Here are the Top 10 stories in Tampa Bay politics in 2024

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With the end of each year comes an opportunity for reflection, and the anticipation of a fresh start. It also provides a chance to reminisce on all of the crazy headlines of the preceding 12 months.

The Tampa Bay region, one of the most populous in the state and Florida’s top media market, is no stranger to big headlines, and this year was no different.

From nonprofit financial scandals to potentially generation-defining elections, there’s plenty to remember as we reflect on 2024, and look ahead to what may come in 2025 — since the past is often prologue.

With that in mind, here is a list — in no particular order — of the top political stories in the Tampa Bay region in 2024.

Back-to-back hurricanes and all that debris

It was rough here for residents in Tampa Bay (and of course plenty of other areas throughout the storm-battered state) this year. The region suffered back-to-back blows from hurricanes, with Hurricane Helene causing widespread flooding in late September despite making landfall far from the region, and Hurricane Milton following up just a couple weeks later in early October with landfall in Sarasota.

While Helene wasn’t much of a wind event — tropical storm gusts were reported throughout the region, but nothing terribly devastating — the landfall in the Big Bend region north of Tampa Bay created historic storm surge that sent water 5 feet or more into some coastal homes and businesses. A dozen people in Pinellas County died as a result of the storm, which never got within 100 miles of the county.

As Hurricane Milton approached, residents in the region feared the worst, with estimates showing a direct hit could double the amount of storm surge seen from Helene.

Fortunately for the region, Milton made landfall south of Tampa Bay, in Sarasota, mostly sparing coastal properties and those in low-lying areas of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties from serious flooding, though there was significant flooding due to high water tables in areas surrounding the Alafia River, and other flooding due to heavy, sustained rains.

Much of the region did see sustained tropical storm-force winds and hurricane-force winds, leading to extensive debris from wind damage. Add that to unprecedented flood damage from Helene and the region had a major debris problem on its hands.

Even more than two months after Milton, crews are still working throughout the region to clear debris piles. Local dumps and brush sites are overfilling and three Pinellas County Parks remained closed as of Dec. 19 — Fort DeSoto, Sand Key and Lake Seminole.

It’s created quite the headache — particularly for St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch, whose name inspired the nickname “Welch Piles” for heaps of debris sitting for weeks on end in front of people’s properties. As of Dec. 16, more than 2 million cubic yards of debris had been removed in St. Petersburg alone. To put that into perspective, the city collected 375,000 cubic yards of debris from Hurricanes Irma, Ian and Idalia … combined, according to Welch.

The issue is raising continued worry about the region’s resiliency, after homes that had never before flooded saw water inundate properties and homes prone to frequent flooding saw increased devastation. It’s also raising concerns about property insurance rates as policyholders file pricey claims to recover.

Tampa Bay Rays stadium debacle

This year was shaping up to be the one local baseball fans had been long hoping for, the year when Major League Baseball was preserved in the Tampa Bay region and where the new stadium squabbling finally came to a close.

Alas, politics and mother nature had other ideas.

After years of debate, failed plans, even a referendum for a waterfront stadium, Welch’s administration appeared to finally have landed the perennial Rays stadium saga. Both the St. Pete City Council and the Pinellas County Commission in July approved a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays and developer, Hines, to build a new stadium and redevelop the surrounding Historic Gas Plant District. The rest, it seemed, was a formality amounting to items on a list to be checked off.

Unbeknownst to anyone though, there were those pesky back-to-back hurricanes still to come, and an election that would reshape the makeup of at least one of the two boards responsible for checking off those bullet points.

First, the Pinellas County Commission that approved the Rays stadium deal in July was not the same County Commission after the November election, when Commissioner Charlie Justice lost his re-election bid and Commissioner Janet Long retired.

Second, the second of the two hurricanes — Milton — blew the roof of the existing stadium right off, leaving the Rays essentially homeless for the 2025 season. The two circumstances spelled doom … almost.

Forced to find a stadium for the 2025 season, the Rays chose Steinbrenner Field, which is in Tampa. This peeved Pinellas Commissioners, who, as a result, delayed a vote on the bond resolution needed for its portion of funding for the deal. The delay, the Rays said, was going to cause huge cost overruns that the Rays were not prepared to absorb, even though the contract called for them to cover any cost overruns. Then St. Pete City Council delayed its bond resolution, prompting Rays President Brian Auld to declare the deal dead.

But as anyone who has ever entered into a contract knows, it’s not always so simple. At issue were land development rights for the part of the existing Tropicana Field site other than the future stadium site, the Historic Gas Plant District. If the Rays backed out of the contract, they wouldn’t maintain development rights. If the city or county backed out, the team would.

Thus began a sort of game of chicken. The city came back to the table this month to approve its bond resolution, punting the ball to the county, whose Commission also approved the bonds after two naysayers flipped votes: Commissioners Chris Latvala and Dave Eggers.

So the deal isn’t dead after all, but it might be on life support. Still unanswered is how the Rays will manage the increased costs for the project and even how much those increased costs are.

Andrew Warren’s change of heart, and subsequent upset

It was the Summer of 2022 when Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, citing Warren’s decision not to prosecute certain crimes, such as abortion-related offenses.

In early 2023, a federal Judge ruled that DeSantis had violated Warren’s First Amendment rights when he suspended him, but declined to reinstate Warren, arguing the 11th Amendment of the Constitution, which limits federal autonomy over states, stops the court from acting.

In fact, there was all sorts of back and forth in the courts — lower courts, federal appeals courts, even the Florida Supreme Court — in 2023. Most handed Warren a series of half wins, bashing DeSantis for the suspension, but stopping short of reinstating Warren to his job.

But it was 2024 when the Warren saga really came to a head, and to finality.

There was a ruling in January from the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which, like a previous ruling, found that DeSantis had violated Warren’s constitutional rights, but also stopped short of reinstatement because it said DeSantis still would have suspended Warren for reasons not related to the First Amendment. It remanded the case back to a lower court in Tallahassee.

Also in January, Warren initially said he would not seek re-election to the job from which he was ousted, arguing that if he ran and won, DeSantis would only suspend him again.

In April, Warren reversed course, announcing he would run as he awaited more court rulings and remained in legal limbo.

From there, the race wasn’t all that different from any other. Warren faced a challenger in the Democratic Primary, which he won handily, and then a Republican opponent in the General Election — Suzy Lopez, whom DeSantis appointed to replace Warren after he was suspended.

Warren aggressively raised funds, but was grossly outraised by Lopez. He entered the General Election stretch with about $314,000 available to Lopez’s more than $875,000. And he scooped up tons of endorsements, mostly from Democrats, even as Lopez collected support from the local GOP establishment.

But what was brewing ahead of the November General Election may have been impossible to overcome.

Warren lost to Lopez by 6 percentage points — a big loss by Hillsborough standards.

It’s possible Warren’s re-election bid might have been on more solid footing had he been running as an incumbent instead of a disgruntled former State Attorney who was ousted in a game of politics. But it’s a reasonable guess that, even then, Warren would have fallen victim to the ongoing reddening of Hillsborough County that began the year he was ousted, with the County Commission going red, and continued in 2024 with victories for Republican candidates up and down the ballot.

And about that …

Pinellas, Hillsborough get even redder

The most tangible evidence that both Hillsborough and Pinellas counties have gone red — and that it might be hard for Democrats to swing the pendulum back in their direction — comes from each county’s Commission races this year.

Republicans flipped two seats in Pinellas County, and one in Hillsborough — the only available for them to flip.

In Pinellas, Republican Vince Nowicki bested longtime incumbent Democrat Justice. Justice lost by about 2.5 percentage points, or about 13,000 votes out of nearly 500,000 cast. Republican Chris Scherer won an open race in District 1, where Democrat Long was retiring. Scherer beat Democrat Cookie Kennedy by nearly 5 percentage points. The combination of victories handed the GOP a massive supermajority, leaving just one Democrat serving from the dais.

In Hillsborough, Republican Chris Boles pulled off an upset, winning with 52% of the vote over lawyer and former state Rep. Sean Shaw in the District 6 race to replace Democrat Pat Kemp, who left office to run for Congress (she also lost). Shaw’s loss came despite polling showing him with an advantage over Boles, and despite a fundraising lead of about $28,000. Boles’ victory, paired with the expected re-election of Republican Ken Hagan and election of Republican appointee Christine Miller, gave the GOP a 5-2 advantage on the dais.

But the reddening was apparent elsewhere — just about everywhere — as well.

President-elect Donald Trump won both counties — with 52% of the vote in Pinellas and just under 51% in Hillsborough. U.S. Sen. Rick Scott also won both counties by similar margins. Democrats didn’t flip any legislative seats in either county. And in Hillsborough County, former Republican County Commissioner Victor Crist toppled incumbent Democrat Cindy Stuart in the race for Clerk of Court.

Taken as a whole, Democrats’ failure to hold onto seats or flip others likely spells a long road to rebuilding and, with the state getting increasingly red, the path is looking more and more bleak.

And if that wasn’t enough to bum out Democrats …

Clearwater also went red

For Democrats, the writing was already on the wall to forecast a tough November General Election. Republicans swept municipal races in Clearwater in March, though the races are technically nonpartisan.

Republican Bruce Rector, a lawyer, defeated Democratic City Council member Kathleen Beckman for Mayor. It wasn’t close — Rector won with nearly 63% of the vote. And Rector’s win came after he lost a bid for Clearwater City Council in 2020 to Mark Bunker, a Democrat and a Beckman supporter.

Four years later, Rector not only scored his own retribution by winning higher office, he also got to watch Bunker lose the seat he had just won the cycle prior. Bunker lost his seat to Republican firefighter Ryan Cotton. Cotton claimed about 42% of the vote to Bunker’s 39%, with a third candidate, Mike Mastuserio, earning the remaining 18%. Clearwater does not do runoffs.

In a third race, Republican Mike Mannino defeated two Democrats in the race to replace Beckman on the City Council. Despite a three-way race, Mannino won with an overwhelming 63% of the vote.

The trio of victories mean the city is led by a Republican Mayor, and three of its four City Council members are now Republicans.

But there was at least one piece of good news for Pinellas Democrats this year.

Despite going red, Pinellas rejects Moms for Liberty

Three candidates aligned with the hyperconservative Moms for Liberty ran for Pinellas County School Board this year, and all three failed. Additionally, voters overwhelmingly approved a school tax renewal and expansion that Democrats supported and some, though not all, Republicans opposed.

Two Pinellas County School Board members faced what were thought at the time to be potentially difficult re-election battles. Laura Hine and Eileen Long were both targeted by DeSantis in this year’s election cycle as he sought to remake School Boards across the state.

Hine faced Danielle Marolf, who publicly told supporters she wanted to bring conservative and religious values to schools while repeating oft-cited complaints from GOP leaders about liberal indoctrination in schools, typically attributed to things like critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion-type programs. Marolf, in particular, expressed support for removing books she deems pornographic from school libraries.

Hine won easily with 69% of the vote.

Long faced Erika Picard, who has worked in Pinellas public schools as a substitute teacher, exceptional student education teacher and school counselor, including stints at Dunedin Middle School, Seminole High School, Clearwater High School, Dunedin High School and Palm Harbor University High School. Long also won easily, with 55% of the vote.

While Hine and Long won their races in the August Primary, a third race wasn’t decided until the November General Election, which also pit a Moms for Liberty candidate against a more moderate one.

Unlike the other two races, which were head-to-head matchups, the third race was originally between three candidates: Stacy Geier, the Moms for Liberty pick; Katie Blaxberg, a Republican who was briefly registered as a Democrat; and Brad DeCorte, a Democrat.

Geier actually finished the Primary ahead of the pack, but with less than half the vote, had to head to a runoff against Blaxberg. Without the benefit of a Democrat splitting the anti-Moms for Liberty vote with Blaxberg, Geier came up short in the General Election, losing to Blaxberg with just 48% of the vote.

The defeats sent a message that while Pinellas County had gone red, it had perhaps not gone so red as to accept hyperpartisanship in public schools.

The tax referendum, meanwhile, easily cleared the November ballot with 68% of the vote. That sent another message: that Pinellas voters are still willing to fund public education.

That success did not translate to CD 13

Heartened by what was perceived as a rejection of extremism from the political right, Democrats were hopeful they could flip a seat in Congress by targeting right-wing U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna in Florida’s 13th Congressional District. And they thought they had the right person for the job in Whitney Fox, a telegenic mother of two who was able to gain footing in the Democratic Primary by running as a pragmatic centrist who would represent the needs of all constituents, regardless of political affiliation.

Fox dominated the Primary on a message that said, indirectly, that she was the only person who could topple Luna, by running left of center in a red district that may have enough moderate Republicans to tip the scales.

Fox handily won the crowded Primary, and moved into the General Election with several advantages.

Fox consistently outraised Luna in each fundraising period this year, and by the end of the third quarter of 2024 had come to within about $5,000 of the incumbent in cash on hand, with Luna entering the fourth quarter with $812,000 compared to $807,000 in the bank for Fox.

She also collected support from entities thought in recent years to have abandoned Florida as any sort of battleground.

Democrats bought into Fox’s candidacy almost entirely. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) placed Fox in its “Red to Blue” program, which aims to support candidates running to unseat incumbent Republicans in races the party sees as winnable. Fox was the only Democrat in Florida to make the program, and is one of only 33 candidates nationwide named to it.

Heading into the General Election, it looked like the race would be close. A poll came out the week before the election showing Luna locked in a dead heat against Fox. Before that, a poll from the same outfit, St. Pete Polls, found Fox actually leading Luna by 4 percentage points.

But when all the votes were counted, Fox was the one who came up short, by a lot. Luna won by 10 percentage points, earning 55% of the vote.

Susan Valdés’ party switch

Just this month, state Rep. Susan Valdés announced she had changed her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. Valdés said she was dumping the Democratic Party because she “will not waste” her final two years in office. In a lengthy statement, Valdés lamented that the Democratic caucus’s “leadership expects me to ignore the needs of my community” and claimed that she had been ignored.

But there’s an interesting caveat to consider. Less than a week before the party swap, Valdés had been running for Chair of the Hillsborough County Democratic Party, a race she lost to Vanessa Lester despite Valdés having major backing from local elected officials and unions.

To many, the party switch was seen as a disgruntled move away from a party that had snubbed her. And several Democrats called for her to resign her House seat following the switch, arguing voters in Valdés’ House District 64 elected a Democrat, not a Republican.

Indeed, Valdés won over Republican challenger Maura Cruz Lanz with more than 52% of the vote, a difference of nearly 3,000 votes. A total of 31,511 voters cast their ballot for Valdés as a Democrat, while fewer than 29,000 cast a ballot for a Republican.

Still, Valdés’ move is already paying off politically for her. Valdés was named the No. 2 in arguably the most powerful legislative committee in the House, the Budget Committee (formerly Appropriations). There is no doubt that as a Democrat she would not have landed such a plum appointment.

While the swap does little to tip the balance of power in Tallahassee, it did hand the GOP its largest House majority ever.

Chad Chronister’s almost trip to Washington

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister, for a brief moment, appeared headed to the nation’s capital after President-elect Trump announced he had selected the county’s top cop to head the Drug Enforcement Agency.

The nomination came on Dec. 1. By Dec. 3, Chronister had bowed out, saying that while it was “the honor of a lifetime” to be nominated to head the DEA, “there is more work to be done” in his current role.”

But the story didn’t end there. The very next day, on Dec. 4, Trump posted to his Truth Social that he was the one who axed Chronister from consideration, saying “he didn’t pull out; I pulled him out because I did not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters.”

Trump didn’t elaborate on what that meant, but it’s a fair guess he was talking about action Chronister took years ago.

Chronister, often seen as a moderating voice in conservative politics in Hillsborough County, during the early stages of the COVID pandemic announced the arrest of Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne, pastor of The River at Tampa Bay Church, for having conducted a service during the height of social distancing policies. The charges were ultimately dropped, but it didn’t stop some Republicans from viewing the issue as disqualifying, including U.S. Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Chip Roy of Texas.

Not everyone opposed Chronister’s nomination. One of Trump’s former (and possibly still) foes, DeSantis, supported Chronister. DeSantis pointed to his removal of Hillsborough State Attorney Warren from office in 2022 and Chronister’s support in that decision.

So at least for now, Chronister will remain at the helm of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, a job for which in 2023 he was named Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Politician.

A new era of leadership for TPA

In November, the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority’s Board of Directors finalized its search for a new CEO for Tampa International Airport to replace longtime airport leader Joe Lopano, who retired in April.

The Board went in-house for its new leader, selecting the airport’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Michael Stephens as the new CEO.

In selecting Stephens, the Board passed on Executive Vice President John Tiliacos, the other finalist in the Board’s search. Earlier in the process, the Board had also considered two other internal candidates: Executive Vice President of Marketing and Communications Chris Minner and Executive Vice President of Finance, Procurement and Capital Programs Damian Brooke.

Stephens will oversee more than 670 employees at Tampa International Airport, Peter O. Knight, Tampa Executive and Plant City airports. Stephens will also guide Tampa International Airport’s future growth, new technology and other advancements in the industry, as well as financial and environmental sustainability practices.

Stephens has nearly 25 years of experience managing legal, compliance, human resources, labor, and employment issues. He’s also a veteran, having served as a Captain and Trial Counsel in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. In that role, he was also appointed a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney. Stephens also served as an active-duty Air Traffic Controller in the U.S. Air Force.

And a bonus recap: USF’s new stadium is on the way

The University of South Florida (USF) had been scheduled to break ground in a new stadium and sports facility at its flagship Tampa campus in mid-October, but Hurricane Milton scuttled that plan, pushing the groundbreaking instead to early November. Still, it marked a major milestone for the school as USF football and other athletics take an increasingly large role in the school’s public profile.

USF is partnering with Manhattan Construction Company, H.J. Russell & Company and DuCon as construction managers on the project. The team has previous professional stadium experience including more than $1.2 billion in projects with USF’s design team, Populous. Some of the other projects include football stadiums for the Dallas Cowboys, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech and ongoing renovations at Florida State. Manhattan also provided management services for renovations at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa in 2016.

USF’s on-campus stadium is scheduled to open in time for the 2027 college football season. The university expects to host six to seven football games each fall in the facility and also use the stadium to host university and private events including seasonal concerts, sporting events and festivals.

The stadium is planned to be a 35,000-seat venue. Playing in Raymond James Stadium during the 2023 season, the Bulls averaged 37,944 attendees for six home games, though the average was skewed by a game against Alabama that sold 65,138. In the other five games, USF averaged 32,505 attendees.

The stadium is estimated to cost $340 million. The USF Board of Trustees approved the financing plan for the stadium last year.