Ana Paulina Luna and Whitney Fox have different opinions about why they didn’t debate in the race

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. – Anna Paulina Luna may be best known as a strong supporter of former President Trump. She was among the Republican congressmen who went to court to support him during his corruption trial.

“We have a very good relationship, you know I rely on him a lot with legislative negotiating tactics in Washington and he has proven to be helpful and effective,” Luna said.

But Luna also says she was able to work with President Biden to cut red tape for hurricane relief.

“If I was as extreme and crazy as they are trying to portray me, do you think Joe Biden would have a press conference with me? No, the answer would be no,” she said.

Whitney Fox is a Democrat who was director of communications and marketing for the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority. She says her focus is on affordability and the insurance crisis, as well as reproductive freedoms.

We met Fox on Treasure Island, one of the many areas in need of help recovering from the hurricanes.

“I am devastated to hear of so many local businesses who are doing really poorly at the moment. And especially in the wake of these storms, we need a leader who cares about the people in this community and actually advocates for them, Fox said.

Fox says Luna did nothing for her district in her first term in Congress.

“She’s causing chaos in DC. She has repeatedly voted against funding for FEMA and disaster relief. A few days after Helene attacked, she ran to North Carolina for a presidential town hall. “She has never held a town hall in Pinellas County,” Fox said.

But Luna says she has fulfilled every one of her campaign promises.

“And then recently, which is pretty cool, we were able to co-sponsor a bill that cuts taxes on tips and Social Security and also caps interest on student loans, which needs to happen,” Luna said.

What we’re not seeing in this race is a debate.

Fox: “Anna Paulina has refused to debate because she is afraid of being exposed as an extremist who wants to impose a statewide abortion ban without exception, she has voted against disaster relief for our community, and she has failed us by ignoring the affordability crisis . Whatever it is.” Why she’s never held a town hall meeting means she doesn’t deserve Pinellas County to show up, listen and deliver, and her refusal to debate is her latest attempt to evade public scrutiny.

Luna: “When I first ran during the Charlie Crist election, not a single station wanted to have a debate with me, and then I said, ‘Well, you know, I would be willing to debate someone if they were debating principles.’ want. But then we saw them.” I would call myself an extremist if you see what happened a few weeks ago. I actually had someone threaten to shoot up my office and their supporters doxxed my house where I have my child. So if you think I should debate someone like that, that’s not even more than 5% against me, not to mention she doesn’t even live in the district. I think you are wrong.