ABOVE: Tampa Mayor Jane Castor at Tampa Pride 2019. Photo via Castor’s Facebook.
TAMPA | Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, the city’s 59th and first openly LGBTQ mayor, will officially seek a second term.
Castor’s first made history in 2019, a feat which followed her 31 years with the Tampa Police Department. The Democrat’s 2023 campaign launched Nov. 28 when she filed for re-election with the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections.
In a press release, the campaign highlighted Castor’s “aggressive agenda to lift up local neighborhoods and improve the quality of life for every Tampa resident.” They said she’s worked to increase access to affordable housing, enhance workforce development, improve the city’s infrastructure and more.
“As a police officer for over 30 years, I’ve walked every neighborhood in Tampa, talked with neighbors, and developed lasting relationships,” Castor said in a statement. “As your mayor, I’ve seen firsthand the needs of this community, worked to solve problems and delivered results for the City of Tampa.”
Castor’s first-term priorities have included building the East Tampa Recreation Center, the West Tampa Riverwalk and extending Tampa’s streetcar services. She also directed the city to officially recognize LGBT-certified businesses in contracting opportunities, oversaw its perfect scores in the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index and navigated Tampa through the height of the pandemic.
The mayor reflected on that and more during her first in-person State of the City address in May.
“I was born and raised here and firmly believe that this city is going to change more in the next decade than it has in my entire lifetime,” Castor, nearly 62, shared at the time. “We can choose to be a city where households of all income levels have housing opportunities and choices. We can choose to be a city with world-class transit and safe options for getting around instead of growing potholes and traffic jams.
“We can choose to be a city where better jobs reward hard work and lift families out of poverty and into the middle class, and we can choose to be a city that puts the quality of life for our residents first,” she continued. “It is the job of this administration and this city council to bring Tampa together – to harness our collective strengths as a city and to meet this moment.”
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The city noted afterwards that “the past three years have seen major success in enhancing workforce development, establishing sustainability and resilience, improving infrastructure and mobility, increasing housing affordability and strengthening community-centric services.” Officials say the progress has led to a more resilient city “for generations to come.”
According to Florida Politics, two Republican candidates have also filed for mayor, Jeff Godsell and Belinda Noah. The nonpartisan race is scheduled for March 7, 2023.
“Tampa is on a roll. We are the envy of communities across the country – but we still have work to do,” Castor also noted in her statement. “Everyone in our great city deserves access to a safe neighborhood, a home, a job and better transportation. I’m excited to continue building an even better Tampa to ensure we deliver America’s greatest city to the next generation.”
