Two county-level primaries in Hillsborough divided local Democrats and even sparked some nastiness that may not be forgotten, at least for a while.
One was the primary for the Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court, a position Pat Frank holds and may very well keep, assuming she can fend off a challenge from Republican Eric Seidel in November.
Frank, who has been clerk for 12 years, was largely on the defensive over the last year. Her opponent, Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner accused her of everything from not doing her job to treating minority employees unfairly. The tactics seemed very unlike Beckner, who at the dais always appears even-keeled and fair-minded.
It's unclear where Beckner, who is terming out of his commission seat, will go from here. But if he runs again, let's hope he hires better campaign consultants. Going negative — especially against someone who's viewed as a party matriarch — is so passé, and it showed in the polls.
Frank handily won, taking 58.97 percent of the vote to Beckner's 41.03.
The other Pat who had a good night Tuesday was progressive activist and lawyer Pat Kemp, who crushed her four-way Democratic primary for Hillsborough County's District 6 Commission seat, the countywide district Beckner vacated. Kemp won about 45 percent of the vote over former Plant City Mayor John Dicks, former County Commissioner Thomas Scott and lawyer/transit advocate Brian Willis.
Scott came in second with 25.32 percent, Willis took 22.56 percent and Dicks got 7.48 percent of the vote.
At her election night watch party Tuesday night, needless to say, Kemp was thrilled.
"I just feel so appreciative that so many people came out and supported me," she said. "I just feel like people are ready for something different, and they want it."
In the November general, Kemp's opponent will be Republican Tim Schock, a newcomer who beat former State Senator/County Commissioner Jim Norman, a seasoned candidate who has…let's say a bit of a likability issue, in his primary. Despite having little name recognition and a little less money, Schock bested Norman with 61.56 percent of the vote to Norman's 38.44.
While Kemp said she doesn't want to take a general election win for granted, she notes that in 2014, an off year in which Republicans turn out more so than Democrats (unlike 2016, a presidential year), she nearly beat a Republican incumbent, Al Higginbotham, in a race for his countywide seat even though he outspent her nearly four to one.
Still, competing against a lesser-known non-incumbent makes her feel pretty good about her chances, she said.
"I feel extremely good," she said. "We have a race that I think is going to play well in Hillsborough County on the Democratic side…we've got a great ticket down the line and I just feel good about things."
This article appears in Aug 25 – Sep 1, 2016.