Tampa’s mayoral race is already up to its neck in candidates thanks to nine people who’ve filed and two expected to join the bid to succeed term-limited Mayor Jane Castor.
The latest to join is Gary Hartfield, author and founder of Serenity Village Insurance & Consulting. And for Hartfield, running for mayor is “just the next level” up in his philanthropy.
The 55-year-old DeFuniak Springs native and “serial entrepreneur” told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that filing on March 28 wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision.
“It’s a deliberate and intentional plan to find ways to give back to my community,” Hartfield said.
He sees Tampa at a “pivot-and-inflection point,” and the city has to be mindful of its next steps—and of its current issues.
“I think what is most important to understand is that we have to focus on building better before we build bigger,” Hartfield added. “Continuing to build downtown with infrastructure issues as they are is not a smart plan.”
Hartfield told CL that the city has to plan development and elevation throughout North, East and West Tampa—not just downtown—and if it doesn’t, issues like transportation and stormwater runoff will “become further exacerbated.”
Hartfield also said affordability is essential to Tampa’s opportunities and growth. For him, that includes being a sustainable destination for the city’s talent pool.
“We have world-class universities with the University of Tampa, University of South Florida, St. Leo and others,” Hartfield said. “We have a tremendous amount of talent. However, they can’t afford to live in the city. We are number one, in the country, in foreclosures.”
Hartfield said those foreclosures “are not happening as an anomaly,” and affordable living has been an issue in Tampa for a while.
“We have to think about affordability as a larger issue, and that is going to be seamless throughout my campaign and my tenure as mayor,” Hartfield said. “Affordability here in Tampa and Tampa Bay will be first and foremost as we continue to train and develop the best workforce in the country.”
Hartfield was also founder of the Tampa Organization of Black Affairs’ Leadership Institute and the All Hart Foundation, a public charity. And he believes his experience not only proves his ability to lead but to start “from the ground up.”
Hartfield sits on numerous boards, from the St. Joseph’s-Baptist Health Board of Trustees and Clinical Excellence Board to Moffitt Cancer Center’s George Edgecomb Society and the Ray of Hope Foundation.
He was formerly vice chairperson of the Hillsborough Transit Authority before he resigned due to residency issues, according to WFTS. Serving in that capacity for the HART board required Hartfield to live in unincorporated Hillsborough County, but he was renting a place in Tampa.
Hartfield said his involvement in various nonprofits and foundations is a “pattern,” one that he wants to honor throughout his tenure as mayor.
“The boards that I serve on are the most vulnerable and or the most needy,” Hartfield told CL. “In doing so, I’m able to help provide a resource to them. If they’re elderly, if they’re intellectually or developmentally disabled, we provide a resource to them.”
Hartfield said he also wants to focus on building generational wealth, an initiative he believes is “novel” in his campaign. He plans to achieve that through partnerships with businesses like Suncoast Credit Union which might provide financial literacy and entrepreneurial resources to the community.
And Hartfield believes that while affordability isn’t an anomaly in Tampa, he is.
“I am a founder of multimillion dollar organizations that have employed hundreds of individuals,” Hartfield claimed. “And what makes me unique and what makes me different is that no other candidate in the pool has that skill set.”
But Hartfield said that even with a distinguished campaign profile, he thinks “there is room for all the candidates that bring forth something positive to the city,” and he looks forward to a race that’s “focused on the issues, not partisan or destructive politics.”
“I hope that this campaign is positive and that everyone looks to serve the city and we keep all of the negativity that is weighing down our country, our state and our local communities away from this campaign,” Hartfield said.
Hartfield launched his political committee, Innovate Tampa, last July. The committee has raised $68,647 to date.
Eight other candidates are officially in the race including Tampa City Councilwoman Lynn Hurtak, Urban designer and USF assistant dean Taryn Sabia, Tampa food influencer Anthony Gilbert, entrepreneur Alan Henderson, paralegal Tres Rodman. Former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn—backed by buku PAC money—is expected to announce his candidacy, too.
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UPDATED 04/04/26 1:34 p.m. Updated to make clear that Hartfield would like to partner with businesses like Suncoast Credit Union, but not exclusively.
This article appears in Apr. 02 – 08, 2026.