As longtime Democrat and former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn campaigns for a Republican city council candidate, local Democrats are denouncing his behavior.
In January, Blake Casper joined the District 4 city council race at the last minute to run against Bill Carlson, the incumbent democrat.
Buckhorn immediately threw his support behind Casper, an heir to a McDonald’s fortune and right-wing candidate who has donated hundreds of thousands to Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. Casper was also on DeSantis’ task force to reopen Florida in April of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was just hitting the state and people were dying in large amounts.
In a recent campaign commercial, Buckhorn sang Casper’s praises.
“Blake Casper is the right guy, in the right district at the right time to help city council right its course,” Buckhorn said of the 49-year-old with no experience in public service.
Buckhorn said that Casper could help make Tampa “the city that we know that it is capable of being.”
“We need Blake in that seat and I am one hundred percent enthusiastically supporting Blake Casper for the city council seat,” Buckhorn said.
He also posted a picture of a Casper sign in his front yard, writing, “My yard, my choice. Hope it is yours as well.”
Some prominent local democrats are upset with Buckhorn, who recently served for over a year as Vice Chair of the Florida Democratic Party after being appointed by former president Manny Diaz. In January, Buckhorn resigned from his role after Diaz stepped down following one of the worst democratic election beatings in Florida history.
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Tampa city council candidate Blake Casper gave over $200K to DeSantis, and helped reopen Florida at onset of pandemic
Ione Townsend, Chair of the Hillsborough Democratic Party, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that the party has received calls from several people who expressed concerns about Buckhorn endorsing a Republican against a sitting Democrat.
“To have a Democrat with such a visible position within the Democratic Party endorse a DeSantis and Trump-supporting Republican, people feel offended, disappointed and disrespected,” Townsend said. “Our volunteers work hard to get Democrats elected, and this action by Mr. Buckhorn feels particularly egregious to them.”
Karen Clay, President of the Democratic Disability Caucus of Florida, said that she doesn’t think that Buckhorn is truly a Democrat, and that his support of a DeSantis acolyte is especially offensive to those in marginalized communities.
“Casper has openly said that he still supports DeSantis’ policies, and those policies are discriminatory towards the Black community, the LGBTQ community, and when it comes to individuals with disabilities, I mean, we’re not even on his radar,” Clay, who also heads the Hillsborough County Disability Caucus, said.
Clay added that DeSantis doesn’t care about communities with disabilities because if he did, he would reduce Florida’s long Medicaid waiting list. She also pointed out that Buckhorn’s support of Casper shows that he doesn’t care about the lives lost by opening up Florida before there was even confirmation on how the disease spread.
Clay said that his support of Casper means “turning his back on Democrats and it’s a knife in our back from Bob Buckhorn.”
Today, Buckhorn—now an executive at lobbying firm Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick—said that he’s still a registered Democrat, but hasn’t been a member of the Democratic Executive Committee for decades.
“I’m not an elected official, I’m not a party official, I’m a private citizen,” Buckhorn told CL. “Throughout my career, I have always put my city ahead of my party affiliation. I’ve endorsed people who I thought were better for my city, irrespective of what party they belong to. I’m going to endorse whoever I think is going to be better for the city that I spent most of my life trying to improve.”
He pointed out that in the past, he endorsed former-Republican Mike Bloomberg. In 2018, he supported centrist-Democrat Gwen Graham over Andrew Gillum in the race for the governor’s mansion.
Buckhorn said he didn’t get criticism over those endorsements—but did make it clear that he’s not a fan of some of the people that Casper has donated to.
“I don’t support some of the folks that he has supported. In fact, I think they’re an abomination,” Buckhorn said. “But that’s not what we’re being asked to vote on.”
Asked about the qualms of Hillsborough Democrats, Buckhorn said, “I don’t really care what they think.”
Several members of the Hillsborough Democrats said Buckhorn is supporting Casper out of spite.
Carlson and Buckhorn have butted heads over the years, especially during Tampa Police Department’s “biking while Black” scandal, which occurred during Buckhorn’s tenure as mayor.
In the Twitter post with Casper’s sign in his front yard, Buckhorn seemed to refer to Carlson, writing, “Four years of delusional conspiracy theories and nonstop grievances is enough. South Tampa deserves better. It is time for a change.”
Carlson has challenged current Mayor Jane Castor, who is a personal friend of Buckhorn’s, on certain controversial projects, such as the “PURE” project, also known as “toilet to tap” with the support of several of his constituents.
But Carlson said he didn’t know what conspiracy theories Buckhorn was referring to.
“For our community to succeed, we need to set aside old grudges and move forward collaboratively,” Carlson added. “Holding anger and a grudge for so long is not healthy.”
Buckhorn responded that he’s focusing on the candidate he supports.
“Saying I’m doing this out of spite would assume that I care about Bill Carlson, which I don’t, or think about Bill Carson Carlson, which I don’t,” he said.
Patty Cohn, Chair of the PR Committee for the Hillsborough Democratic Party, said that Buckhorn is harming the morale of rank and file members.
“It’s just a slap in the face to the everyday Democratic volunteer, knocking on the doors, working so hard to get Democrats elected, and you have a member of your own party working against you,” Cohn said.
The bigger picture, Cohn argues, is that Casper’s campaign is a test for Republicans to potentially start taking over Tampa, a traditionally blue city. She pointed out that two relatively unknown Republicans recently won seats on the Hillsborough County Commission amid a swath of right wing victories in Florida.
Buckhorn’s support of such candidates is doing the Republican party’s bidding, she said.
“Casper just does not hold the same values that Democrats do,” Cohn said. “And if Buckhorn thinks that’s OK, then he should become a Republican.”
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 1, 2023.
