Tampa City Council Member Orlando Gudes Ousted From District 5 Seat

TAMPA, FL — After meeting Thursday night, the Hillsborough County Canvassing Board has certified the unofficial results of Tuesday's Tampa municipal elections and concluded that the incumbent city council member for District 5, Orlando Gudes, has lost the seat to rival Gwendolyn "Gwen" Henderson.

The board unofficially named incumbent Mayor Jane Castor the winner of the mayor's race, and said District 4 council seat incumbent Bill Carlson beat out millionaire developer Blake Casper with 59.3o percent, or 8,114 votes, to Casper's 40.70 percent, or 5,569 votes.

District 4 encompasses most of South Tampa, including Hyde Park, Davis Islands and Harbor Island

The canvassing board decided against a recount of voting in the District 5 city council race.

Gudes received 48.86 percent of the votes while Henderson received 50.31 percent.

Under Florida law, an automatic machine recount is necessary when the margin is less than 0.5 percent and a manual recount is required if the margin is 0.25 percent. In the District 5 race, the margin is 1.45 percent.

Gudes' defeat comes after a city investigation into sexual harassment allegations by a former aide and a civil lawsuit against him for defamation and emotional distress filed by the aide.

In March 2022, the city announced it had hired outside counsel to investigate a complaint of "pervasive abuse and sexual harassment" filed by a former aide in August 2021 against Gudes.

"Because this complaint involved an elected official, which is unprecedented, the city on Sept. 14, 2021, hired an independent, outside law firm, Trenam Law, to investigate the 19 specific allegations," said the city in the announcement. "Those included Chairman Gudes making crude sexual statements, Gudes making sexual gestures, Chairman Gudes making derogatory comments about multiple women, and Chairman Gudes calling the employee 'Celie,' the name of a character constantly abused in 'The Color Purple.'"

Trenam interviewed 20 witnesses, including Gudes, and said the aide "appeared to be credible" and found several of the allegations corroborated by witnesses, including an intern who worked in the office. Trenam concluded that 18 of the 19 allegations appeared more likely than not to have occurred.

After reviewing Trenam's finding, Thomas Gonzalez, longtime outside counsel for the city's human resources department, said, in his opinion, the aide demonstrated that she had been harassed but said the city has no authority to discipline or take action against an elected official who does not report to the mayor, the city attorney or any other official of the city of Tampa.

He suggested the former aide either file a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or Florida Commission on Human Relations, or file a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics.

Nevertheless, the city reached a $200,000 settlement with the aide in May based on her discrimination complaint to human resources.

The aide opted to file a civil suit in May claiming Gudes created a hostile working environment, harassed the aide and made inappropriate comments to her teen daughter. Gudes denied all of the allegations but apologized for anything he said that caused the aide discomfort and, in hindsight, admitted that some of his comments were inappropriate.

Gudes said he made the mistake of "hiring a friend and not establishing new boundaries for the relationship because the dynamic had changed. I take full responsibility for not recognizing this change," he said. "These circumstances led me to make jokes and comments that were not appropriate for the workplace but would not be uncommon among old friends, which is what I considered us to be at the time."

The lawsuit was dropped in July after Gudes' attorney made a motion to dismiss, saying Gudes is immune from the allegations and “the facts as pled do not support any viable cause of action against the defendant.”

Attorneys for the former aide asked the judge for a rehearing, which took place in October.

Of the three counts of defamation and "intentional infliction of emotional distress" brought against Gudes, Judge Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe dismissed the defamation claim and one count of emotional distress with prejudice, meaning the aide can't sue again for the same offenses.

A second count of emotional distress was dismissed without prejudice, keeping the door open for the aide to return to court with new evidence but must file for a rehearing under her full name rather than her initials.

Related:

• Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Filed By Tampa Councilman Gudes' Former Aide
• City Councilman Steps Down As Chair Amid Sexual Harassment Charges
• Sexual Harassment Accusations Filed Against Tampa City Councilman

On the count of causing emotional distress to the aide's daughter, the judge said, "the bar is exceptionally high for this type of claim."

The judge also said Gudes is immune to the defamation claim and the Tampa City Charter allows council members to make statements about their employees' work performance.

The aide's attorney, Ethan Loeb, said he and his client are still looking into their options and deciding whether or not to request another hearing revealing the aide's identity.

Although the case against Gudes was dismissed, the allegations didn't sit well with Tampa Mayor Jane Castor or some constituents of District 5, which includes East Tampa, downtown Tampa, the Channel District and Ybor City.

"Since Orlando Gudes is an elected official, I have no authority over him. However, if he were a city employee, he would be fired over these credible and corroborated sexual harassment revelations," Castor said. "I know from many years in law enforcement that it takes a great deal of courage for a victim to make harassment and hostile work environment allegations against any supervisor, let alone one as powerful as a city council chairman."

She called for strengthening the city's code of ethics.

“Although Tampa’s code of ethics is stronger than the state’s, these recent violations suggest that we can and should do more to improve transparency and accountability at City Hall," said Castor. "We must never stop working to improve the public trust in city government, and the public should never have even a shadow of a doubt that their public officials are working for the public good and not their own personal benefit.”

Resident Avis Harrison, who unsuccessfully ran for city council in 2016, demanded Gudes' immediate resignation from the council.

"Orlando Gudes must step down," she said. "He is sowing seeds of chaos within the community. His sexist, bigoted, misogynistic and homophobic comments show that he does not support a large portion of the community, and we cannot allow this to stand. His immediate resignation is needed so we can all move forward with support in the community and put an end to the cloud of controversy he has hung over this city council."

Henderson, who ousted Gudes from office by a narrow margin, is the sister of the former aide Gudes is accused of harassing. However, she said she was considering running for city council long before her sister's harassment complaint.

In fact, she initially filed to run for the District 3 at-large seat now held by Lynn Hurtak, but switched to the District 5 seat after former state Sen. Janet Cruz announced her decision to jump into the countywide seat.

Also a Tampa native, Gudes won his seat on the council in 2019. Now the director of operations at Gudes Funeral Home, a family-owned business, Gudes serves with the Tampa Police Department for 26 years.

Members of the canvassing board for the 2023 city of Tampa elections, including alternates and substitutes, are Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer, County Court Judge Daryl M. Manning, County Commissioner Donna Cameron Cepeda, County Court Judge Frances M. Perrone, County Commissioner Michael Owen and County Court Judge J. Logan Murphy.

The apparent victors of four Tampa City Council seats didn't receive a majority of the vote in the Tampa municipal elections on Tuesday and, under the city's charter, those races will move to a runoff election on April 25.

"In the city of Tampa municipal elections, city council and mayoral candidates must receive a majority of the votes or they move on to a runoff. Based on the unofficial results, that will be the case in the races for City Council District 1, District 2, District 3 and District 6," Latimer said.

A "majority vote" constitutes more than 50 percent of votes cast.

The District 1 at-large seat now held by council chairman Joseph Citro, the District 2 at-large seat held by Guido Maniscalco, the District 3 at-large seat held by Lynn Hurtak and the District 6 seat held by Charlie Miranda will go to a runoff election between the two candidates receiving the most votes.

District 1 At-Large Council Seat Results

• Sonja P. Brookins 22.47 percent, 6,921 votes
• Joseph Citro 20.1 percent, 6,191 votes
• Alan Clendenin 40.33 percent, 12,424 votes
• Chase Harrison 17.10 percent, 5,267 votes

District 2 At Large Council Seat Results

• Michael Derewenko 6.71 percent, 2,064 votes
• Robin Lockett 24.77 percent, 7,618 votes
• Guido Maniscalco 46.98 percent, 14,450 votes
• Mike Suarez 21.54 percent, 6,625 votes

District 3 At-Large Council Seat Results

• K.J. Allen 5.24 percent, 1,648 votes
• Janet Cruz 38.76 percent, 12,182 votes
• George "TheHunted" Feshev 9.54 percent, 2,999
• Lynn Hurtak 42.52 percent, 13,362 votes
• Jose Vazquez 3.94 percent, 1,237

District 6 Council Seat Results

• Tyler Barrett 7.75 percent, 632 votes
• Rick Fifer 12.03 percent, 981 votes
• Charlie Miranda 49.39 percent, 4,028 votes
• Nicole Payne 9.23 percent, 753 votes
• Hoyt Prindle 21.59 percent, 1,761 votes

District 7 council seat incumbent Luis Viera ran unopposed.

Of Tampa's 240,586 registered voters, only 13.64 percent (32,815 voters) voted in the municipal election that included the race for Tampa mayor, six of seven Tampa City Council seats and four Tampa charter amendments.
These results include residents who voted early, voted by mail and voted on election day.
Related:

• 4 Tampa City Council Races To Go To Runoffs Election April 25
• Tampa Mayor Re-Elected; 2 Incumbent Council Members Ousted
• Despite Controversies, Tampa Mayor Expected To See Easy Re-Election
• Carlson, Hurtak Will Fight To Retain Tampa City Council Seats

Residents who wish to vote in the runoff election and haven't yet registered this year must register by March 27.

The first domestic vote-by-mail ballots will be sent out on March 23 to voters who have requested them.

Early voting for the runoff will be scheduled from April 17 to 23. Vote-by-mail ballots must be submitted to the supervisor of elections office no later than 7 p.m. on April 25.