Eric Lynn campaign hits 1 millionth outreach attempt in canvassing efforts to win CD 13

Eric Lynn notches up more solid endorsements.

Democratic nominee Eric Lynn has announced his campaign has made over 1 million outreach attempts to voters, including calls, texts and doors knocked, as he hopes to win the race in Florida’s 13th Congressional District against Republican Anna Paulina Luna.

Lynn’s campaign has been building momentum since June, ramping up efforts in the last two months and honing in on abortion rights after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“The grassroots energy of this race has been palpable since early this year,” Lynn’s campaign manager, Andrew Bernucca, said in a statement. “But it really ramped up after the Dobbs decision and self-identified extremist Anna Luna won the GOP primary without a majority of the Republican base.”

Lynn’s campaign has been working hard to appeal to nonpartisan voters, as well as moderate Republicans, highlighting his Luna’s strong views on abortion limitations.

“The Dobbs decision brought so many young women into the fold who were ready to fight for their rights and their freedoms. Luna’s victory brought even moderate Republicans into the fold who are ready to keep the Pinellas tradition of rejecting extremism and electing common sense centrist leaders.”

While Lynn did not have a Primary opponent, Luna won the GOP August Primary with 44% of the vote, defeating fellow Republican Kevin Hayslett.

“Every day my team and I talk to Republican voters — on the phone, at the doors, or at events — who tell us there’s no way they’d vote for Luna,” Lynn added. “I can’t even count how many Republicans have told me, ‘You’re the first Democrat I’ve ever voted for.’”

The race between Lynn and Luna is expected to be tight. The pair are running to replace former U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, who left office earlier this year as he focused his efforts on running for Governor.

“I come from the Barack Obama school of campaigns,” Lynn said in a statement.

“We were taught that you need to contact voters directly multiple times throughout the election. That’s what we’ve done on this campaign, there are voters who we’ve reached out to over 15 times to continue making our case because that’s what it takes to make sure everyone — Democrats, Republicans, and Independent NPA’s — knows we need to stand together as moderates and reject extremism in Pinellas.”

Luna ran against Crist two years ago unsuccessfully, at a time when the district favored Democrats. Redistricting shifted district boundaries northward, giving the district a red lean.

The newly drawn district has nearly 31,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats, with 208,668 GOP voters and 178,023 Democrats, according to the latest L2 voter data. Another 164,112 voters are registered without party affiliation.

It’s a key race for both parties as Democrats fight to keep the district blue in an election year that, by most analyses, is likely to flip control of the House to a Republican majority. Meanwhile, CD 13 is a key pickup opportunity for Republicans as they pursue that goal.

A poll last week showed the candidates locked in a dead heat at 47% support each. While that David Binder Research poll showed a tie, momentum may be on Lynn’s side. Lynn gained 2 percentage points since August, when he posted just 45% support in a survey by the same pollster. Luna, meanwhile, slipped in the poll, from 48% support in August to 47% last week.

In the most recent poll, Lynn led among independent voters with 48% support to Luna’s 43%.