TAMPA — Hillsborough County voters didn't just pick names on Tuesday. They changed how the county and its school district will be run.
Democrats won all four County Commission seats on the ballot, voters decided the school superintendent should be elected instead of hired, and a half-cent sales tax that pays for school air conditioning and roofs was renewed for another decade. All three countywide referendums passed.
The numbers below come from the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections results page, which showed all 446 precincts, early votes and mail ballots counted Wednesday morning. The results are still unofficial. They don't yet include provisional ballots or mail ballots waiting on signature fixes. Turnout was 63.1%, with 519,837 ballots cast.
The County Commission flips to Democrats
The seven-member board will go from a 5-2 Republican majority to a 4-3 Democratic one, Florida Politics reported. For that to happen, Democrats had to hold one seat and flip two others. They did both.
- District 1: Commissioner Harry Cohen (D) beat former state Rep. Jackie Toledo (R), 55.7% to 44.3%. The district covers South Tampa, Davis Islands, Apollo Beach, Ruskin and Town 'n' Country, and Republicans hold a voter registration edge there.
- District 3: Commissioner Gwen Myers (D) beat Luiz F. F. Garcia (R), 72.4% to 27.6%.
- District 5 (countywide): Neil Manimala (D) beat former School Board member Stacy Hahn (R), 54.9% to 45.1%, for the seat held by Republican Donna Cameron Cepeda.
- District 7 (countywide): Aileen Rodriguez (D) unseated Commissioner Joshua Wostal (R), 56.2% to 43.8%.
“Tonight, Hillsborough County voters made it clear that they want a different approach to local government — one grounded in fairness, kindness and respect,” Rodriguez said in a statement shared with Patch. “I will be a voice for everyone.”
Why it matters: the commission sets the county's tax rate and budget and votes on growth, roads and big projects. Wostal was one of two commissioners who voted against the county's roughly $796 million financing package for the new Rays stadium.
Referendum 1: You'll elect the superintendent
Voters approved making the Hillsborough schools superintendent an elected job, 58.1% to 41.9%. Right now the School Board hires the superintendent. Starting with the 2028 general election, voters will pick the superintendent in a partisan race for a four-year term, according to a summary of the measure.
Hillsborough last elected its superintendent in the 1960s. The School Board unanimously passed a resolution opposing the change. State Rep. Michael Owen, the Apollo Beach Republican who filed the bill that put it on the ballot, argued it gives residents more say.
Referendum 2: A bigger commission, all by district
This was the closest of the three, passing 51.7% to 48.3%. It expands the County Commission from seven members to nine, all elected from single-member districts, and to 11 once the county reaches 2.5 million people. Today three commissioners are elected countywide; under the new setup, each voter will elect one commissioner who lives in their district.
It also means it will take a majority plus one, not a simple majority, to hire or fire the county administrator, county attorney and internal auditor. The new district lines still have to be drawn.
Referendum 3: The school repair tax keeps going
Voters renewed the half-cent sales tax for school buildings, 61.6% to 38.4%. The current tax runs through 2028. The renewal runs 10 years starting in 2029 and is expected to bring in about $1.5 billion, FOX 13 reported. By state law, it can only go to buildings and campuses, like air conditioning, roofs, construction and security, not salaries.
Since 2019, the tax has brought in more than $1.3 billion and paid for more than 1,000 projects, including 180 air conditioning replacements and over 60 roofs, according to the district's oversight committee.
“The loudest cry was for air conditioning,” Jose Valiente, chair of the Hillsborough County Schools Citizen Oversight Committee, told FOX 13. “We have completed over a thousand projects since it started in 2019. And we have about 200 more to go. ... That's why we can't go backwards.”
School Board and other local races
- School Board District 2: Educator Daniela Simic beat attorney Brittany Lyssy, 52.2% to 47.8%, for the seat Hahn left.
- School Board District 6 (countywide): Board Chair Karen Perez won another term over Kenneth Gay, 56.9% to 43.1%.
- State House District 69 (Bloomingdale, Riverview, Lithia): Democrat Ashley Elizabeth Herrmann unseated Rep. Danny Alvarez (R), 51.7% to 48.4%, Axios Tampa Bay reported.
- Congress, District 14: U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D) held her Tampa seat in a district the Legislature redrew this year to lean more Republican, beating former state Rep. Mike Beltran (R), WUSF reported.
What's next
The county canvassing board still has to count provisional ballots and mail ballots with fixed signatures before the results are certified. None of the county races were within recount range in Wednesday morning's count.
The new commission majority is the most immediate change. The elected superintendent doesn't arrive until after the 2028 election, and the renewed school tax picks up when the current one ends.