Lakewood Ranch voters will pick a new member of Congress on Nov. 3 after redistricting placed all of Manatee County inside Florida's redrawn 16th Congressional District.

Republican Sydney Gruters, Democrat Kelly Kirschner and no-party-affiliation candidate Mark Davis are competing to replace U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, who announced in January that he is retiring after representing the area since 2007. The new district map, approved by the Florida Legislature and signed into law in May, covers all of Manatee, DeSoto and Hardee counties plus portions of Pinellas, Sarasota and Polk counties.

All three candidates appeared at a virtual forum Wednesday hosted by the League of Women Voters of Manatee County and the League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area, MySuncoast reported. Veteran journalist Trevor Pettiford moderated.

Gruters and Kirschner win primaries, draw endorsements

Gruters is a former aide to Buchanan and served as Florida's USDA rural development director during President Donald Trump's first term. She later led the New College Foundation as executive director. She is married to Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters. She won the Aug. 18 Republican primary with about 63.5% of the vote, according to unofficial results reported by Bay News 9. Trump endorsed her in March.

Her campaign has emphasized cutting taxes and regulations, border security, lowering the cost of living and supporting veterans. At the forum, she pointed to two decades in public service as preparation for the job.

"As a mother and as someone who has worked in public service for the last 20 years, I know what goes into this job," Gruters said.

Kirschner, a former Sarasota city commissioner and mayor, won the Democratic primary with about 43% of the vote, defeating four challengers. A third-generation Floridian and Cardinal Mooney High School graduate, he earned degrees from Georgetown University and spent nearly four years in the Peace Corps in Guatemala, according to The Bradenton Times, which has endorsed him.

His campaign focuses on lowering costs, health care, affordable housing and protecting the Gulf Coast. At the forum, Kirschner said voters' frustration with high prices, and what he called its connection to politics and corruption, drove him to run.

Kirschner has also drawn crossover Republican support. Manatee County Commissioner George Kruse, former Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Miller, Longboat Key Town Commissioner B.J. Bishop and Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth were among the Republicans who endorsed him at a Sept. 15 event in Bradenton, The Bradenton Times reported.

Davis runs as outsider despite July arrest

Davis, 42, describes himself as a U.S. Air Force veteran and business owner running without party affiliation. His campaign centers on economic pressures facing families, health care, immigration and crime. As of late July, he had more than 105,000 Instagram followers and more than 80,000 on Facebook, according to Patch.

The Manatee County Sheriff's Office arrested Davis in late July on a charge of obstruction without violence during a welfare check at his Parrish home, Patch reported. He was released the same day on a $500 bond. Davis said on social media that he had faced repeated false reports to law enforcement and death threats during the campaign, and that he would stay in the race. The current status of the charge is unclear.

How and when to vote

Both Inside Elections and the Cook Political Report rated the seat "solid Republican" as of August.

Florida's voter registration deadline is Oct. 5. In both Manatee and Sarasota counties, the deadline to request a mail ballot is 5 p.m. Oct. 22, and early voting runs Oct. 19 through Nov. 1. Early voting hours are 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily in Manatee County and 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily in Sarasota County. More than 77,000 vote-by-mail ballots have already gone out to Sarasota County voters, MySuncoast reported.