The veteran and educator’s candidacy is an extension of her personal experiences.
By Noah Bookstein
Original Air Date: August 12, 2026
Host: As the August 18 election approaches, we are continuing our candidate profile series. Today, we have Tamika Lyles. She is one of five Democrats running for Florida’s 16th Congressional District. WSLR News reporter Noah Bookstein spoke with Lyles about her background, her campaign and what she hopes to bring to the position.
Noah Bookstein: Tamika Lyles took this interview from her car just after an event with the Pinellas County Senior Caucus. Minutes earlier, she says, a veteran had pulled her aside to talk about the runaround he’d gotten trying to access his benefits. It’s the kind of story Lyles hears constantly—and one she says she understands better than most because she has lived it herself.
Tamika Lyles
Tamika Lyles: Just now, I had a veteran in there to tell me about how they’ve gone through so many issues with trying to obtain their veteran benefits, for example. These are things I know well because I’m a veteran as well.
NB: Lyles is a veteran and educator currently teaching at Lynn University in Boca Raton. She came to Florida in 2012 to take care of her father.
TL: My father had never been sick before. At the time, I was in law school, and my oldest son was graduating high school, and my father came in to come to the graduation. During that weekend, he had a stroke, and it opened my eyes. Being in healthcare, we see lots of things, and we know that there are lots of situations where people get sick at the drop of a hat. That’s why healthcare is so important. But you never really see it with those special eyes until it’s someone that is really close to you. It gave me a different perspective of just how fast things can change.
NB: Then her mother started having health issues and had to begin dialysis.
TL: So she receives dialysis three times a week, and without her secondary insurance, she would have to pay $20,000 a month just for her dialysis alone. There’s not a senior that I know of that can afford to pay $20,000 just for their health care.
NB: Later on, Lyles’ brother Shaw passed away. He was an army veteran.
TL: He had a heart attack and needed a medical device that cost more in one day than he made in a week, and he couldn’t afford it. The doctor sent him home without it, and then three weeks later, my brother passed away in his sleep.
NB: Her loss spurred her on towards action. Lyles started a nonprofit, Standing Heroes for Average Workers. The acronym spells out her brother’s name. The organization advocates on a variety of issues, including healthcare and VA benefits that Lyles says most elected officials never actually see up close.
TL: Elected officials are in D.C, and when they’re home, they’re not in the communities. A lot of times, they don’t know what the community truly wants—what issues are going on, and being talked about at kitchen tables. They don’t know. Standing Heroes was created to bridge that gap between the community and elected officials.
NB: Lyles says her congressional run is an extension of her advocacy work.
TL: I’m the candidate that they actually can look at a track record and see the work I’ve done. They can see that, well before there was ever a congressional candidate running for this district, I was first an advocate for over half my life.
NB: Florida’s District 16 leans Republican and was redrawn to help keep it that way. However, national Democrats feel the district is attainable. The party is prepared to pump money into the race, but they are waiting for the nominee to emerge after the August 18 primary. Although running in an uphill battle, Lyles says the issues do not stop at party lines.
Tamika Lyles (left)
TL: I knew it would be a challenge, and I’m a fighter, so that wasn’t going to scare me away. It doesn’t matter the party affiliation, race or ethnicity. It doesn’t matter about any of these things. When we go and we’re dealing with gas prices over $4 a gallon, we all feel that. The gas pumps aren’t asking us what party affiliation we are.
NB: On policy specifics, Lyles points to restoring the Affordable Care Act’s public option, protecting Medicare and Social Security, and expanding Medicaid to close Florida’s coverage gap.
TL: I would co-sponsor a bill for us bringing ACA back and putting back in the public option to to bring coverage back to the individuals that have lost it over the last year, year and a half with the intent of moving into universal health care.
NB: Lyles argues that to address the affordability crisis, we have to look at what’s being taken out of people’s earnings before they even go to the grocery store.
TL: If we remove these payments that a lot of people are having to pay, then they have more money in their pocket. That’s an issue. The jobs aren’t paying enough for them to pay back the student loans and live. That’s a huge issue. I’m in support of eliminating student loan debt to help people to have money to be able to sustain. I want to make sure that we put those incentives for solar back on the table so that people can obtain solar and have lower utility bills.
NB: Lyles spent a decade teaching U.S. and world history in Florida public schools. She says that experience shaped how she sees education funding today.
TL: If they send those kids back to public school, then the funds need to come with them so that the public school is no longer doing without.
NB: Lyles says she’s the first woman of color to qualify to run in District 16.
TL: We need to be asking ourselves, “Who do we want to have representing the Democratic Party?” Is it someone that is Republican-like but is going as a Dem, or do we want to have someone that we know is going to stand up and be a voice for the community despite what they’re going through? All of these things, I would want to do, and I probably could go on and on and on. I probably need to be president, I guess, because that’s the only way I could change everything.
NB: Reporting for WSLR News, Noah Bookstein.
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