Janelle Irwin Taylor
Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan continues to prove himself as a consistent power player in Tampa Bay politics, though his influence might be waning to some degree. Hagan this year finds himself at No. 15 on the list, down three spots from last year and four from 2023.
The reason for Hagan’s decline on the list may also be the reason he keeps making it. Hagan, a lifelong Republican, serves as something of a rarity in GOP politics these days, a critical swing vote for years, and an even more important one for Democrats now that they are serving from a super-minority.
“Ken Hagan should be the clear-cut No. 1 on this year’s list. He’s respected across the political spectrum and has positioned himself as a central figure in major decisions that will shape Tampa Bay for decades to come, particularly around development, infrastructure, and sports,” Democratic political strategist Chris Mitchell said.
The last bit may well be Hagan’s legacy. Other powerbrokers in Tampa Bay area politics may have forgotten how instrumental Hagan was in trying to woo the Tampa Bay Rays to Hillsborough County as they were grappling with where to build a new stadium to play ball after the team’s contract to play at Tropicana Field expired in 2027.
The fight may have seemed moot, and Hagan’s hopes at building a legacy that included keeping Major League Baseball in the region, and specifically on his side of the Bay, appeared dashed. Making this list consistently up to 2019, Hagan then fell off until 2023, likely because the Rays’ plans seemed fizzled.
And then came Hurricane Milton.
Now, the Rays are playing home games at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field, a move necessitated by major damage to Tropicana Field when its roof was blown off. It led to the team backing out of its stadium deal with the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County, and suddenly, Hillsborough could be back in play.
But more pressing perhaps in the immediate term is Hagan’s influence on the Commission in general. He has served from the dais for 23 years, a tenure facilitated by moving back and forth between single-member and countywide districts to thwart term limits. While many in the GOP have moved further and further to the right, shifts made to align with President Donald Trump’s MAGA brand of Republicanism, Hagan has largely stayed put.
“Commissioner Ken Hagan’s enduring commitment to Hillsborough County is evident through his decades of dedicated service. On the current County Commission, Hagan has demonstrated he can effectively collaborate with both his conservative and progressive colleagues to advance major projects and strategic priorities — a reflection of his influence, experience, and pivotal role in shaping the county’s future,” said Christina Barker, Chief of Staff in the Vinik Family Office.
Most recently, Hagan sided with Democratic colleague Harry Cohen on a move to keep fluoride in the county’s drinking water. Republican Joshua Wostal pushed to ban fluoride from the water, but with Hagan’s help in opposing the measure, the board deadlocked at 3-3 (Democrat Gwen Myers was absent, and likely would have voted with Cohen and Hagan anyway).
He also sided with Democrats on supporting arts funding, even as a Republican colleague called for slashing it.
He’s been even more instrumental in recent years. In 2023, Hagan sided with Democrats on a vote to ax arts funding. Last year, as Commission Chair, he agreed to schedule a public hearing to discuss potentially blocking the county from investing in Israeli bonds, a push from those critical of the conflict in Gaza who claim Israel is committing genocide. Hagan didn’t side with those critics, but he showed a willingness to confront difficult issues by allowing the conversation to happen. Ultimately only one Commissioner — Democrat Pat Kemp, who is no longer serving — voted to block the investment, but it shows Hagan’s backbone.
But perhaps Hagan’s biggest strength is just never losing. He was first elected in 2002 and, since then, has not only not lost, but has won by impressive margins. Last year, he won re-election by more than 10 percentage points. Two years before that, he won by nearly 14 percentage points. Even when races were closer, in 2018 as Democrats in the county were surging, Hagan won re-election by more than four percentage points. It goes on and on.
And he’s often described as likable, as evidenced by his peers voting him in as chair of the Commission eight times over the course of his tenure.
Hagan’s influence is often quiet, and it’s heaviest in areas relating to economic development and infrastructure. Over the years he’s been a strong voice for transportation improvement issues, sometimes bucking his party in favor of transit initiatives, or at least opposing them less vocally. Hagan neither endorsed nor opposed the All For Transportation referendum voters passed in 2018, which was later struck down by the courts. But he later voted with Democrats on the board to restore funding allocations that had been at the center of legal challenges, a move many hoped would have saved the referendum.
Additionally, Hagan serves as the Commission’s representative on Visit Tampa Bay, the Tampa/Hillsborough Expressway Authority, the Tampa Sports Authority, the Florida Association of Counties and the Hospital Authority.
With new questions now surfacing about the Rays’ future in the region, it will be worth watching whether Hagan continues his tenure on the list of Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Politicians, and whether his star again finds itself on the rise.
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A special thanks to RSA Consulting Group, the sponsor of this year’s rankings.
As for methodology, we define the Tampa Bay region as Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco, but we 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.
We also want to thank our experienced and knowledgeable panelists, who were essential to developing the 2025 list: Vinik Family Office Chief of Staff Christina Barker; Mercury Public Affairs Managing Director Ashley Bauman; Matt Blair of Corcoran Partners; Reggie Cardozo of The Public Square; Stephanie Cardozo of The Southern Group; Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick managing partner Ron Christaldi; former state Sen. Janet Cruz; political consultant/strategist Barry Edwards; Vicidial Group President Matt Florell; Sunrise Consulting Group President Shawn Foster; businessman Michael Griffin; Clay Hollis of Tucker/Hall; Natalie King of RSA Consulting Group; Moffitt Cancer Center VP of Public Affairs and Communications Merritt Martin; former state Rep. Seth McKeel of The Southern Group; political consultant Chris Mitchell; Mike Moore of The Southern Group; RSA President and CEO Ron Pierce; Tucker/Hall CEO Darren Richards; political consultant Jim Rimes; political consultant Preston Rudie of Catalyst Communications Group; TECO VP of State and Regional Affairs Stephanie Smith; lobbyist Alan Suskey of Shumaker Advisors; Doyle Walsh, Chief of Staff for St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch; Michelle and Peter Schorsch, publishers of Florida Politics.
