Leadership Over Chaos: An Interview with General Leela Gray

Democrats are on the verge of flipping this Florida House seat.

This Republican administration’s corruption has made many of its members vulnerable, and that includes Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (FL-13) who currently represents much of Pinellas County on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Luna engages in classic Republican pay-to-play politics. She’s taken corporate PAC donations from Duke Energy while voting to deregulate energy companies and from the defense contractor Lockheed Martin while voting to support President Trump’s war in Iran. Billionaire donors like Paul Singer and Rex Sinquefield have funded the super PACs backing her campaign, as she voted to support the Republican megabill that gave those billionaires and corporations huge tax breaks.

There are also allegations of other kinds of corruption following Luna. For instance, Luna has invested as much as $500,000 in America First Natural Resources LLC, a company that was founded and is owned by one of her political donors. And The Wall Street Journal has also reported that Luna tipped off a MAGA influencer with insider information and allowed him to profit on betting markets, an allegation that Luna denies, along with the allegation that she profited from her government post.

Enough about Luna, though. The Democratic candidate for this seat is General Leela Gray. She’s a formidable candidate on her own terms. She’s a retired Army Brigadier General, a small business leader, lawyer, and mom who has lived in the Tampa Bay area for over thirty years. She’s taken End Citizens United’s Unrig Washington pledge and she’s running on “Leadership over chaos.”

Democracy News: Why are you running for Congress?

General Gray: I took an oath to the Constitution almost 40 years ago, and that oath included protecting and defending America. So, in late 2025, after watching so many horrendous actions being taken by this administration against the American people I felt I could no longer stand on the sidelines. I have the skill set, the experience, and the desire to serve this country.

I’ve never been in politics, and I never aspired to be in politics. But I’ve always aspired to serve. I served thirty years in uniform. I commanded four times. I deployed three times. I left my daughter with my husband for four and a half years over the course of her young life to serve our country. So, I understand what service over self truly means.

I’m on a mission for my neighbors and my country. Because this moment is too important. Our country is at a serious inflection point, and I want to lead the charge to bring us back to serving the American people.

Democracy News: What are you hearing from people in your district about how political corruption affects them?

General Gray: In our district, about 30% of voters are 65 years old and older, and they’re really being squeezed in a way they’ve never anticipated. People see the direct connection between these high costs and the fact that Congress, and that includes members like Rep. Luna, are rubber-stamping Trump and his oligarchs’ wishes, so there’s no check on war powers, there’s no check on the tariffs.

These issues of corruption do come up in conversation. It’s astronomical just to buy groceries or pay for insurance on a home. Two years ago, our community was hit with two hurricanes in five days. So, this cost-of-living crisis that’s gripping the nation is exacerbated right here in our district because of the costs of insurance. It’s not just the seniors who feel it, but they do feel it. Retirees who are living on a fixed income and drawing on their retirement accounts faster than they originally planned are scared and concerned. They feel left behind, like nobody cares, and they see the inherent unfairness of what’s happening. The rich are getting rich and the poor are getting poorer.

Democracy News: What would you prioritize to address the cost-of-living crisis when in Congress?

General Gray: When you have ship that’s sinking because it’s got a big hole in it, you need to plug the hole, but you also have to bail water so you don’t drown. But if you only focus on bailing the water, you’re never going to plug the hole. So, we have to do more than one thing at a time. When I’m in Congress, I’m going to lead the charge to attack this cost-of-living crisis head on, and there are three things we can do to do that.

The first thing: Stop the Iran war immediately. Trump and his sycophants, like Congresswoman Luna, have created this reckless war of choice that has directly impacted us in our wallets because of the cost of gas, but we have also destroyed relationships worldwide. We need to rebuild those relationships for our national security.

The second thing that we need to attack head on is the tariffs. We’re destroying relationships with our northern neighbor that we’ve had longstanding great relations. A lot of Canadians usually come to Florida, but they’re boycotting, they’re not coming and spending their money here. And then of course there’s the impact on household goods, lumber, which we need for paper and toilet paper. And then there’s the food prices.

The third thing we need to attack is the bad choices that were made by the bill passed last year that cut support for some of the most vulnerable, including food assistance for seniors and veterans and children, and gave that money to some of the wealthiest people and corporations. We need to restore the ACA subsidies. Right now, there’s a prediction that some Floridians will have their health insurance go up by $5,300 per year. That’s a lot for a lot of people, and it’s frankly just egregious.

So, we need to bail out water, and then we need to plug up the hole. I have an anti-corruption agenda, and campaign finance reform is a big part of that.

Democracy News: Can you talk about your anti-corruption agenda?

This is my first time in politics, and it’s just astounding how much money is flowing to curry favor and influence elections. We need to get rid of this dark money and big money in elections.

My anti-corruption agenda is grounded in the fact that when I was a senior leader in the military, we admirals and generals were held to a higher ethical standard than those in Congress. So, in essence, we are held to a higher ethical standard, including in terms of accountability, than those that can send us to die for our country. So, for example, if there’s a government shutdown and they’re suspending pay for military personnel, they should also suspend it for members of Congress. We also need to ban congressional stock trading. We need to end this culture of corruption.

Concern about corruption isn’t partisan. Republicans and Independents are coming up to me individually at these events, talking to me afterwards and saying they’re distraught, they’re concerned, and they’re fearful about what’s going on. They feel betrayed by this administration, and that includes Rep. Luna.

Democracy News: With everything that’s going on in the country right now, how are you coping?

I look at this as a mission. The essence of this campaign is really about my neighbors and our country. For thirty years, I was in uniform defending our country. I got into this because of everything that happened in 2025: purging of the military, purging of our inspectors general, of JAGs, the abuse of and misuse of the law, the ignoring of our Constitution. I am thinking of this campaign as a kind of deployment with a very specific mission, and because of that, I’m coping fine.

I am very determined and I refuse to let this country be dismantled because I have a twenty-five-year-old daughter and I need to fight for her and every twenty-five-year-old. I need to fight for every seventy-five-year-old out there, too.