Rep. Harrison’s Support Of Avis Harrison A Headscratcher For Jim Davison

When District 63 State Rep. Shawn Harrison, a Republican who is running for re-election on Nov. 8, stood before a crowd at a candidate fair sponsored by the North Hillsborough Republican Club at Carrollwood Country Club on Sept. 13 and urged them to help put a Republican on the Tampa City Council for the first time since he had served on the council, Jim Davison, M.D., couldn’t help but smile.

Dr. Davison, a longtime Hunter’s Green resident and a friend of Harrison’s, had just spoken a few minutes before to the same crowd, and he viewed Harrison’s comments as something of an unofficial endorsement of his candidacy in the District 7 race.

But, it wasn’t.

The next day, Harrison sent out Facebook invitations for a fund raiser he hosted at his home on Sept. 22 for one of Davison’s opponents – Arbor Greene resident Avis Harrison, a former elementary school teacher and registered independent who proudly touts her lack of experience and is no relation to Shawn.

“She has been a family friend for several years, and I think she would be an excellent member of the City Council,’’ Harrison said.

Shawn had already co-hosted a fund raiser for Avis Harrison on Sept. 8 at the Avila home of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden, and raised more than $8,000. But, Davison was still surprised, considering what he heard at the candidate fair.

Dana Young, who represents Florida’s 60th District and is the Florida House majority leader, spoke right after Davison and also delivered glowing remarks. While the City Council race is non-partisan, it is no secret that Davison is a registered Republican and the only one so registered in a field that includes Luis Viera, Gene Siudut, Cyril Spiro, Ph.D., Orlando Gudes and Avis Harrison.

While Davison can’t refer to his party affiliation on campaign information because he is running for a non-partisan seat, Republicans who are not running for non-partisan offices are not bound by that rule.

“I just met (Davison) last night and this is a big deal,’’ Young said. “If you live in his area, he is the only Republican running for City Council, and he’s got like five Democrats running. So, if every Republican votes for him, he wins.”

Once the applause died down, Young added, “This guy is a Republican and if you are a Republican, you need to vote for him.”

She then turned the microphone over to Shawn Harrison, who is defending his Dist. 63 seat against Democrat Lisa Montelione, who is vacating the District 7 City Council seat for which Davison, Avis Harrison and the other candidates are competing.

“Everyone up here is a real quality conservative who you need to get out and support,’’ Shawn Harrison told the crowd. “I want to plug my friend Jim Davison, as well.”

Harrison also told the crowd that when he served on the City Council for eight years, he was, for some of that time, the only Republican.  Since he left, there haven’t been any.

“There are seven democrats on our City Council now and our mayor is a Democrat,’’ Shawn said at the candidate fair. “Can’t we have just one of us? Just one? Is that too much to ask? So we’re going to get out and support Jim in his efforts here. We need one out of those seven seats to be red.”

Harrison said since he was at a Republican event, he was appealing to the Republican voters. “Frankly, I’m not sure any voters from New Tampa were there,’’ he added.

Davison said he was then completely blindsided by Harrison holding a fund raiser in his home for one of his non-Republican opponents. But, he plans on staying loyal to his party and his friend.

“Am I still voting for Shawn?,” Davison said. “Yeah.  Am I disappointed? Yeah.”

Harrison says he has no obligation to support Davison just because he’s the only Republican in the race. He said Siudut has reached out to him for campaign advice, and he touted the endorsements he has received from Democrats in his race vs. Montelione.

“If you are a good candidate, party identification should play less of a role,’’ Harrison said. “I want the best person in that seat for New Tampa.”

MONEY GAME: The Gruden fund raiser for Avis Harrison helped launch her from the bottom of the fund raising race to near the top.

She raised $10,250 for the Sept. 3-16 filing period, putting her at $20,188.34 overall, right behind Viera and Spiro.

Viera, a Hunter’s Green resident and lawyer with Ogden & Sullivan, P.A., raised $6,195 during the most recent filing period, and now has $58,954 overall, which keeps him comfortably ahead of the rest of the field.

Dr. Spiro has raised $26,217.83 overall, the field’s second-largest fund-raising haul. Siudut, an editor with La Gaceta, has raised $18,630, while Gudes, a former Tampa Police officer, is at $15,766.10. Davison, who got into the race a little later, is at $7,395.30.

ENDORSEMENTS: Davison has offset his low fund-raising numbers by picking up some endorsements he says are as big as anyone else’s.

Davison received an endorsement from former Tampa City Council member Joseph Caetano, and another from Gus Bilirakis, the U.S. Representative for Florida’s 12th congressional district.

Caetano recently received 10,681 votes in his unsuccessful bid for the Hillsborough County School Board. Viera picked up an endorsement from the Tampa Bay Builders Association last week, which is generally considered an important “get” for candidates.