Janelle Irwin Taylor
No one expected him to land a seat on the Hillsborough County Commission, but he did. Now Joshua Wostal finds himself only a couple years in and already at No. 24 on the list of Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Politicians.
Wostal was first elected to the County Commission in 2022, a year that saw a statewide red wave materialize in Hillsborough despite recent trends heading in the opposite direction. Earning more than 52% of the vote, Wostal unseated incumbent Democrat Kimberly Overman in an election that handed Republicans back the majority they had lost just a few years earlier.
He did so despite a major funding deficit. Wostal raised less than $93,000 while Overman collected nearly $234,000.
Now, Wostal is serving as one of the Commission’s most conservative — and most vocal — members.
He assumed office and immediately ruffled feathers. To some, his blunt derision of calls for more affordable housing or better health care seemed heartless. Some have taken to calling him “Hostile Wostal,” according to the Tampa Bay Times. But to others, he was carrying a conservative torch that voters had demanded in the 2022 red wave.
In one of his earliest moves as an elected official, Wostal led efforts to delay a property tax referendum to boost teacher pay, which ultimately received broad support when it passed last year. Wostal had pushed successfully to move the referendum from the 2024 ballot — a Presidential Election year with higher voter turnout — to 2026. The Hillsborough County School District sued, and ultimately won, putting the measure before voters in November and seeing supermajority support among the electorate.
While Wostal often rankles Democrats — he once spoke out against a longtime county health care tax that serves the poor — he sometimes offers a surprise, an indication that while he may toe the conservative line, he’s still willing to consider crossing it. Wostal previously suggested including a grocery store in Sulphur Springs as part of a community sales tax that pays for county projects, a move that would alleviate the community’s current “food desert.”
And he receives praise outside of the traditional partisan lens.
“Commissioner Wostal is making his time in office count. He does not ascribe to the status quo. He does his homework and takes the time to dig into the details. I am especially grateful for his leadership and compassion in the aftermath of the hurricanes last fall. He coordinated with his fellow commissioners affected by the storms and responded to calls for aid countywide, including my own neighborhood in Seffner.” said Natalie King of RSA Consulting.
Still, there’s no denying Wostal’s commitment to today’s brand of conservatism. In an ever-reddening state and county, that in itself is a source of power.
Earlier this year, after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a Florida version of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Wostal suggested the Commission send a letter to DeSantis voluntarily submitting Hillsborough to an audit. The request would have listed Wostal as the sole Commission contact for a potential DOGE audit or other related activities. His motion failed, with even two Republicans voting against him.
Wostal is facing his first re-election test next year. While he marched into office an underfunded underdog, it’s possible his next test will be even harder. With 2022 being a red wave year in Florida and Hillsborough, it’s not clear whether that same gusto will happen among conservative voters in 2026.
While 2022 was a Midterm year in which a Democrat occupied the White House, the 2026 Midterms will unfold as Donald Trump again serves as President. And as anyone in politics knows, Midterms tend to favor the party out of power in Washington. With tariffs causing frequent economic uncertainty, voters might not be as sold on conservative leaders.
But it’s worth noting that even in 2024, Hillsborough County saw a continued reddening, so Wostal’s victory could also prove to be the new rule, not the exception.
At least one Democratic candidate has already lined up to find out which way that may break. Mark Nash, a candidate who has run and lost before, has filed to challenge Wostal next year, and he has already raised nearly $23,000 to do it.
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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; communications consultant Ashley Bauman of Mercury Public Affairs; 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.
