ortrait of Taryn Sabia standing on a rooftop balcony with the Tampa city skyline in the background. She is wearing a professional black blazer and smiling, with modern high-rise buildings and clear daylight behind her. — Taryn Sabia Credit: Courtesy / Blue Velocity Consulting

The field for Tampa’s 2027 mayoral election has nine names in it now after Taryn Sabia filed paperwork on Monday morning.

The 47-year-old urban designer and Assistant Dean for Research at the University of South Florida’s College of Design, Art & Performance was joined at the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Election by her husband Adam Fritz—while more than a dozen supporters waited downstairs.

The group walked two miles from Sabia’s Tampa Heights home, the original Robles house, and made a stop at Supernatural Food & Wine to share a box of coffee and two dozen of Tampa’s favorite doughnuts.

The doughnuts usually sell-out before 9 a.m., but Sabia’s campaign pre-ordered to make sure there was mid-walk sustenance. Answering a very unserious question about the wisdom to secure the bag, Sabia noted that she has more than 20 years experience with planning processes for master plans.

“Being able to anticipate the future is what I do, and setting that vision and then working toward it is critical,” she told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “Just like ordering donuts the day before my party is going to get here, so I can make sure that everyone is taken care of,.”

In a throwback to 2008 comments to CL (“Tampa’s time is now”), Sabia told CL that she’s running in what is already a crowded race because the city needs new ideas.

Just before filing the paperwork, Sabia noted the dozens of committees and boards she and Adam have been a part of as they work towards a better city. “This was the only thing we haven’t done,” she added.

“We’re facing a lot of new challenges, and they’re challenges that I’ve been dealing with over the last several years, especially related to flood resilience and heat resilience,” she said.

In a press release, Sabia wrote that “Tampa deserves leadership that plans for the future, not just reacts to it.”

“The same challenges we talked about 20 years ago are still here, and Tampa can’t afford another decade of the same conversations without solutions. We don’t need the same politicians with the same playbook,” the release says. “We need a new vision.”

Tampa votes on its new mayor in March 2027.

This is a developing post.

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This article appears in Feb. 26 – Mar. 04, 2026.