ORLANDO, Fla. – Former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings announced on Monday she is running for Florida's 10th Congressional District. Demings will be running against Congressman Dan Webster. This is the second time she will be running against the Republican incumbent for the District 10 seat.
[WATCH: Local 6's Erica Rakow's full interview with Val Demings]
Demings sat down with Local 6 Tuesday morning to discuss her decision to run again. She says she's wiser than she was 4 years ago. She told Local 6 that the redrawing of district lines by the Florida Legislature will help her chances of winning but won't affect her campaign.
"I'm going to win. I'm going to win because I am a better candidate," said Demings.
Demings says she's taken the last few years to travel, meet people, speaking and working towards the moment where she'd announce she's taking another stab at a congressional run against the same candidate that beat her once before.
"Ran in a gerrymandered district then. Of course it didn't work out but I came within 3.5 percentage point," said Demings while discussing her election experience in 2012.
This time around, the Democrat has redistricting on her side. Legislators are currently in the middle of a special session where they're drawing a new congressional map. District 10 currently reaches Orange County and also includes a large portion of predominantly white Lake County and Northeastern Polk County. The proposed map would pull in several large African American communities from District 5 which is currently represented by Corrine Brown.
Just last week, Congressman Webster asked legislators to vote the changes down saying it would be impossible for a Republican to re-win the seat. Demings says the redistricting did not motivate her to run again and that she'll follow through with the race regardless of what happens in Tallahassee.
"I thought it was interesting to hear the Congressman say that the map was unconstitutional because I really felt the same way, I was saying the same words in 2012, that the map that his friends in Tallahassee drew for him, I too, thought that was unconstitutional," said Demings.
Local 6 asked Congressman Webster for a response to Demings' announcement. His office told us he's focused on serving his constituents and representing the Central Florida residents who have entrusted him to be their voice in Washington for the past 4 years.
Val Demings is married to Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings. She ran for Orange County mayor against Teresa Jacobs, but dropped out of the race in May 2014.
Val Demings served as Orlando's police chief -- the first woman to hold the position -- from 2007 to 2011.