Leela Gray

Leela Gray worked as a babysitter, lifeguard, restaurant waitress and McDonald's employee before becoming an Army general.¹ The oldest of three children, she watched her parents struggle to keep their small business going and sometimes rely on food assistance.¹ She and her husband raised their daughter in the Tampa Bay area.¹

Gray was the first in her family to attend college, working two jobs before Army ROTC helped pay her tuition at Elon University.¹ She spent a decade on active duty before joining the Army Reserve and combining military service with civilian work in technology and communications.¹ Her military career spanned thirty years and three deployments.¹

Her service included the Army Central command, where she was a brigadier general and director of the Army Reserve Engagement Cell.² She also worked at the State Department and later advised Army Cyber Command.¹ In civilian life, she has mentored business founders and helped create a local television program highlighting veterans' skills and employment.¹

Gray is the Democratic nominee challenging Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna in Florida's 13th District.³ Her campaign proposes banning congressional stock trading, imposing congressional term limits and permanently barring former members from corporate lobbying.³ She also emphasizes protecting Social Security and Medicare, lowering healthcare costs and curbing corporate purchases of housing.⁴