Former FL Mayor Plans To Run For Office Again, University Says

TAMPA, FL — Former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn told Saint Leo University students Thursday that he’s running again for the seat he previously held for eight years, according to a news release from the university.

Buckhorn, a Democrat, made the announcement while speaking with two sessions of the Faith & Politics classes in SLU Honors Program after a student asked him about his future plans.

Patch has reached out to the former mayor for a statement. This article will be updated when he responds.

“There has been much speculation that the former mayor would pursue the office again, so the Saint Leo students heard it first,” the university said.

Buckhorn was elected in 2010 and served until term-limited in 2019.

Tampa mayors are limited to two consecutive terms but can run again after four years out of office.

Current Mayor Jane Castor leaves office in 2027 at the end of her second term.

Two candidates have filed so far to run for mayor — Alan Henderson, an entrepreneur, and Julie Magill, a real estate broker — the university said.

Patch has reached out to the city of Tampa for information about all candidates who have filed to run.

Henderson, a graduate of Hillsborough Community College who is taking courses through Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, doesn’t have any prior government experience, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The 24-year-old is the founder and CEO of an esports company.

“I think, for me, it’s always been about the connection I have with the people here,” he told the Times last month. “When I look around Tampa, I see a lot of people who look a lot like and live a lot like the people in my own life that I care a lot about.”

Magill, 62, holds a state-certified contractor’s license, as well as a real estate broker’s license.

Her run for office “all began with a deep passion to revive Tampa as we natives knew it to be. Too much bureaucracy and red tape and special interest have ruined much of Tampa's government,” she wrote on her campaign website. “I want to start fresh and remove the unwanted overreach of city government. I want to involve the citizens as much as possible in the decisions that I would make as mayor.”

Buckhorn told Saint Leo students about his loss when he initially ran for mayor in 2003, the university said. This made him more determined when he ran again in 2010.

“I was going to do what it takes [to win],” he said, according to SLU. “I knocked on 20,000 doors. I walked for eight hours. I was suffering heat exhaustion. I couldn't see. But I asked people, ‘What could Tampa be?’”

Buckhorn won a primary runoff election that year and took office in 2011 during “the worst recession,” he said. “We were losing our best and brightest to other communities. The kids coming to Saint Leo were leaving [Tampa, after graduation] to find more opportunities.”

During his time in office, the city slowly recovered with projects like the Riverwalk, investments by Jeff Vinik and Bill Gates in what is now the Water Street area, and the addition of Ulele and Armature Works, he told students.