Now, looking ahead to 2026, Harden Hall believes she’s in a stronger position to win the district, which includes portions of Orange and Lake counties as well as Polk, Sumter, Citrus, Hernando and Marion counties. “It’s just a bigger, better campaign to tackle Florida’s longest-serving politician,” she said.

Webster, 76, who served in the Florida Legislature from 1980 to 2008, was elected to Congress in 2010. Representatives, who earn $36,986 annually, serve two year-terms, and the congressman has filed to run again.

That baffled Harden Hall. “I truly did not think he was going to run again when Day One of being sworn in for the 119th Congress, he missed 40 percent of the votes,” she said. “I was like, He’s done. When you can’t even show up for all of the votes on Day One.”  

Among the Republican House Representatives who miss the most votes, GovTrack ranked Webster number 16 in the 117th Congress during which he missed 7.6 percent of the votes and 73rd in the 118th Congress where he missed 3.3 percent. Meanwhile, the Center for Effective Lawmaking from the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University, named Webster the least effective Florida lawmaker in terms of getting legislation passed.

“Unfortunately, I just don’t think that he’s willing to do what needs to be done for this district,” Harden Hall said. “He’s not showing up for the people. He’s not willing to do town halls and meet face-to-face with regular everyday people who actually need and want a voice in D.C. Especially at a time like this when he voted for the Big Beautiful Bill. Right now we’re going through a shutdown over the ACA [Affordable Care Act] tax credit. There are 18.9 percent of people within District 11 who have those tax [credits] or are on an ACA healthcare [plan]. So we’re talking about 170,000 people in this district are going to have their health insurance premiums double.”

Harden Hall said that includes her family as well. “My family receives a tax credit of $1,600 a month.”

VoxPopuli reached out to the Webster campaign for comment but did not get a response. We’ll update the story if we do.

In addition to ACA tax credits, Harden Hall is focusing on prescription medications that allow drug-makers to earn profits to continue to research and innovate, but aren’t so expensive that they break the bank; Medicare coverage that includes vision, dental, hearing tests; a payroll tax cap on social security; and opportunities for lowering the interest on federal student loans because she said that often the loan has been paid back “and it’s the interest that’s killing us.”

She said that fighting for democracy and stopping President Trump’s executive power grabs are “important” — Harden Hall attended the Clermont’s No Kings protest Saturday where she told the crowd that taking back the House would “put up a huge guard rail to Donald Trump.”

Still, her attention remains on her core issues. “I can’t focus on every new chaotic thing that’s coming out of Washington because that’s Washington during a Trump presidency. It’s just chaos,” she said. “I want to make sure we work on the things that the people of this district actually really need.”

Two crowded primaries

There’s no guarantee Harden Hall will face Webster in the general election in November 2026. She was unopposed in 2024, but this time, two other Democrats have jumped into the race: Dan Williams of Orlando and Royal Webster of Winter Garden (no relation to the congressman).

Webster has three primary challengers of his own: Libertarian Party candidate Ralph Groves of Ocoee; and Republicans Chanelle Krisette Barnes of Clermont and Mike Wilau of Howey in the Hills. Though if past is prologue, Webster bested his 2024 primary opponent by 77 percent and, in a 2022 squeaker, fended off a challenge by right-wing provocateur and current Trump advisor Laura Loomer, by 51 percent.

Still, whoever ends up on the Republican ticket for District 11, Harden Hall said having gone through one campaign, she’s better equipped to run again.

“I have a better understanding of what I need to do,” said Harden Hall who recently received her bachelor’s degree in political science with a focus on American politics and public administration from Troy University. “I actually have a team behind me where last year I did it all by myself. I did not have any staff. I just basically couldn't afford it.”

She also has name recognition and a decent following on social media. “Most people come up to me and say I know you through social media.” She even caught the attention of Republican Party of Florida higher-ups, like Chair Evan Power who regularly snipes at her on X, formerly Twitter.  

“People are telling me, No, that’s not normal, I don’t know why they’re so focused on you. That doesn’t happen. It still baffles me because it doesn’t make any sense.”

In June, as Tropical Storm Barry was forming in the Gulf of Mexico, Harden Hall tweeted, “Karma would be a direct hit to Alligator Alcatraz.” She meant, she told VoxPopuli, that the detention camp — a hastily built tent facility that cost roughly $225 million to construct — was a waste of taxpayer money because it could be easily destroyed by a hurricane. But the blowback was fierce. “The next thing you know, they got the Florida GOP like Oh, you’re wishing harm and death on Floridians. To this day, every time I post something, [Power will] be like, Are you still wishing death on Floridians? ”

VoxPopuli reached out to Power to ask about his tweets to Harden. But although we tried to connect with him via email and left messages at the RPOF headquarters in Tallahassee, we did not hear back from him.

Snubbed by Webster

It’s part of Harden Hall’s origin story now that the mom of four lost her 2-year-old son Everett in 2021 to metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), a rare genetic disease that causes progressive decline in cognitive and motor functions.

She was advocating on behalf of families with children with MLD and other rare fatal illnesses as a member of the Rare Disease Legislative Advocates, part of the Everylife Foundation for Rare Diseases, when she went to Washington, D.C. to meet with legislators. But when she tried to arrange a meeting with Webster, neither he or anyone on his staff would see her, even though she was a constituent who wanted to talk to the pro-family politician about raising awareness about the disease her child died from.

“They never responded, never scheduled the meeting,” she told VoxPopuli during last year’s campaign. “I was basically told he never does that because if you don't serve some kind of benefit for him, then the meetings just won't happen,” she said. “And to me, that just is not how it should be.”

When she learned Webster didn’t have a Democratic challenger, she jumped into the race herself.

Somehow she turned Webster’s snub into a rallying cry against Washington indifference. She told her story again at the Saturday No Kings rally in Clermont. At the end of it, she said, “I’ve had people say, Do you expect me to vote for you because something horrible happened to you? She said no. But she explained that she hoped she’d earn those votes because people would know they’d encounter someone who understands what it’s like to come to your representative and say I need your help.

While Harden Hall's own request went unheard, she doesn’t want her experience to be repeated.

“That’s the job,” she said.