Money talks in elections. And it has something to say in Tampa’s race to fill a District 5 city council vacancy created by the death of former councilwoman Gwendolyn Henderson.
Thomas Scott, himself a former city council member and county commissioner, appears to be the favorite for Tampa Bay developers and construction companies. Naya Young, an electoral newcomer and Scott’s opponent in this month’s runoff, raised less than half as much money as Scott, but drew a greater number of individual donors.
Data published on the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections website (and reorganized by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay here) shows all of the donations reported by city council candidates through Sept. 26. Here are five takeaways from the spreadsheets.
Thomas Scott raised more money, but Naya Young had more individual donations.
Scott’s campaign raised a total of $62,695, while Young’s only brought in $26,643. Despite the smaller dollar figure, Young had 201 individual donations while Scott had only 138.
Thomas Scott’s donors found ways to skirt contribution limits
For municipal elections in Florida, an individual may only donate up to $1,000 per election. There have always been a few ways that donors can get around these rules.
Anyone with a registered business may donate an additional $1,000 through their company. If a person has multiple businesses registered, they may donate $1,000 through each of them.
Joseph Williams runs Kimmins Contracting Corp., a Tampa-based construction company often chosen to work on city projects. Williams donated $1,000 to Thomas Scott under his own name. Three companies registered to Williams also donated $1,000 each to Scott’s campaign: Transcor Recycling, LLC; Kimmins Corp.; and Kimmins Contracting Corp. His wife, Laura Jean Williams, donated an additional $1,000.
The same campaign contribution exception exists for political action committees registered with the state. Mark Herron, a Tallahassee-based attorney, is the registered agent, chairperson and treasurer of four different PACs: Moving Florida Forward, Changing Florida’s Future, Principled Leadership of Florida, and one simply called “Mark PC.” Herron is also the treasurer of a PAC called A New Hope For Tomorrow. These committees donated a combined $5,000 to Scott’s campaign.
Since neither Scott nor Young received more than 50% of the vote in last month’s election, there is a runoff election, for which the fundraising contribution limit is reset.
Several entities continued to pour money into both campaigns as they fundraised for the runoff, which kicks off with early voting Oct. 23-26. Election Day is Tuesday, Oct. 28.
Scott raised more money than Young after the Sept. 9 election, with PACs donating more to him than his opponent. In fact, records show no PAC donations to Young at all.
Naya Young’s data did not show any individual donating over $1,000 across both election cycles through any of these methods.
Three PACs—Realtors Political Action Committee, Realtors Political Activity Committee, and Realtors Political Advocacy Committee—each donated $1,000 to Scott’s campaign before the initial election, then donated another $1,000 before the runoff for a total of $6,000 across all three. Each of those PACs is registered to controversial Florida attorney Emmett Mitchell IV, who the Palm Beach Post called the engineer of a year 2000 Florida felons list. “African American leaders said [the list] purged thousands of eligible blacks from voter rolls in the state and helped swing [the 2000 presidential] election to the GOP,” the paper added.
Naya Young’s average donation was lower
Young’s average reported donation was $136.53. Scott’s average reported donation was approximately 3.3-times higher at $447.07.
When donations are aggregated by donors, the disparity between the two grows. Methodology for aggregating looks like this: if a person gave $15 in August and $20 in September, that donor is counted as having donated $35. If the same donor is a registered agent or manager of a business or PAC that donated $40, that donor is counted as having donated $75. If multiple businesses or PACs have the same registered agent, they are counted as one entity and their donations are merged. When applying these rules, Young’s average increases to $154.00, while Scott’s jumps to $559.78, approximately 3.6-times higher.
Thomas Scott was favored by developers and contractors
Most of the fundraising disparity between Scott and Young can be attributed to the industries that keep Tampa growing—for better or for worse, depending on who you ask: real estate, construction and development.
When donating over $100, donors must list their occupation. CL analyzed all the donations over $100 and sorted the individuals and businesses into several categories. At least $36,000 (about 57%) of Scott’s funding comes from those sorted into the real estate, developer, or construction categories—people likely to benefit from an increase in new construction and economic development. For Young, that figure is $2,406 (about 9%). Young’s highest category of contributors is educators, who donated a combined $4,508 (about 17%).
Both candidates saw donations from big names
Scott and Young’s reports both list names familiar to anyone who reads local headlines. One of Scott’s top donors is Stephen Dibbs, a local developer who fought aggressively against local wetlands protections. Dibbs donated $2,000 to Scott’s campaign this year. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister endorsed Scott and donated $1,000 to his campaign. Other notable contributors include the local AFL-CIO chapter and former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn Jr.
One of Young’s top donors is progressive organization Florida Rising, which donated $1,000. Armature Works developer Adam Harden also donated $1,000 to Young’s campaign, making him one of Young’s top three donors. The third $1,000 donor is Greg Yette, one of several out-of-state former NFL players to donate to Young’s campaign. Gwendolyn Miller, the first Black woman to serve on Tampa’s city council, endorsed Young and donated $450 to her campaign.
Former state senator Jim Hargrett Jr. donated $500 to each candidate.
Ana Cruz—partner of Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, and managing partner for one of the country’s most powerful lobbying firms Ballard Partners—donated $250 to Scott’s campaign. Cruz’s mother, former State Senator Janet Cruz Rifkin, also donated $250 to Scott.
UPDATED 10/13/25 2:51 p.m. Updated to include campaign contributions from Ana Cruz and Janet Cruz Rifkin.
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This article appears in Oct. 9-15, 2025.