More Than 160 Candidates Qualify For Hillsborough County Elections

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL — As Florida's candidate qualifying period closed, the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections announced that more than 160 candidates have qualified for the 2022 elections in Hillsborough County.

"This is an important day because we now know who will be on our primary election ballot," said Craig Latimer, Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections.

The list of all local candidates who qualified with Hillsborough County is available here.

They include candidates for county commission, school board, county court judge, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, community development districts and special taxing districts.

Candidates for federal, state and multi-county offices qualify with the state and can be found on the Florida Division of Elections website. They include candidates for U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor, attorney general, chief financial officer, commissioner of agriculture, state senator, state representative, supreme court justice, district court of appeal and circuit judge.

Unopposed candidates will not appear on the ballot and are automatically declared nominated for office.

By early July, voters can look up their sample ballot at VoteHillsborough.gov and see which races will be on their primary ballot. Primary ballots are based on the districts voters live in and party affiliation.

Florida has closed primaries, so voters must be registered with a political party to vote in that party's primary election. The primary takes place Aug. 23.

All voters, whether affiliated with a party or not, will vote on nonpartisan issues and races (including school board and judges) and universal primary contests, which occur when all candidates in a race have the same party affiliation and the winner would be unopposed in the general election.

Voters may change their party at any time, but to be valid for the upcoming primary, the change must be made by July 25, which is also the deadline to register to vote for the primary election.

As of June 20, Hillsborough County has 901,698 registered voters. Of those, 339,501 are registered as Democrats, 282,036 as Republicans and 280,161 as no party affiliation or another party affiliation.

"I want to remind voters that some school board and judges races could be decided during the primary election, and those are nonpartisan races that will be on everyone's ballot," said Latimer.

Ballots for absent military and overseas voters who have requested vote-by-mail ballots will be mailed out July 8.

Ballots mailed to domestic voters who have requested vote-by-mail ballots will be mailed out beginning July 14.

The deadline to request vote-by-mail ballots is Aug. 13 at 5 p.m. Vote-by-mail ballots must be turned in no later than 7 p.m. primary election day, Aug. 23.

Qualifying county candidates include:

County Commissioner District 1

• Incumbent Harry Cohen (Democrat
• Scott D. Levinson (Republican)

County Commissioner District 2

• Angela Birdson (Democrat)
• Incumbent Ken Hagan (Republican)

County Commissioner District 3

• Incumbent Gwen Myers (Democrat)

County Commission District 4

• Noelle Licor (Republican)
• Michael Joseph Owen (Republican)

County Commissioner District 5

• Donna Cameron Cepeda (Republican)
• Incumbent Mariella Smith (Democrat)

County Commissioner District 7

• Chase Harrison (Republican)
• Incumbent Kimberly Overman (Democrat)
• Joshua Wostal (Republican)

School Board District 2

• Damaris Allen
• Incumbent Stacy Hahn

School Board District 4

• Hunter Gambrell
• Patricia "Patti" Rendon
• Danielle Smalley

School Board District 6

• Roshaun Gendrett
• Joe Kelly
• Alysha "Aly Marie" Legge
• Incumbent Karen Perez

County Court Judge Group 1

• Michael C. Bagge (unopposed)

County Court Judge Group 10

• Miriam Valkenburg (unopposed)

County Court Judge Group 13

• J. Logan Murphy (unopposed)

County Court Judge Group 14

• Melissa Black
• Alicia White Bozich
• Linette "Starr" Brookins
• Mike Isaak
• Paul T. Jeske
• Belinda G. Noah

Soil and Water Conservation District 1

• Chris "Bear" McCullough
• Eleuterio "Junio" Salazar Jr.
• Soil and Water Conservation District 2
• Ryan Gill
• Kim"Klarc" O'Connor

Soil and Water Conservation District 3

• Zachary Z. Baker
• David Maynard
• Adam Young

Soil and Water Conservation District 4

• Erik S. Challenger Dr.
• Robert M. "Myke" Morris

Soil and Water Conservation District 5

• Melissa Jackson
• Mark Proctor

Additionally, there are candidates vying for seats on the Arbor Greene, Bahia Lakes, Ballentrae Hillsborough, Belmont, Bullfrog Creek, Channing Park, Cheval West, Cory Lakes, Covington Park, Cypress Creek, DG Farms, Diamond Hill, Easton Park, FishHawk Ranch, Fish Hawk, Forest Brook, Grand Hampton, The Hammocks, Harbor Bay, Harbour Isles, Hawks Point, Heritage Harbor, Heritage Isles, Highlands, K-Bar Ranch, Lake St. Charles, Live Oak II, Magnolia Park, Mira Lago West, Mirabella, Oaks at Shady Creek, Panther Trace II, Panther Trails, Park Creek, Park Place, Parkway Center, Reserve at Pradera, River Bend, Riverbend West, Rivercrest, Spring Lake, South Fork, South Fork East, South Fork III, Stonebrier, Fern Hill, Tampa Palms, Tampa Palms OST, Triple Creek, Villages of Bloomingdale, Waterchase, Waterleaf and Westchase community development districts.

Residents will also elect a trustee for the Carrollwood Recreation District, Logan Gate Village Special Tax District and Twelve Oaks Special Taxing District.