A whopping 14 candidate have qualified for the Tampa City Council Special Election for District 5 to replace the late Gwen Henderson, who passed away unexpectedly in June.
One of the candidates, Jose Vazquez Figueroa, is a write-in candidate, and his name will not appear on the ballot. the others are Audette Bruce, Juawana Colbert, Albert Cooke, Ariel Amirah Danley, Thomas DeGeorge Jr., Darrell Ashley Dudney, Alison Hewitt, Elvis Piggott, Thomas Scott, Fran Tate, Carroll West, Melony Williams and Naya Young.
Because Henderson passed away more than 15 months before her term would have ended, a Special Election is required to fill the remainder of her term. Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer scheduled a Special Election to replace Henderson for Sept. 9.
Early in-person voting opens Sept. 4 and runs through Sept. 7 at four locations, open 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. each day of the early voting period. The locations will be at the C. Blythe Andrews Jr. Public Library, the Fred B. Karl County Center, the Robert L. Gilder Elections Service Center and the West Tampa Branch Library.
Campaign finance reports covering all financial activity through Aug. 8 are also due Friday. As of 9:30 a.m., several candidates had already filed their reports, with the top fundraiser as of that point being Colbert — something that could change as others submit financials to the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections office.
Scott has raised nearly $36,000 as of Aug. 8, and has about $25,000 still on hand, making him the top fundraiser of the cycle so far.
Danley, Henderson’s daughter, trails with just over $24,000, with a little less than $18,000 on hand.
Colbert was the second candidate to enter the race, in late June. She is a Realtor with Allure Realty, an all-female, all-Black real estate firm in Tampa that focuses on luxury properties. She and others at the firm were featured in the Netflix series “Selling Tampa.”
Colbert has raised more than $21,000 so far, with more than $13,000 of that raised from July 1 through Aug. 8. She has spent a little less than $8,000 so far, more than half on the $4,511.52 qualifying fee for the race, as well as more than $1,400 for campaign literature and the rest on various administrative costs.
Young trails in fundraising with a little more than $12,000 raised, and like Danley, has about $11,000 left to spend. Young has been a grassroots activist since she was a teenager, canvassing for the campaign of former Democratic Sen. James Hargrett before later working to help elect former Rep. Betty Reed.
Young began nonprofit work with the Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association, later rising to become the group’s Executive Director. She now serves as a consultant for the group.
Hewitt is only a couple hundreds dollars behind, also with just over $12,000 raised.
Tate, who serves as the President of the Jackson Heights Neighborhood Association, has raised a little over $10,000, but has burned through most of it, with less than $3,000 left on hand. Her most recent expenses include her qualifying fee; $1,050 for yard signs; $600 for a campaign logo and website; nearly $500 for videography and social media services; and nearly $600 for campaign T-shirts.
Piggott, a perennial candidate who has run unsuccessfully for a number of elected offices, including for the Hillsborough County School Board last year and in 2020, and for the Hillsborough County Commission in 2018, has raised nearly $8,000, and has all of it still availabe, which means he has yet to post payment for his qualifying fee.
While Piggott filed an affidavit of undue burden, which waives fees for petition signature verification when candidates qualify for petition rather than paying the qualifying fee, the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections office confirms he did pay the qualifying fee, so his next report will likely indicate that expense.
Bruce, who runs communications for her church and works with community development districts across the state, has raised a little over $3,000 and retains most of it.
Williams has posted $335 raised, while Dudney has raised less than $300.
The rest of the candidates — Cooke, DeGeorge, Figueroa and West — either have not yet posted financial activity or have so far posted limited fundraising activity.
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