In a very tight race for the County Commission seat for District 7 in Hillsborough County, Pat Kemp lost to Republican Al Higginbotham by .9 percent Tuesday night. At a watch party at Ella’s Americana Folk Art Café this evening, over 100 of Kemp’s supporters, campaign workers and volunteers gathered to watch the results unfold.
Alyx Mays, a Kemp campaign volunteer, said she'd heard positive messages from both Republicans and Democrats. She feels Kemp’s platform inspired a lot of people because it was less political than it was a passionate vision for the county. “A lot of people wanted her to stray away from talk of transportation and infrastructure investment, but she has spoken her passion and her vision, and she has stuck to it, and that is what people of Hillsborough County are ready for,” said Mays.
Taking on the role of the main poll watcher, Tampa City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern refreshed the unofficial election results for anyone who asked on a laptop. She was “cautiously optimistic” about the race throughout the evening, though that optimism did not prevail.
Jim Shirk of the Hillsborough County Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee believed the county needed someone like Kemp. “This would be the 30-year culmination of her vision for the community. She has been a strong force in transportation planning. I am particularly happy to support her because of her stance on public transit and enlightened progressive transportation issues.
Linda Saul-Sena, contributing writer for CL, spent two decades as a member of the Tampa City Council. She has known Kemp for a long time, and described Kemp’s background and experience in detail. She said, “Kemp did an excellent job as the news director for WUSF and as the staff for Kathy Castor as a County Commissioner, and as a legal aid to an attorney."
Kemp thanked all of the people who helped her campaign, as well as everyone in attendance. No matter what the outcome tonight is, she said, “We can move the county in a new direction, and I think it’s a message being heard loud and clear. No matter what happens tonight, we need to stick together and keep moving forward doing what we are doing. We are doing the right thing and we are going to change things,” said Kemp.
One of Kemp’s lead organizers, Alex Ayala, membership director for USF’s Young Democrats, described working with Kemp on her campaign. She met Kemp when she spoke at one of their meetings several months ago. Ayala said this is the fourth election she has worked on. She said Kemp was one of the hardest campaigners she had ever seen. “She is one of those candidates that really puts 110 percent of her effort into her campaign. She makes time to listen to every Facebook message that comes in, every phone call, voicemail and she stops to talk to anyone who wants to talk to her about her positions,” said Ayala. She says Kemp’s message was very clear. She stood for better transportation, and clean water for Florida. Ayala described how effortlessly Kemp inspired people.
But she's going to have to spread that inspiration some other way than as a local lawmaker, because Higginbotham narrowly held on to win.
In the District 2 County Commission race, Republican Victor Crist easily defeated Democrat Elizabeth Belcher, 56-44 percent.
This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2014.
