For years now, he's been among a small corral of Democrats known to be eyeing a gubernatorial run. The only announced candidate on the blue side is Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, though Congresswoman Gwen Graham (daughter of the well-liked governor/senator), Miami Beach Mayor Phil Levine and well-known attorney John Morgan have also expressed interest.
Buckhorn announced his non-plan early Thursday morning, and invited reporters to ask him about it at his office.
His stated reason?
The ol' time-with-family spiel, which in this case makes sense.
Buckhorn has two young daughters, the eldest of which is a sophomore in high school. He doesn't want to miss those critical years while crisscrossing the state recycling speeches at mullet tosses and breakfast banquets. Plus, he wouldn't want his wife to have to uproot her medical practice so the family could move to Tallahassee.
Plus, he said, he loves being mayor and couldn't stand the idea of not being able to run the city.
"At the end of the day I told myself that if I didn’t want to be governor as bad as I wanted to be mayor, I wasn’t going to do it," he said.
Of course, there's another, bigger-picture reason, which Buckhorn was refreshingly candid about: the current political climate, which one might describe as a round of M-80s someone lit and tossed into a chicken coop as lava from a nearby volcano slowly approached.
His moderate politics — what with mayor being an ostensibly nonpartisan position, at least on the ballot — aren't what Florida's voters are looking for in these Trumpian times.
"For me, I would have been running on the fact that I was qualified, that we were not particularly partisan. I don’t know that [being nonpartisan] matters anymore," he said.
The Dems' candidate field is still somewhat crowded even without Buckhorn in the running. It's unclear what level of influence the party had on Buckhorn's decision (they do have a tendency to push candidates out of primaries to make way for a favored candidate, after all, even if that's a practice that clearly doesn't work anymore), or if they will pick a favorite ahead of the August 2018 primary.
Buckhorn said Tallahassee's political leadership is increasingly pitting urban Floridians against rural Floridians, which has to stop if the state is to embrace thoughtful policies.
"Tallahassee is in dire need of a regime change," he said.
So, too, is the party's approach to elections, he said. If Democrats want to win statewide elections with candidates who aren't U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, they are going to have to ditch the identity politics and the cobbling together of various interest groups and present a clear vision that everyone can understand and go along with.
He wouldn't go so far as to say which candidate he thought would be most adept at that, but he said that Morgan—an outspoken progressive with an unpolished populist message — could have a Trump-esque command of Democratic voters (and perhaps moderates) in a way a more moderate, eager-to-compromise-before-negotiations-even-start Democrat might.
"[Morgan] potentially could be the Democrats' Donald Trump in terms of style and being able to shake up conventional wisdom. I always assumed that experience matters… but I just don’t know anymore. If that’s the case, a guy like me, they’re not going to be interested," Buckhorn said.
It is unclear what political future he will embrace going forward, but Buckhorn said he's also not interested in running for State Chief Financial Officer.
There was an outpour of reactions following his announcement Thursday from would-be competitors an colleagues alike.
"Bob Buckhorn is an extraordinary leader who has transformed one of Florida's and America's great cities," Graham posted on social media. "His successful service in Tampa shows what Florida can accomplish if we work together and focus on creating economic opportunity and improving quality of life for families. I am fortunate to call Bob a good friend and look forward to his continued leadership in the Tampa Bay region and all of Florida."
Across the bay, Mayor Rick Kriseman also had kind words.
"He would have been a strong candidate and a great governor, but can't blame my friend Bob for putting his family and Tampa first."
D'awww.
The list of possible Republican contenders, meanwhile, includes Florida Secretary of Agriculture Adam Putnam, State Sen. from Clearwater Jack Latvala and State House Speaker Richard Corcoran.
Republicans tend to have an easier time in non-presidential election years, something Democrats have had to grapple with for years, but with little to lose after a bloodbath of a presidential election year, Democrats are hoping to somehow change that.
This article appears in Mar 9-16, 2017.