Janelle Irwin Taylor
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor consistently ranks in the Top 5 of Florida Politics’ list of Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Politicians.
As the Mayor of the region’s largest and most populous city, she’s often at the forefront of local issues, whether specific to Tampa or spanning local borders. Dropping one spot from last year, Castor now finds herself at No. 3, just two years after she landed the coveted No. 1 spot.
Castor, a Democrat, leads a blue city in a red state, in a county that started going blue, but then abruptly took a swing back into the red in the 2022 and 2024 election cycles. As such, she’s proven skilled at navigating partisanship.
Her moderate approach to leadership, paired with her ability to work closely with Republicans in the Legislature and Congress to bring home resources for her constituents, helped recently lead Castor to being named by President Donald Trump to a new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) review council.
Castor was the only Democrat named to the council.
Trump selected Castor among several others he said were “Top Experts in their fields” and “Highly respected by their peers,” according to a Truth Social post and a press release from the Department of Homeland Security.
Her selection was, partisanship aside, something of a no-brainer. As Castor outlined in a statement after her appointment, she oversaw a city that suffered devastating flooding from Hurricane Helene last Fall, and then damaging winds just 13 days later from Hurricane Milton, giving her critical hands-on experience in responding to natural disasters.
“Thousands of Tampa Bay residents lost everything. Given the critical importance of emergency services and response to vulnerable communities like Tampa, I am pleased to have been selected to serve on this council,” Castor said at the time.
And as the city’s highest-ranking public official, Castor has also proven her might through involvement in other political races, though not always successfully.
Castor publicly supported a candidate in 2023 running against incumbent Tampa City Council member Bill Carlson, a known Castor foe. She endorsed — and some suspect recruited — Caspers Company CEO Blake Casper to run against Carlson. And while her support led to a lot of additional institutional support, Casper ultimately lost by a wide margin to Carlson.
And it’s not the only time Castor suffered a loss at the ballot box that wasn’t her own. Castor, that same year, also supported former state Sen. Janet Cruz in a Tampa City Council race against incumbent Lynn Hurtak, which Cruz went on to lose. Cruz is the mother of Castor’s partner, lobbyist Ana Cruz.
But don’t mistake those losses as an indication of Castor’s influence in the city. While her preferred candidates didn’t pull off victories, Castor’s support led to moneyed campaigns backed by big names. Cruz, for example, raised well over $200,000 for her race and had support from big names such as former Mayor Bob Buckhorn. And in Casper’s race, the story was much the same, with Casper raising more than $330,000.
Hurtak and Carlson are Castor’s fiercest critics and serve as the Mayor’s most significant barriers to getting her agenda through the Council. While both may have survived Castor-backed electoral efforts, it is Castor who is winning the broader war, as neither has a strong enough coalition to block the administration.
It’s also worth remembering that in politics, the more power one garners, the bigger the target on their back sometimes becomes.
“She not only leads with integrity, she inspires with vision and acts with purpose. Mayor Jane Castor has never been afraid to make tough decisions or stand up for what’s right. I’ve seen firsthand how deeply she loves this city and how tirelessly she works to make it better for everyone. Her leadership has shaped Tampa’s growth, strengthened our communities, and set the standard for what it means to roll up her sleeves and get stuff done but also serve with heart,” said Mercury Public Affairs Managing Director Ashley Bauman, who previously served as Castor’s Communications Director.
And none of those challenges have stopped Castor from progressing. Since Hurricanes Helene and Milton last year, much of Castor’s work has centered on storm recovery and on preparations for the next Hurricane Season, which has already begun.
Speaking in late April during her annual State of the City address, Castor’s predominant message was Tampa’s resilience following the storms.
Castor said first responders answered nearly 200 emergency calls during Hurricane Helene, and more than 15,000 during Hurricane Milton. Among those, public safety officials rescued 52 residents and eight pets from rising waters during Hurricane Helene. During Milton, they rescued 15 people trapped in a home after a tree crushed the residence.
She also touted the city’s Public Works Department for clearing streets and the Solid Waste Department for its debris management.
To prepare for the current Hurricane Season, Castor said the city has invested $94 million in wastewater upgrades, including for 28 “critical pump stations.” She said another $350 million has been invested in stormwater maintenance and improvements, and the city is adding backup generators to pumping stations to ensure greater resiliency. In the first quarter of this year alone, city crews have removed more than 500 tons of debris from pipes, an effort that helps reduce flooding.
Work is also underway reinforcing seawalls, modernizing the energy grid and making fuel access more efficient at Port Tampa Bay.
While hurricanes remain top of mind in the hurricane-prone region — where a direct hit feels ominously overdue — Castor’s body of work is extensive.
Under her leadership, Castor says the city is now at the top in the nation for women-owned businesses, and the city’s median household income is now more than $70,000 a year.
Castor’s administration also continues work on its PIPES project, a $2.9 billion funding plan that gradually increases water and wastewater rates over 20 years to bring the city’s infrastructure in line with current needs. The historic program has led to the replacement of 62 miles of aging water lines and 209 miles of deteriorated wastewater lines.
She’s also an innovator. The city has $3 billion in unfunded needs for road repairs, and is short $1 billion for new sidewalks and sidewalk repairs. But instead of caving to defeat, Castor has stepped up, creating two in-house paving teams, increasing street paving by more than 50% and repairing more sidewalks this year “than in the last decade combined,” she said in April.
And she has been working relentlessly on an issue facing the entire nation: affordable housing. Home prices have risen more than 175% over the last decade, according to the city, as housing supply failed to meet demand. But Castor’s administration has made progress, with 20,000 new residential units already on the market and thousands more planned or in development.
Looking further back at Castor’s tenure as Mayor, her resume becomes even more robust.
In 2022, the city made $200 million in investments in East Tampa, MacFarlane Park, Forest Hills, and Virginia Park, and began construction to replace an 80-year-old water main, a $3.8 million project.
Castor also previously 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, first implemented in Sweden in the 1990s, is now gaining momentum in U.S. cities.
And let us not forget the time Castor, a former Police Chief for the city, accidentally made headlines for, basically, putting her law enforcement cap back on. In 2023, while on a fishing trip with her family, Castor pulled up what she and her brother assumed was debris near their boat, but was actually a massive ball of cocaine. She called law enforcement and Border Patrol agents later picked up the discovered stash.
Castor is serving in her final term as Mayor, which ends in 2027. Castor’s predecessor, Buckhorn, is rumored to be running again now that his own term limits will be reset, and Carlson is widely expected to challenge him. But that means Castor still has more than a year to continue distinguishing herself as a top leader in the Tampa Bay region.
As a lame duck, it’s worth watching Castor over her final months in office for any big, legacy-defining moves.
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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; and Michelle and Peter Schorsch, publishers of Florida Politics.
