Janelle Irwin Taylor
As the House Democratic Leader for her second term now, it’s no wonder Fentrice Driskell continues to find herself on a list of Tampa Bay area powerbrokers despite serving amid a House GOP supermajority.
Most leadership positions in the Legislature are for one term. Driskell is now serving her second, and will lead House Democrats until she reaches term limits next year. That positioning earned her a spot on last year’s list of Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Politicians four spots higher than her positioning in 2023, rising from No. 13 to No. 9.
While her trajectory has reversed this year, now down to No. 17, Driskell’s staying power on the list after a series of major blows in recent months is a testament to not only her influence, but her political savvy.
“Fentrice Driskell not only leads with courage, but she also governs with compassion, vision, and unmatched integrity. She’s a trailblazer who uses her platform to lift others up and make real change happen. Whether she’s on the floor or in the community, Fentrice brings people together, speaks truth to power, and never loses sight of who she’s fighting for,” said Mercury Public Affairs Managing Director Ashley Bauman.
Driskell has had to weather some big storms. First, Rep. Susan Valdés announced in late 2024 that she was dumping the Democratic Party to become a Republican. Just a few days later, Rep. Hillary Cassel did the same. The defections took an already battered Democratic House caucus suffering through a historic power imbalance and dwindled their numbers even further.
Worse for Driskell is that some sources, in the aftermath of the departures, blamed Driskell for putting her own political aspirations ahead of caucus members and failing to lead the party in the 2024 cycle, as they put it.
She obviously refuted those claims, which came from anonymous sources, and told Florida Politics at the time that “leadership is a tough job,” as she expected, and that “when we have bad days people look to the leader.”
But it wasn’t over. In March, Rep. Jose Alvarez said he was unwelcome in the House Minority Office, which Driskell leads, because he voted in favor of a Republican bill.
Nevertheless, the defections serve as more of a testament to Driskell’s ability to manage progress against monumental odds, and to claim power in a place where, arguably, Democrats have no such thing.
Most recently, Driskell joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers in sponsoring budget projects to make Florida a national leader in responding to hate-based attacks, specifically antisemitic attacks.
The action came after a number of incidents, including a gun case found alongside a copy of Mein Kampf on the University of South Florida campus; a school shooting at Florida State University involving a shooter allegedly fascinated by Adolf Hitler; the attack on Jewish protesters in Boulder; a young Jewish couple shot dead in Washington, D.C.; and Jewish students harassed, intimidated and prevented from accessing buildings on various college campuses.
And Driskell has never shied away from critiquing Republicans in power, including in March when she said Gov. Ron DeSantis is “scrambling for political relevance” and has “no plans” to help Floridians.
Driskell’s star may also be rising even as she approaches the end of her term in the House.
She may run for Senate. And rumors also are circulating that she could run for Governor, though polling has shown her far behind other existing and potential Democratic candidates. In an early May poll, Driskell posted about 7% support in a hypothetical Primary, behind Gwen Graham, who ran eight years ago unsuccessfully, and David Jolly, a former Republican who announced in early June he would run as a Democrat.
Rumors have also popped up that Driskell could run for Tampa Mayor in 2027, a move that would likely pit her against former Mayor Bob Buckhorn, Tampa City Council member Bill Carlson and a handful of other potential contenders.
There, Driskell is polling, as of late May, in the middle of the pack, at 12% support. That’s well behind Buckhorn, who had 49% support in the poll, and Carlson, who sat at 22%. But it’s ahead of Sen. Jay Collins, at 9% support, and Tampa City Council member Lynn Hurtak, at 8%.
Recent politics and the ever-churning rumor mill build on successes Driskell has already enjoyed. It would be hard to argue she’s not one of the most qualified politicians in Florida. She’s a Harvard graduate and earned a law degree from Georgetown University.
Driskell was the first Black woman chosen to lead a party caucus in the House. Looking back on her tenure, 2023 stands out.
She led the effort to mitigate any potential additional abortion restrictions that might come up in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and leaving it to states to regulate abortion access. She vowed to fight any legislation that limits access to abortion care, which Driskell has repeatedly described as women’s health care. And even though she wasn’t successful, fight she did. And she continues the trudge.
That year, she went on the record blasting the Florida Supreme Court for upholding Florida’s strict 15-week abortion ban, which triggered an even more strict six-week ban. She called Florida “the land of government interference” and criticized GOP leaders for “deciding what’s best for pregnant women and girls.”
She also offered a rebuttal to DeSantis’ 2023 State of the State address, showing political fearlessness in openly lamenting DeSantis’ presidential aspirations as a loss for all Floridians, arguing that Republican lawmakers “traded freedom” to support the Governor’s presidential bid. She called for more attention to “pocketbook issues, not book bans” and “affordability solutions instead of abortion restrictions.”
Driskell will no doubt have to answer for Democrats’ ongoing struggle for relevance in now-red Florida, but she’s made clear over the years that she’s not afraid of a fight, won’t back down and will always be a person to watch.
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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.
