No. 2 on the list of Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Politicians: Jane Castor

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor has slipped one spot from her perch at the top last year, to No. 2 on the list of Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Politicians for 2024. While Castor ceded the top spot, she remains near the pinnacle of the region’s political scene, running the region’s largest and most populous city and forging forward with a blue agenda in a red state.

Castor’s slight step backward may have come less from the influence and power she pedals than it did from simply just staying out of the limelight through the second half of 2023 and into this year. Last March, she was practically re-elected without opposition after facing only a write-in candidate on the ballot.

That she didn’t face opposition speaks volumes about the political dominance of Tampa’s first openly gay Mayor.

“Mayor Jane Castor leads by example — her commitment to public service, and her ability to drive transformative change motivates those around her to continue to strive for more,” said Ashley Bauman, Castor’s former Communications Director.

“Enhancing public safety, fostering strategic economic development and improving the quality of life for all residents has set her apart as an intuitive leader. Mayor Castor’s impact on our community is profound, and her tireless efforts continue to shape a brighter future for Tampa Bay.”

Early in her tenure, in 2019, Castor launched the nearly $2.9 billion Progressive Infrastructure Plan to Ensure Sustainability, or PIPES, program. The City Council approved the program, which is the largest public works investment in Tampa’s history.

Throughout 2022, things started really coming together, with $200 million in investments in East Tampa, MacFarlane Park, Forest Hills, and Virginia Park over the next three years. In November, the city began construction to replace an 80-year-old water main, a $3.8 million project.

Castor also committed Tampa to the Vision Zero Action Plan, which aims to eliminate roadway fatalities and severe injuries while increasing safe, healthy and equitable mobility for all. The program was first implemented in Sweden in the 1990s and is now gaining momentum in U.S. cities.

Castor, in an op-ed in the Tampa Bay Times, recently outlined her administration’s significant efforts over the last five years or so to address climate change and establish a more sustainable and resilient community. That included hiring the city’s first sustainability and resilience officer, directing hundreds of millions of dollars into climate-read infrastructure, and working toward a lower carbon footprint through the use of solar and electric vehicles.

“Tampa’s seawalls, beaches and shorelines are ground zero for climate impact, which is why we are elevating structures, implementing building code and looking at expanding shoreline buffers. Living shorelines serve a dual purpose by protecting coastal property from damage and providing ecosystem benefits,” Castor wrote.

Castor also offered remarks earlier this year at the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., where she spotlighted her administration’s efforts tackling tough challenges, such as public safety, transportation, homelessness and affordable housing. On the latter, perhaps the region’s most pressing challenge, Castor honed in on out-of-the-box thinking, including the use of some sort of manufactured homes.

“Those types of approaches where we can build houses much quicker,” she said, according to WUSF.

Growing influence and power in the heady world of Tampa Bay politics helps when you’re able to, even if by pure happenstance, drum up some clicky headlines. That’s exactly what happened last August when Castor reeled in $1.1 million worth of cocaine while on a fishing trip with her family. Her brother spotted what the family thought was debris near their boat off the shore of Marathon in the Florida Keys.

They figured there might be smaller fish under the debris, which could attract the larger fish the family was looking for. Instead, according to Fox 13, Castor’s experience as a police officer and Police Chief helped her quickly realize that what looked at first glance to be debris, was actually a massive bail of cocaine. She called law enforcement and Border Patrol agents later picked up the discovered stash.

And it’s those types of fun anecdotes that have helped Castor weather even the hardest storms.

The affordable housing situation hasn’t let up, despite ongoing efforts. And there have been a string of shootings in the city, including the most recent in the South Howard area that claimed the lives of two and injured the third. It was the second shooting in just two weeks and just months after a mass shooting in Ybor City killed two and injured 16. Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw, whom Castor hired, announced plans to curb violent crime in the city.

But Castor has avoided any significant backlash. It was much the same last year when Castor was at the top of her class. When video surfaced of the Police Chief that Castor had hired, Mary O’Connor, flashing her badge during a traffic stop and asking the Pinellas deputy who pulled her and her husband over to “just let us go,” Castor’s critics pounced.

Castor immediately suspended O’Connor and the former Chief later resigned, but not before the situation made national headlines and drew into question whether Castor should have hired her in the first place. O’Connor had once been arrested and charged with battery on a Hillsborough Sheriff’s deputy in 1995 during a DUI arrest of her then-boyfriend, now husband, Keith O’Connor.

Castor, as she always does, didn’t flinch. She issued a to-the-point statement acknowledging the situation, demanding better from law enforcement leadership and, in a particularly poignant move, noted how she had given O’Connor a second chance, as she “believe(s) in second chances for people.”

With a few years left on the clock, the question will become not whether Castor continues to make this list, but whether she can reclaim the top spot. With the political winds of 2024 potentially leveling some telling outcomes in the Tampa area, Castor may yet have more opportunity to shine.

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Methodology

We define the Tampa Bay region as Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco, but can also include Hernando, Polk or Sarasota — if the politicians from those counties impact either Pinellas or Hillsborough.

We define a politician as being in office or running for office.

Being first on a panelist’s list earns the politician 25 points, second earns them 24 points and so on, to where being listed 25th earns a politician one point. Points are added and, voilà, we have a list.

Special thanks go to our experienced and knowledgeable panelists, who were essential to developing the 2024 list: Christina Barker of the Vinik Family Office, Ashley Bauman of Mercury, Matthew Blair of Corcoran Partners, Ed Briggs of RSA Consulting, political consultant Maya Brown, Ricky Butler of the Pinellas Co. Sheriff’s Office, Reggie Cardozo of The Public Square, Ronald Christaldi of Schumaker, Ana Cruz of Ballard Partners, Justin Day of Capital City Consulting, Barry Edwards, Joe Farrell of Pinellas Realtors, pollster Matt Florell of Vicidial Group, Shawn Foster of Sunrise Consulting Group, Adam Giery of Strategos Group, political consultant Max Goodman, Mike Griffin of Savills, Natalie King of RSA Consulting, political consultant Benjamin Kirby, TECO Energy Regional Affairs Coordinator Shannon Love, Merritt Martin of Moffitt Cancer Center, Mike Moore of The Southern Group, political consultant Anthony Pedicini, Ron Pierce of RSA Consulting, J.C. Pritchett, pastor of St. Pete’s Faith Church, Darren Richards of Tucker/Hall, Preston Rudie of Catalyst Communications Group, Amanda Stewart of Johnston and Stewart, and Alan Suskey of Shumaker Advisors. With Michelle and Peter Schorsch.