Historically Democratic Hillsborough County Sees Republican Takeover

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL — Despite lower-than-normal voter turnout, Republicans swept historically Democratic Hillsborough County in Tuesday's general election, claiming victories in races from U.S. Senate to Hillsborough County Commission.

Hillsborough County's 448 precincts tallied a total of 484,303 from the election.

With 924,891 registered voters in Hillsborough County, that represents a 52.36 percent voter turnout. Compared to the 2020 presidential election, which saw a turnout of 76.8 percent, Tuesday's voter participation was a disappointment Latimer said.

Even during the 2018 general election when Gov. Ron DeSantis was first elected, there was a 61.6 percent voter turnout in Hillsborough County.

Republican Takeover In Hillsborough County

While the majority of voters in Hillsborough County are registered Democrats (342,601 Democrats as opposed to 290,071 Republicans and 292,210 with a minor party affiliation or no party affiliation), the 2022 midterm election saw a majority of Republican candidates elected in Hillsborough County including:

In 2018, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis lost in Hillsborough County to challenger Andrew Gillum by 11 points. Four years later, he was re-elected by Hillsborough County voters with 261,632 votes to former Democratic Gov. Charlie Crist's 217,067 votes.

Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio earned 253,195 votes in Hillsborough compared to Democrat Val Demings' 222,090 votes.

Republican and former Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee received 86,945 Hillsborough County votes for the District 14 U.S. House seat compared to Democrat Alan M. Cohn's 68,549 votes.

Republican incumbent Vern Buchanan garnered 77,978 Hillsborough County votes for the District 16 U.S. House seat compared to Democrat Jan Schneider's 56,787 votes.

Hillsborough County native, Republican Attorney General incumbent Ashley Moody, easily defeated her Democratic opponent, Aramis Ayala, in Hillsborough County, receiving 267,713 votes to Ayala's 211,109 votes.

Republican incumbent Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis received 257,428 Hillsborough County votes although his opponent lives in Hillsborough County. Riverview Democrat Adam Hattersley received 216,737 votes in Hillsborough.

And Republican and former Florida Senate President Wilton Simpon received 259,937 votes for commissioner of agriculture from Hillsborough voters compared to Democrat Naomi Esther Blemur's 213,226 votes.

Republicans might have had a royal "red" flush in Congress and the Florida Cabinet if not for Democrat U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor.

A 1984 Chamberlain High School graduate and daughter of Betty Castor, a former state senator, former president of the University of South Florida and former Florida education commissioner, Kathy Castor was first elected to the U.S. House in 2006 and has been re-elected six times.

Political newcomer Republican James Judge, who owns a public relations firm, said he challenged Castor for the seat, knowing he had little chance of winning, but said he couldn't bear seeing the seat go to an unopposed Democrat.

"A race like this is important because we forced our opponent to spend $1.5 million to win the race," he said. "That's money that might have gone to another Democratic candidate if she wasn't forced to spend contributions to win the race."

He said he was actually flattered by the results of the voting, receiving 84,777 votes to Castor's 100,633.

"We were supposed to lose by 20 points but we lost by only 6.8 points," he said. "I feel we did alright."

Florida Legislative Losers And Winners

Hillsborough County voters were also tasked with electing three state senators and an unprecedented eight state representatives.

In a surprising upset, Republican Jay Collins stole the District 14 state Senate seat from Democratic incumbent Janet Cruz, 104,643 to 87,114 votes. Cruz has served in the Senate for four years and, prior to the Senate, served in the Florida House since 2010, so she was thought to be a safe bet for re-election.

Republican incumbent Danny Burgess handily won re-election to the District 23 Senate seat over Democrat Mike Harvey, 51,546 to 33,193 votes.

Also winning state House seats were Republicans Karen Gonzalez Pittman, Traci KIoster, Danny Alvarez, Mike Beltran and Lawrence McClure.

The exception was the Democratic incumbent for the District 16 state Senate seat, Darryl Ervin Rouson, who retained his seat over Republican challenger Christina B. Paylan, 61,052 to 41,928 votes.

Rouson, a St. Petersburg resident since the age of 3 and a graduate of St. Petersburg Catholic High School, was elected to the Florida House in 2008, serving for eight years before being elected to the Florida Senate in 2016.

While Democratic Florida House incumbent Michele K. Rayner managed to defeat Republican Jeremy M. Brown, it wasn't the upset that poll watchers anticipated.

Despite being in the custody of the U.S. Marshal's Service at the Pinellas County Jail for the past year on charges related to his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol, which prevented him from freely campaigning, Brown garnered 9,384 votes to Rayner's 12,968 votes.

Democrat Susan L. Valdes managed to hang on to her House seat, defeating Republican candidate Maura Cruz Lanz, 22,724 to 19,908 votes.

And Harvard and Georgetown University-educated attorney and Democratic House incumbent Fentrice Driskell held her seat against Republican Lisette Bonano, 25,465 to 21,684 votes.

Hillsborough County Commission Turns Red

Pollsters were also taken aback by the results of the Hillsborough County Commission races.

A historically Democratic commission, incumbent Democratic Commissioner Mariella Smith lost to Republican Donna Cameron Cepeda, 222,412 to 248,135, and Democratic incumbent Kimberly Overman lost to Republican Joshua Wostal, 224,245 to 246,668 votes.

The only candidate that managed to stave off a Republican challenge for the Hillsborough County Commission was Democratic candidate Harry Cohen, who held onto his seat against Republican challenger Scott D. Levinson by only .68 points, winning with 58,667 to 57,864 votes.

With Republican Michael Owen winning former Republican Commissioner Stacy White's seat in the primary in August, the commission now has a Republican majority for the first time in recent memory.

Election Certification Deadlines

Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd is giving voters a reprieve due to Hurricane Nicole.

On Wednesday, he issued an emergency order extending the deadline for voters to present evidence of eligibility for provisional ballots or submit cure affidavits for vote-by-mail ballots to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022. The previous deadline was Thursday at 5 p.m.

With the extended deadline, Hillsborough County voters can submit evidence of eligibility for provisional ballots or submit cure affidavits for vote-by-mail ballots by fax, email or at the two main supervisor of elections offices at 2514 N. Falkenburg Road or 601 E. Kennedy Blvd., 16th floor, Tampa.

The fax number is 813-612-4199 and the email is votebymail@votehillsborough.gov.

Under Florida law, the affidavit is required after casting a vote-by-mail ballot that wasn't signed or had a signature that did not match the signature on file, or to provide written evidence of eligibility to vote after casting a provisional ballot.

The emergency order also extends the deadline to report first unofficial results to noon on Monday, Nov. 14. Official results will be certified no later than Nov. 18.

Results can be found on the 2022 general election page at VoteHillsborough.gov.