Get Out & Vote In Tomorrow's Tampa City Election

Although the race for New Tampa’s City Council District 7 seat already has been decided, you should still get out and vote in this year’s non-partisan municipal election on Tuesday, March 3. 

Still up for grabs are the Tampa Mayor’s office, as well as three citywide City Council seats that New Tampa residents in city developments (which includes all of our communities except Pebble Creek, Cross Creek & Live Oak Preserve) will help decide. And, with the combined voter turnout for the last two municipal elections in Tampa (2007 and 2011) less than 20-percent of all registered voters citywide, it means that if you do vote, you’ll have a much stronger voice than you ever have had for a county, state or federal election.

For the next four years, New Tampa once again will be represented on the City Council by Lisa Montelione, who was re-elected without an opponent on January 16, which was the last day for candidates to qualify for the election. Although Grand Hampton resident Joseph Caetano filed to run against Montelione, he did not end up qualifying for the race. However, the following city offices are still being contested:

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn is up for re-election and is running against write-in candidate Jose Vazquez, whose name will not appear on the actual ballot. Vazquez has run for office twice in the past, once for City Council in 2006 and also for Florida House District 58 in 2012. At our press time, Vazquez had raised just $120 for his campaign, while Mayor Buckhorn had raised more than $400,000.

Also being contested are the three citywide council seats, currently held by Mike Suarez (Dist. 1), Mary Mulhern (Dist. 2) and Yvonne Yolie Capin (Dist. 3). Mulhern is not running for re-election due to term limits, but Suarez (who has raised more than $56,000) and Capin (who has raised more than $80,000) hope to keep their respective seats.

Suarez is being challenged by Seminole Heights resident and 32-year Tampa native Susan Long. According to her website, Long is president of the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association, chair of the City of Tampa Public Nuisance Abatement Board, a member of the city’s Code Enforcement and Variance Review boards, as well as founding director and treasurer of the Seminole Heights Foundation. She also is the treasurer of Krewes Kare, a nonprofit organization that provides natural disaster relief to the Gulf Coast. Suarez has raised more than $56,000 in campaign contributions, while Long has raised more than $10,000.

Joseph V. Citro, Julie Ann Jenkins and current District 6 council member Charlie Miranda (who is term-limited in his current seat, but had raised nearly $60,000 for his citywide campaign) are in the running to replace Miranda in District 2. According to his website, Citro was appointed in 2012 by Mayor Buckhorn to serve on the city’s Variance Review Board and previously was appointed by former Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio in 2003 to serve on the city’s Code Enforcement Board. Citro also has served as the president of the Tiger Bay Club of Tampa and the Ybor City Rotary Club. He has raised about $20,000 for his campaign.

Jenkins is a business woman who has worked as a national account manager for Virgin Atlantic Airlines and regional sales manager for AirTran Airways,. She also has chaired the International Forum of Travel & Tourism Advocates, served as a congressional aide to former U.S. Congressman Buddy MacKay, been a member of the New Tampa-based OASIS (Outreach Assisting Student in Schools) Network and the Hillsborough County chapter of the League of Women Voters. Jenkins so far also has raised more than $20,000 in campaign contributions.

Capin’s opposition for the District 3 seat comes from Paul Erni, whose website says that he has worked in sales for Republic National Distributing Co. (a beer & wine distribution company) for 24 years and served for 20 years as a magistrate (officer) on the city’s code enforcement board. Erni, who has raised more than $13,000 for his campaign, also has chaired the public nuisance and abatement board and has been a coach with Pony Youth Baseball for 14 years.

For more info, including your polling location, visit VoteHillsborough.org.