Author: Gary Nager

Over the past few months, we’ve introduced you to a couple of candidates who hope to replace District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera in 2027. 

There is an important mid-term election coming up later this year, however, so when Luis introduced me to local urologist Dr. Neil Manimala at a recent event in New Tampa and told me that Neil was running for the countywide District 5 Hillsborough County Commission seat currently occupied by Republican incumbent Donna Cameron Cepeda, I knew I wanted to talk to Neil about what made a successful doctor decide that he wanted to serve the public in a completely different way. 

A lot of politicians will say that they’re running “for the right reasons,” but if you spent 90 minutes with Neil, the way I did a couple of weeks ago, you’d believe the way I do that his heart is 100% in the right place and that he genuinely plans to serve all constituents on both sides of the aisle in Hillsborough County. 

First, A Little Background 

Now 35 years old, Neil was raised in Valrico, even though his parents were both from Kerala in southern India and emigrated to the U.S. in the 1980s. His parents raised Neil and his younger brother Nevin Catholic and he graduated from the King High International Baccalaureate program before attending USF. 

He met his wife Rachel, a traveling registered nurse, online when she had just moved back to the area from Orlando. Rachel’s parents live in Easton Park in New Tampa, so Neil has spent a lot of time in our area and knows it well. The Manimalas recently welcomed their first child, their daughter Mariam, into the world. 

Neil says that when he first went to USF, he was thinking about becoming an engineer. “I have a lot of respect for the computationally gifted folks, like my brother, who lives for statistics,” he told me, “but I realized that just wasn’t for me.” 

He also thought about going into research. “I did a bunch of work at Moffitt and my mentor at the time was an M.D./Ph.D.,” Neil said, “but when I shadowed him seeing patients, the first patient we saw, about 20 years ago, was a guy who had lung cancer and, unfortunately, it was terminal. He had been under treatment by my mentor for about two years and it was during that visit that my mentor told him there was nothing more they could do, that they had exhausted all of the treatment options available at that time. The patient and his wife were in tears, but you could tell during that encounter that, despite the terrible news, they were glad that it was my mentor who delivered it — that even though the chance of a cure was shot, there was still dignity to be had. That’s when I realized that I wasn’t meant to be doing research behind a bench. I wanted to have that human-to-human interaction.” 

He said he realized pretty early on that, “Even though you’re seeing some people during some of the darkest days of their lives — whether being told they have cancer or that their child had passed away — you also get to see people having some of the brightest days of their lives, hearing that their cancer is cured or that they can have kids again. That’s a huge gift.” 

Neil says that his first taste of “politics” was in student government while in medical school in USF. “I was in one of the last cohorts in med school at the main Tampa campus before we moved to Water St. downtown, and my student government group was very instrumental, from the student perspective, in shaping that campus.” 

Neil also did his residency with USF, but he was still in med school when he met Dr. Steven Specter (who isn’t an M.D., but has a Ph.D. in virology), who became another one of Neil’s mentors. 

“I remember student government was advocating for more student parking spots at the med school and I said, ‘Dr. Specter, I’m just sick and tired of politics.’ And, he told me ‘Neil, as long as you have two or three people sitting in a room, you’re going to have politics. You have to find a way to navigate the politics to help the people who matter most to you.” And, for me, that’s the people of Hillsborough County.” 

Hillsborough Health Care Plan 

Neil also told me that one of the things that he plans to continue fighting for, that he first learned about while in residency, is the Hillsborough County Health Care Plan (HCHCP) through USF, which was originally funded by a half-cent ad valorem property tax but is now primarily funded by a sales tax. 

But, with state lawmakers discussing rolling back property taxes this year, there is growing concern about the long-term stability of HCHCP, even though it isn’t still funded by property taxes. 

“There are people ‘on the margins’ in this county who would never have access to top-of-the-line specialty physician care without that plan,” Neil said. “I currently serve on the Board overseeing that plan, which is how I first got into working with the county government. But, [HCHCP] has won awards nationwide for how it’s been taking care of people, and conservative estimates say that, for every dollar put into it, [the plan] brings back a return of $1.50 for all taxpayers. So, one of my priorities, if elected, will be to ensure it continues to be funded.” 

Neil also is a supporter of improving public transportation. He told me that, “HART is the most underfunded public transportation agency in any major city. That’s an embarrassment. I hope to be able to work to build it out, rather than cut more routes, so that we are able to have some sort of regional bus rapid transit system.” He added that he remembers when then-Gov. Rick Scott turned down $2.4 billion in Federal funds for a high-speed rail connection between Tampa and Orlando. 

“But, we need that kind of connection now, Neil said. “Just adding lanes to roadways creates what’s called ‘induced demand’ to build more homes and fill those lanes. Lane expansion should just be one tool in the toolbox, not the only tool.” 

He also believes that if the goal is to get vehicles off our roadways, “Why don’t we use our waterways? There was a plan that would have created a ferry to connect East County with MacDill Air Force Base, which would take 2,000 cars off the road every day. But, it got axed because some people on the County Commission disagreed ideologically with the people who proposed the plan.” 

He also said that, despite the partisan wave dominating state government, he hopes to, “build something sustainable where every citizen of this county sees that there’s something worth paying attention to on a local level. Let’s take care of all of our people and leave the partisan politics to Washington and Tallahassee.” 

Before deciding to run for elected office himself, Neil helped a couple of candidates with their campaigns, including New Tampa resident and 2024 County Commission candidate Patricia Alonzo, who lost her bid to unseat long-time District 2 incumbent Ken Hagan.“Patricia is a good person, but she was running against a local powerhouse and got into the race late,” Neil said. “I have a lot of respect for Ken and, when he first ran, he had a one-year-old at home, so there are some parallels between us.” 

He added, however, “While there are downsides to being in power for two decades, there’s also something to be said about having institutional knowledge about your job.” 

Neil also said that even though the County Commission is currently five Republicans to two Democrats, “there are current Republican commissioners, including Hagan, that I know I can work with to find common ground on important issues.” 

He also said that as a countywide candidate, he knows he has to appeal and answer to all 1.6 million people in the county, and he’s off to a great start — he doesn’t have a primary opponent and he’s secured endorsements from people like Dist. 14 U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, State House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell and Viera. 

He’s also dominating the fund-raising side of his race, having raised more than $121,000 so far, compared with just $6,000 raised by Cepeda’s campaign. But, when Cepeda beat Mariella Smith for the Dist. 5 seat in 2022, Smith also out-raised Cepeda by a wide margin. 

“I know money isn’t enough to win,” he said. “I also am getting out there to talk to people. I’m running to serve all of you.” 

To find out more about Neil Manimala or donate to his campaign, visit NeilManimala.com.