Tampa Bay ballot guide: Voting recommendations for the 2024 general election

The 2024 General Election wraps up in less than two weeks, and anyone registered and seeking to vote must do so by Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 4). It would be really cool if you got it done early either by returning a mail ballot or via a visit to any early voting site, including 26 in Hillsborough (open daily until Monday, Nov. 3), 13 in Pasco (open until Sunday, Nov. 2).

Pinellas has seven early voting locations, and three of them will extend early voting until Election Day while the rest will be open until Monday, Nov. 3.

If you’re a voter who was displaced or can’t get mail at your address due to the recent hurricanes, all you have to do is call your local Supervisor Of Elections, provide information, and make a mail-ballot request. The deadline is Oct. 24—and any mail ballot requested within 10 days of Election Day will require a special emergency affidavit.

If you still have your mail ballot and want to vote on it, return it to a mail ballot drop box or vote in person (see below). Pinellas has two dozen of them, and mail ballots in Hillsborough and Pasco county can be returned to any Supervisor of Elections office or early voting location.

Anyone who still has their mail ballot on Election Day has two choices for voting: they can mark their mail ballot and drop it off in a secure ballot intake station at any of the elections offices in their county (no later than 7 p.m.) or they can go to their Election Day precinct and vote in person instead. They do not have to bring their mail ballot with them to vote in person. The poll worker will cancel the mail ballot electronically when they check-in to vote in person.

No matter where you live, the general election ballot is a beast, from the simple choice at the top of the ticket, to relatively easy ones about state amendments and local tax referendums, and the more complicated decisions about municipal races, charter changes, and judges.

Creative Loafing Tampa Bay readers know the publication believes in free, reliable news about where we live and hopes to contribute to a full picture of life in Tampa Bay. We strive to produce work that interrogates systems of power while supporting those trying to build more equitable and resilient communities. Housing, transportation, systems of justice, public safety, health and wellbeing, and the environment are our primary concerns, and our readers are not spectators in the process. We also write about food, music, and art.

What follows is how we’re voting, laid out in the simplest way possible, you can click through each section to see short explanations of the more complicated choices.

We hope this guide helps.

President and Vice President:

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz

U.S. Senate

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell

U.S. House of Representatives

District 12
Gus Bilirakis (REP)
Rock Aboujaoude Jr. (DEM)

District 13
Anna Paulina Luna (REP)
Whitney Fox (DEM)
Tony D’Arrigo (WRI)

District 14
Robert “Rocky” Rochford (REP)
Kathy Castor (DEM)
Nathaniel T. Snyder (LPF)
Christopher Bradley (NPA)

District 15
Laurel Lee (REP)
Patricia ‘Pat’ Kemp (DEM)

District 16
Vern Buchanan (REP)
Jan Schneider (DEM)

District 17
Greg Steube (REP)
Manny Lopez (DEM)

Florida Legislature

Florida State Senate

District 21
Ed Hooper (REP)
Doris H. Carroll (DEM)

District 23
Danny Burgess (REP)
Ben Braver (DEM)
John Houman (IND)

State Representative
District 57
Adam C. Anderson (REP)
Kelly Johnson (DEM)
Robert “Bob” Arthur Larrivee (NPA)

District 58
Kimberly “Kim” Berfield (REP)
Bryan Beckman (DEM)

District 59
Berny Jacques (REP)
Dawn Douglas (DEM)

District 60
Ed Montanari (REP)
Lindsay Cross (DEM)

District 61
Linda Chaney (REP)
Nathan Bruemmer (DEM)

District 62
Nelson Amador (REP)
Michele K. Rayner (DEM)

District 63
Dianne Hart (DEM)
Tim Driver (REP)

District 64
Susan L. Valdes (DEM)
Maura Cruz Lanz (REP)

District 65
Karen Gonzalez-Pittman (REP)
Ashley Brundage (DEM)

District 66
Traci Koster (REP)
Nick Clemente (DEM)

District 67
Fentrice Driskell (DEM)
Ronrico ‘Rico’ Smith (REP)

District 68
Lawrence McClure (REP)
Lisa Carpus (DEM)
Tyrell Hicks (NPA)

District 69
Daniel ‘Danny’ Alvarez (REP)
Bobby Kachelries (DEM)

District 70
Michael Owen (REP)
Luther Keith Wilkins (DEM)

District 71
Will Robinson (REP)
Adriaan J. DeVilliers (DEM)

State Attorney (Hillsborough)
Andrew Warren

Hillsborough County
Supervisor of Elections
Craig Latimer
Billy Christensen

Clerk Of Court (Hillsborough)
Cindy Stuart (DEM)
Victor Crist (REP)

Property Appraiser (Hillsborough)
Bob Henriquez (DEM)
John Ballance (REP)

Board Of County Commissioners (Hillsborough)
District 2
Ken Hagan (REP)
Patricia Altagracia Alonzo (DEM)

District 4
Christine Miller (REP)
Nicole Payne (DEM)

District 6
Sean Shaw (DEM)
Chris Boles (REP)

Board Of County Commissioners (Pinellas)
District 1
Chris Scherer (REP)
Joanne ‘Cookie’ Kennedy (DEM)

District 3
Vince Nowicki (REP)
Charlie Justice (DEM)

Hillsborough School Board District 7
Lynn Gray
Karen Bendorf

Pinellas School Board District 5
Katie Blaxberg
Stacy Geier

Local Judges
6th Circuit, Group 14
Jenn Dubbeld
Nick Fiorentino

2nd District Court of Appeal
Anthony K. Black
Edward C. LaRose
Susan H. Rothstein-Youakim

Retention of Florida Supreme Court Justices
Renatha Francis NO
Meredith Sasso NO

St. Petersburg City Council
District 3
Pete Boland
Mike Harting

District 5
Deborah Figgs-Sanders
Torrie Jasuwan

District 7
Corey Givens Jr.
Wengay ‘Newt’ Newton

Florida Constitutional Amendments
No. 1: Partisan Election of Members of District School Boards: NO
No. 2: Right to Fish and Hunt: NO
No. 3 Adult Personal Use of Marijuana: YES
No. 4 Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion: YES
No. 5: Annual Adjustments to the Value of Certain Homestead Exemptions: NO
No. 6: Repeal of Public Campaign Financing Requirement: NO

Charter amendments (Pinellas)
No. 1: Providing for County Commissioner Term Limits: YES
No. 2: Revising County Initiative Petition Requirements and Process: YES
No. 3: Lowering Signature Percentage for Petition Drives to Propose County Charter Amendments: YES
No. 4: Charter Amendment Revising Thresholds for Appointment and Removal of County Attorney: YES
No. 5: Referenda on County Charter Amendments to be Held at General Elections Only: YES
No. 6: Conforming Publication Requirements for County Charter Amendment Referenda to the Florida Election Code: NO
No. 7: Pinellas Charter Cleanup Amendment: YES

School board referendums
Pinellas
Approval of One Mill Ad Valorem Tax for School District Operating Expenses with Independent Oversight: YES

Hillsborough
The School Board of Hillsborough County Millage Election for Public School Students: YES

Hillsborough County Referendum No. 1
Renewal of Community Investment Half-Cent Sales Tax Through December 31, 2041: YES

City of Tampa Referendum
Amendment to Tampa Charter Section 6.01 Regarding Residency Requirements for City Officers: NO

See all of CL’s ballot recommendations on our 2024 general election landing page.

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This article appears in Oct 17-23, 2024.