Fran Tate Credit: Photo by Keto Hodges c/o Fran Tate Campaign

And then there were 12—at least when it comes to the crowded special election for Tampa’s District 5 city council seat.

Former Tampa City Councilman Orlando Gudes recently dropped out over what he called a potential conflict over his district residency status, but the race—happening after the tragic passing of Councilwoman Gwen Henderson last month—still has a dozen active candidates who hope to qualify before the first ballot gets to voters in September.

Henderson’s daughter, Ariel Amirah Danley, is among those candidates and will host a town hall style campaign kickoff party on Tuesday, July 22 at 7th + Grove in Ybor City.

Danley is joined in the race by Realtor Juawana Colbert, Crowbar owner Tom DeGeorge, and Central Economic Development Center Executive Director Alison A. Hewitt.

Former Tampa City Councilman and Hillsborough County Commissioner Thomas Scott is also in the field along with Naya Almaz Yong, the former Executive Director of the Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association, whose career in politics started when she was a teenager canvassing for former Sen. James Hargrett and Rep. Betty Reed.

Lifelong Tampa politico Fran Tate is another recent addition to the race.

“My volunteer work in this community runs deep and wide,” Tate, a member of the East Tampa Community CRA Advisory Board, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay in an email, pointing to her 35 years founding and then leading the Jackson Heights Neighborhood Association. “I’ve repeatedly been before the Tampa City Council on transit, redevelopment, housing and the budget working to help the people of District 5.”

According to the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Election, Danley leads the fundraising charge with over $13,200 reported as of press time. Colbert, of “Selling Tampa” fame, has collected over $8,390 and is the only other candidate who’s reported any fundraising.

With just over a year left on her Henderson’s term, legacy will play a big part in the conversations about who’s best fit to represent the district, which stretches west-to-east from Tampa to parts of the end of Broadway Avenue and north-south between parts of Riverhills to Harbour Island

In an email to CL, Danley said that off the dais, Henderson and her would talk about accountability and ensuring residents felt the impact of city decisions in their day-to-day lives.

“On the dais, she was especially passionate about protecting legacy neighborhoods, addressing food deserts, supporting small businesses, and ensuring that CRA dollars stayed in the community to tackle slums and blight,” Danley, 35, wrote, adding that given the opportunity, she would continue that work and remain committed to transparency and neighborhood investment.

Danley also wants to get more young people and working families involved in the political process “so they see local government as something that’s for them, not just something that happens to them.”

Last week on WMNF public affairs program The Skinny, Robin Lockett said she wants whoever fills Henderson’s seat to be “fearless.”

Lockett—Regional Director of Florida Rising, a statewide, people-powered organization made up of members advancing economic and racial justice across Florida—knows a thing or two about city council, where she appears weekly. She also ran for the District 2 seat in 2023, pushing a very popular incumbent, Guido Maniscalco, to a runoff despite getting into the race just 90 days before the election.

Lockett noticed that Henderson, a lifelong educator and founder of Tampa’s Black English Bookstore, took a minute to acclimate to the process and politics of the office but really started to shine in the months before her passing.

“She had a voice, and she made it be known if she really was passionate about something,” Lockett added about the late legislator. “She asked the important questions, and she wouldn’t back down. I was excited to see what type of Councilwoman she would have become.”

District 5 is also Tampa’s only majority-minority district, and as far as CL knows, has never been represented by someone who wasn’t Black.

DeGeorge, his fellow Ybor City business owner Darrell Ashley Dudney and, Audette Bruce, a campus pastor at Revive Church are the only non-Black candidates running for the seat. Black Business Bus Tour founder Candy Lowe—who is co-hosting a District 5 candidate roll call in Ybor City on Saturday, July 26—told CL that talking about race does somewhat distract from the issues, and acknowledges that the district has become more diverse. She would prefer the seat be taken by a Black person, but is OK if that doesn’t happen.

Lockett, too, said the district is diverse, but told WMNF that she would also like to see a Black person in the seat.

“Not having that representation on that board, that would be a shame,” she said, adding that she’s looking forward to the forums and hearing from the candidates. “When the questions come and the lights are on, we’ll see who prevails and is semi-fit for the job—because you never understand what that seat is about until you sit in it.”

The special election for Tampa’s District 4 City Council seat ends on Sept. 9, with early voting running Sept. 4-7. The deadline to register to vote is Aug. 11. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, a runoff election will be held Oct. 28.

Anyone who wants to vote by mail must ask the Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections for a mail ballot.

To officially qualify for the special election ballot, according to the city charter, applicants must pay a qualifying fee equal to 5% of the salary (roughly $3,750). A fact sheet from the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections points out that the qualifying fee would be $4,511.52 because an additional 1% election assessment is required by the State of Florida.

Another way to qualify is to submit petition signatures from 0.25% of the population of the city of Tampa by Aug. 1.

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