running as an Independent in a three-way race with Republican nominee (and eventual winner) Marco Rubio and former Democratic U.S. Representative Kendrick Meek, who won 37% and 16.8% of the Pinellas vote, respectively. Statewide, Rubio won almost 49% of the vote to Crist's 29.7% and Meek's 20% in a highly polarized election that would witness Crist depart from the Republican Party and eventually become a Democrat. Portions of Pinellas fall into Florida's 12th and 13th congressional districts, served by Republican Gus Bilirakis and Democrat Crist. Previously, a large slice of Pinellas, including much of St. Petersburg, had been in the Tampa-based 14th District. A court-ordered remap merged most of the 14th's share of Pinellas into the 13th. This enabled Crist to defeat Republican incumbent David Jolly in the 2016 election, breaking a 62-year GOP hold on what is now the 13th. In state politics, portions of Pinellas are represented in the Florida Senate by Democratic State Senator Arthenia Joyner (District 19) and Republican State Senators Jack Latvala (District 20) and Jeff Brandes (District 22). In the Florida House parts of the county are represented by Republicans James Grant (District 64), Chris Sprowls (District 65), Larry Ahern (District 66), Chris Latvala (District 67), and Kathleen Peters (District 69) and Democrats Dwight Dudley (District 68) and Darryl Rouson (District 70). Voter registration Education Primary and secondary education The entire county is served by the Pinellas County School District. The current superintendent is Dr. Michael Grego. The district, the nation's 24th largest, comprises 143 schools, including 72 elementary schools, 18 middle schools, 2 K-8 schools, 17 high schools, and 35 additional facilities including ESE, adult ed, career/technical, and charters. The district also operates the K-12 Pinellas Virtual School. Among the many notable magnet programs in the district are three International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, at St. Petersburg High School, Palm Harbor University High School, and Largo High School, Project Lead the Way's (PLTW) engineering program at East Lake High School, the Center for Advanced Technologies (CAT) at Lakewood High School, the Pinellas County Center for the Arts (PCCA) at Gibbs High School, three middle school Centers for Gifted Studies, at Thurgood Marshall Fundamental, Morgan Fitzgerald, and Dunedin Highland Middle Schools, and Florida's only Fundamental High School, at Osceola High School. The county is also home to many private schools, including Admiral Farragut Academy, Canterbury School, Calvary Christian, Clearwater Central Catholic, Keswick Christian School, Shorecrest