 40.99 percent or 21,060 votes.

His closest opponent was Adam Hattersley, a first-term Florida state representative, who received 33 percent or 16,953 votes