Janelle Irwin Taylor
A thirteenth candidate has entered the race for Tampa City Council, District 5, in a Special Election to replace the late Gwen Henderson, who passed away suddenly last month.
Jose Vazquez Figueroa filed for the race Thursday. He was the fourteenth candidate to file, but is only the thirteenth in the race because one entrant, former City Council member Orlando Gudes, has already withdrawn.
Figueroa is Puerto Rican and has lived in Tampa since 2000. He owns and operates a small recycling business, according to a candidate questionnaire completed in 2023 for the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Figueroa ran that year for District 3 on the City Council, losing in the Primary to former Sen. Janet Cruz and City Council member Lynn Hurtak, who is currently serving in the district after defeating Cruz in the runoff election.
Figueroa, who often uses Vasquez as his last name, has run for office unsuccessfully several times.
He briefly ran for Hillsborough County Commission in 2022, but withdrew from the race before qualifying. He also challenged former Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s re-election in 2015, but received just 4% of the vote. In 2018 he ran for House District 58 as a Democrat against Republican Dan Raulerson, losing with just shy of 43% of the vote.
Prior to that, he ran in a Special Election for HD 58 in 2017, also as a Democrat. Figueroa then lost to Republican Rep. Lawrence McClure — who now serves as the House budget chief — with just 34% of the vote. Figueroa also ran for the House in 2016 and 2014, also losing to Raulerson both times.
A candidate questionnaire completed in 2023 for ABC Action News offers a glimpse into Figueroa’s priorities, including the use of accessory dwelling units to address affordable housing and reforming the city’s code enforcement department.
The crowded race is nonpartisan, meaning candidates aren’t allowed to advertise or discuss their political affiliation on the campaign trail, at campaign events or in campaign documents. But political affiliation in such races is typically well-known among candidates anyway. Figueroa is one of eight Democrats in the race, joining four Republicans and a no-party candidate.
Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer scheduled a Special Election to replace Henderson for Sept. 9. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, a runoff election will be held Oct. 28.
Early voting for the Special Election will run Sept. 4-7 from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., with polls open on Election Day from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.
Democrats have a big advantage in the race, with just under 25,000 Democrats in the district, compared to just over 7,700 Republicans.
But at least one Democrat has expressed concern that the large field of candidates could offer an opening to the GOP to finally nab a seat on what has historically been an all-Democrat Council. Speaking to Creative Loafing Tampa, Rep. Dianne Hart said she was concerned about the potential for vote-splitting that could benefit Republicans.
That concern is rooted in the fact that Tampa operates runoff elections in the event that no single candidate earns more than 50% of the vote in the first election. With so many Democrats on the ballot, vote-splitting could — emphasis on could — set up a scenario in which votes split between them could offer Republicans in the race a higher percentage, sending to members of the GOP to the runoff.
While it’s early days in the race — several candidates have not even yet had to file campaign finance reports — some Democrats have already begun separating themselves from the pack.
Ariel Amirah Danley, Henderson’s daughter, has already raised more than $13,000. Much of that includes financial activity from the current fundraising period, for which reports are not due until next month, but it still puts her ahead of the group for now.
Juawana Colbert, the independent candidate and a Realtor who gained some measure of fame by appearing on a Netflix reality television series called “Selling Tampa,” has so far raised more than $8,000.
Two other candidates, Thomas Scott and Fran Tate, have also posted fundraising activity, but it was nominal, at $500 and $100, respectively.
Scott, a former Tampa City Council member and former Hillsborough County Commissioner, has name ID that could give him a boost. But he also has been out of the game for a while and his 2020 attempt to reemerge sputtered in a Democratic Primary for Hillsborough County Commission.
