Jackie Toledo qualifies by petition for Tampa City Council race

Jackie Toledo has officially qualified for her Tampa City Council race by petition instead of paying a qualifying fee. Toledo and volunteers gathered 873 signatures.

Candidates need to collect a total of 0.25 percent of eligible voters’ signatures to qualify, which equals 868 signatures. To qualify by petition candidates pay 10-cents per signature for verification instead of paying the $2,415 qualifying fee. That’s six percent of the $40,250 salary city council members earn.

“Today’s achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the outpouring of goodwill and support from the wonderful citizens in this community who share my passion to improve Tampa for generations to come,” Toledo said. “The campaign chose to qualify by petition because I wanted to hear directly from the residents of District 6 about their concerns and goals for this community.”

Toledo chose to qualify by petition rather than pay the qualifying fee despite having a large fundraising lead over her opponents. Toledo has brought in more than $80,000 compared to opponents Thomas Clark Castellano who has raised $26,340 and Guido Maniscalco with just $22,139 in contributions.

Toledo is running to replace term-limited council member Charlie Miranda. Toledo is a civil engineer. She attended Hillsborough public schools and received her engineering degree from USF. She’s worked consistently on transportation plans throughout Tampa Bay. Toledo also runs a small business, Tampa Creative Camps that builds children’s self-confidence through the arts.

“I’m grateful and humbled for our volunteer base, because without these 30 individuals working tirelessly over the last few months, we would not have achieved success,” Toledo said.

The race is non-partisan, however Toledo is the only Republican in the race. She’s been endorsed by city council member Lisa Montelione who is a Democrat. City Council is currently an all Democrat board.

Today is the last day for candidates to qualify by petition. Election Day is March 3 with a runoff on March 24 if necessary. If elected, Toledo would take office April 1. City Council terms are 4-years.