Democrat Charlie Justice will end a decade-long state legislative career to challenge C.W. Bill Young for Congress. “The decisions made in Washington D.C. more and more impact our daily lives and  that’s what drew me to public service in the first place,’’ said the 39-year-old state senator from St. Petersburg. “We need people in Washingtonthat understand their decisions have real impact on the families and small businesses here.”

Young, 78, could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening but told the St. Petersburg Times earlier this month says he has no plans to retire after his 20th term in Congress. He won’t make any decision until next year, however.

Either way, Justice says he’s in: "If he decides to retire after 40 years in Washington, we’ll thank him for his service and if he decides to run again, we’ll have a healthy debate,’’ said Justice, an academic adviser at the University of South Florida.

Running against Young is entirely different than running for an open seat, however. The 10th Congressional District stretching from St.Petersburg to Dunedin.has been increasingly trending Democratic – Barack Obama won it by 5 percentage points – but Young is a political institution who has funneled many millions of dollars into the region. In the Democratic wave of 2008, Young, beat Dunedin Mayor Bob Hackworth by more than 20 percentage points