- You must be registered to vote by Monday, Feb. 6.
- Early voting commences on Monday, Feb. 27 and ends on Sunday, March 5.
- The deadline to request a mail-in ballot for Tampa’s 2023 municipal election is Saturday, Feb. 25.
Gerri Kramer, spokesperson for Hillsborough’s Supervisor of Elections, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that about 14,000 people have requested a mail-in ballot this go around, compared to more than 58,000 who did so in 2019 during Tampa’s last municipal election. That’s not a good sign for a municipality where just 48,972 (or 20.6%) of the 237,752 eligible voters turned in a ballot in the 2019 election.
"Voters can still request through Feb. 25," Kramer added, "but we recommend they don't wait that long."
Early voting begins on Feb. 27
Election Day is Tuesday, March 7
votehillsborough.gov
A lot’s at stake this year, too, and if you’re the type to tell your friends at the bar that local elections affect their lives more than national ones do, then it’s time to get up to speed and spread the word.
Last month, CL sent a 16-question survey to every qualified candidate seeking to unseat an incumbent on Tampa City Council.
Some questions were simple and asked whether you call your neighbor a Tampanian or Tampeño, or if the city’’s flag needs a revamp. Others required more nuance on issues regarding developers suing the city when they don’t get their way, more oversight powers for the police citizens review board, rent control, and even a controversial candidate survey sent out by Tampa’s police union.
As this went to press, we’d received nine thoughtful responses from the majority of candidates who’ve posted money in their latest campaign report. Even Mike Suarez, who entered the race at the last minute, filled the survey out. Notably, Janet Cruz—the ousted state Senator and mother of Mayor Jane Castor’s partner Ana—did not return our survey despite her desire to run in District 3 where incumbent Lynn Hurtak has butted heads with the mayor on several issues.
We’ve uploaded each candidate’s full response (click on their name to see a PDF), and included parts of them in this update on the 2023 Tampa Municipal Election. Look for endorsements later this month.
And by the way, if any of the races require it, a runoff would happen on April 25, with early runoff voting happening April 17-23.
Mayor
Jane Castor drew just one opponent: Belinda Noah, a write-in who previously unsuccessfully ran in a circuit court and U.S. Senate race. Castor’s a shoe-in, which is notable because the mayor has clashed with city council over a myriad of issues including the Castor’s role in police policy that led to two federal investigations, plus the mishandling of the Hanna City Center bid, relationships with developers, wastewater treatment plans, the selection of a police chief, and more.
Cruz, who’s running against the aforementioned Hurtak, has said she’d be a unifying force on council, but did not elaborate on what that exactly means. If voters elect council members less likely to challenge the mayor, citizens who’re unhappy with their city may run into a legislative body not willing to stick its neck out to speak on behalf of the people.
District 1
In this citywide race, the incumbent and city council chair, Joe Citro, faces a challenge from retired air traffic controller Alan Clendenin, retired science teacher Sonja Brookins, and former Tampa cop Chase Harrison who was unapologetic about the 10 sustained violations he earned during his tenure at TPD.
Reporting recently found that Citro’s city wages are being garnished over unpaid loans used for his personal business; as of August of last year, they totaled more than $20,000. He told CL he would’ve paid the loans sooner and used the income from his personal business if it wasn’t for the COVID-19 pandemic. “This is not something that I’m proud of, but it’s something that I’m getting through,” he said. “Nobody’s life is perfect.”
Brookins, a self-proclaimed military wife and Tampanian who’s traveled across the country, is the first African American elected to serve as a Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor in Hillsborough County. She declined to answer on the matter of supporting expanded oversight capability—including subpoena power—for Tampa’s police Citizens Review Board, but did see trouble in the city’s move to expand the budget for the Hanna City Center from roughly $6 million to $108 million without a public RFP. She said that rent stabilization could help address housing concerns, adding that “it is not the solution for all but can contribute to the solutions.”
He said rent control could be considered in an emergency like during the pandemic, but doesn’t see it as a viable long-term solution to housing problems. “I would have voted against it. Instead I would have looked for ways to create additional emergency funds to keep people in their homes,” Clendenin added.
District 2
This is an open, citywide, seat vacated by forever elected official Charlie Miranda who’s termed-out. Miranda is now running in D6, so another current city councilman, Guido Maniscalco, is running for the D2.
Maniscalco is joined by three others in the race: former two-term city councilman Mike Suarez, Florida Rising organizer Robin Lockett, plus artist, athlete and business owner Michael Derewenko.
Lockett—former President of the Hillsborough Democratic Black Caucus and past Political chair of Hillsborough County Democratic Black Caucus—is a lifelong Tampanian and regular at city council meetings. She wants council to review everything in front of it “through a lens of equity.”
Derewenko sides with council’s recent decision to listen to constituents who wanted to deny a developer’s wish to build a boutique hotel on Harbour Island, adding that, “We need to get used to rejecting developers. Large designs that dramatically affect people’s livelihood need to be relayed through council.”
Derewenko said the local police union was defensive when he asked how the PBA benefitted community members outside its union and supports expanded oversight capability—including subpoena power—for Tampa’s police Citizens Review Board.
Suarez has a long record to run on, but says he opposes the mayor’s PURE water plans and would have also rejected Castor’s selection of Mary O’Connor, calling the now-disgraced former police chief “the least qualified and with a checkered past not deserving of the highest law officer in the city.”
This week, reporting found that Suarez has accrued over $60,000 in unpaid taxes over the past decade. Last year, the IRS placed a lien against him, but Suarez told CL he’s sent a check to the IRS within the past week.
“It will be paid off or has been paid off,” he added. “I don’t know when they’re going to receive the check, it was sent directly. And so my guess is that it’ll probably happen this week or maybe next week.”
District 3
Incumbent Lynn Hurtak was appointed to this citywide seat by council members last April after the contentious exit of councilman John Dingfelder. Her strongest challenge comes from the aforementioned Cruz who is the mother of the mayor’s partner and fresh off an upset loss to keep her seat in the state senate. Cruz did not complete CL’s candidate survey, but Hurtak has regularly made herself available to our reporters even on contentious subjects like her support of changing Tampa’s rules on accessory dwelling units.
George “The Hunted” Feshev, who says he felt compelled to run after being the victim of a violent crime, is also in the D3 race along with Jose Vazquez who—along with Cruz—did not respond to CL’s candidate survey.
District 4 pits incumbent Bill Carlson against Blake Casper, who in the 11th hour joined the race to represent South Tampa. Casper supported Carlson—a strong critic of Mayor Castor—in his last campaign. The mayor has said that she will likely support Casper, who is a major donor to Gov. Ron DeSantis. Casper also collaborated with the governor to open up the state as COVID-19 first arrived and took thousands of lives in the beginning of the pandemic.
District 5
Incumbent Orlando Gudes faces challenges from a write-in candidate (Evelyn Jané Marie-McBride) and Gwendolyn Henderson, who did not respond to CL’s candidate survey. Henderson initially filed to run in D3, but switched to D5, getting her out of the race between D3 incumbent Hurtak and ousted state senator Cruz.
In D5—which covers Ybor City, downtown, East Tampa, plus parts of West Tampa and Seminole Heights—Henderson faces a popular incumbent who also butted heads with the mayor in votes for more oversight powers on the police citizens review board, rent control, crime-free housing and more.
Last March, a former Gudes aide’s 2019 allegations of a toxic work environment and sexual harassment resurfaced—after Gudes’ disagreements with the mayor. Multiple council members called for Gudes’ resignation, but constituents, especially from the Black community, began showing up to city council questioning if the city was playing politics with the accuser’s experience.
Still, after firing their previous lawyer, the accuser obtained legal counsel of Ethan Loeb, a development and business lawyer who sued former councilman Dingfelder out of office. Last May the city gave a $200,000 settlement to the accuser, who released any and all potential claims against the city after that payment. Two months later, a Hillsborough County judge dismissed the civil case against Gudes.
District 6
Charlie Miranda—a forever city councilman who’s served on the body for the better part of three decades—is termed out of his D2 seat, so he’s running for this seat being vacated by current city councilman Guido Maniscalco (who’s now running for the D2 citywide seat).
D6 includes parts of South Tampa and Seminole Heights, plus West Tampa.
Miranda is up against four fresh faces: attorney Hoyt Prindle, realtor and business owner Rick Fifer, plus two others who’ve yet to reply to CL’s survey, political consultant Tyler Barrett and realtor Nicole Payne.
Prindle—who worked to oppose TBX highway expansion and also serves on the Hillsborough Transportation Planning Organization’s (TPO) Citizens Advisory Committee—has raised more than $31,000 for his campaign. He views a lack of affordable housing and multimodal transportation systems as notably big problems for Tampeños.
Fifer—who has a pair of Master’s degrees from the University of South Florida (social work, public administration)—would have also been inclined to support the hotel, saying, “it did not seem inconsistent with the surroundings outside the gate portion of the Island.”
Fifer does disagree with Miranda’s past votes to deny the citizens review board subpoena power, and says he would have been inclined to vote against the mayor’s selection of Mary O’Connor as police chief.
District 7
Incumbent Luis Viera ran unopposed, winning a third term in a district where he represents New Tampa and North Tampa.
The charter is essentially the city’s constitution. It’s a governing document adopted by citizens and changed by them through referendums. On the March ballot, voters will get a chance to vote yes or no on four proposed charter changes.
The changes would allow city council to create oversight boards, make sure council approves department heads before appointment, prohibit council members from serving more than four consecutive terms, andtask the Charter Review Commission to convene every eight years instead of every decade.
In a recent Op-Ed sent to her friends at the Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor announced plans to veto five of council’s proposed changes to the charter. She argued that the changes would do harm to Tampa’s “strong mayor” form of government, adding that the proposed changes weren’t deliberate and transparent enough—even though residents have been calling for several of the changes for years.
Council received a memo about Castor’s plans to veto after the Op-Ed was published.
In comments to city council after the mayor’s Op-Ed, James Shaw, a local attorney and activist, referenced pseudoscience and said that Castor’s “strong mayor” argument was “ pseudo law.”
Council eventually voted to override four of the mayor’s vetoes, but three council members—Charlie Miranda, Guido Maniscalco and Joe Citro—sided with the mayor in her refusal to give the public the right to vote on giving the police citizens review board an independent attorney.