Florida's 13th congressional district encompasses all of Sarasota, DeSoto, and Hardee County, and most of Manatee County, except for a small northern coastal portion in District 11. It also includes a small section of Charlotte County. It is currently represented by Republican Vern Buchanan.

In the 2006 election, election officials certified Republican businessman Vern Buchanan as the winner of the race over Democratic candidate, banker Christine Jennings by 369 votes. Buchanan was declared the winner after a mandatory recount and analysis of alleged voting machine errors in the race. The primary controversy in this race is that over 18,000 ballots, roughly 1 in 6, cast in Sarasota County apparently did not register a vote for this race, far higher than the usual number of "undervotes." Sarasota County voted for Jennings by a 6 point margin. Jennings has not conceded the race, and is pursuing administrative and legal challenges to the result, including filing an appeal for an investigation of the election with the House Administration Committee.^[1]

• Congressional task force to begin investigating contested Florida 13 election. (The Bradenton Herald, March 31, 2007)
• Congressional Republicans act to block Congressional Task Force slated to begin investigation into Florida 13. (The Sarasota Herald Tribune, March 28, 2007)
• Memo on voting machines "misfiled" by Kathy Dent's office. (The Sarasota Herald Tribune, March 17, 2007)
• People for the American Way Statement on Newly Revealed ES&S Memo on Possible Machine Malfunction. (People for the American Way, March 15, 2007)

• August 2006 Memo from Elections Systems and Software warning Florida Supervisors of Elections of a response time issue on their iVotronics touchscreen voting systems.
• Sarasota: Could a Bug Have Lost Votes? (Professor Ed Felten, The Freedom to Tinker Blog, February 27, 2006)
• Jennings Campaign: State Audit of Sarasota Voting System Flawed, Incomplete. (Christine Jennings Campaign, February 23, 2007)
• Software Review and Security Analysis of the ES&S iVotronic 8.0.1.2 Voting Machine Firmware, Final Report. (Florida Department of State, February, 2007)
• Affidavit by Clare Ward-Jenkins, poll worker in Precinct 14, Sarasota County. (VoterOversight.org, January 19, 2007)
• Analysis: Undervoted ballots heavily favored Democrats. (The Orlando Sentinel, November 22, 2006)
• Buchanan declared winner; rival Jennings sues (The Miami Herald, November 21, 2006)
• Sarasota County Electronic Ballot Screenshots (Posted on The BradBlog, November 20, 2006)