It’s one Hillsborough’s most conservative areas, but county commissioner candidate Mark Nash says his integrity, business background and deep local roots make him the LGBT-friendly alternative to District 4 Republican incumbent Al Higginbotham, who took his seat in 2006.
Nash, a Democrat who was raised in Brandon and now resides in Lithia, worked with the Gillette company for years before leaving corporate America to care for his ailing father in his losing fight against pancreatic cancer.
Nash became very familiar with the local political scene in 2007 when he worked on the successful campaign of Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner, who made history and became the county’s first openly gay commissioner. After Beckner’s election, Nash stayed onboard as a member of the newly elected commissioner’s staff.
“I also served the commissioner for 17 months as a key staff member, which was incredibly historic of Hillsborough County and the entire state of Florida as Kevin ran as an openly gay man,” Nash said.
Nash, who is also openly gay, was no doubt inspired by Beckner’s success. But Nash is cutting a more complicated pattern in the eastern part of the conservative county.
“Kevin’s ‘common sense’ approach to problem solving began almost immediately, and I played a key advisory role in his policy making and his helping to address community issues that local government should be dealing with,” Nash said.
It was after the disappointing 2010 elections that Nash decided to make his own move into politics. As a Hillsborough County natives with deep rootsâ┚¬â€Âhis family settled in the county 150 years agoâ┚¬â€ÂNash said he has two priorities in the county.
“[To create] solutions to the outrageous traffic conditions eastern Hillsborough residents have to deal with on a daily basis and to plan better for how we grow,” he said.
That’s the kind of talk that could win over pragmatic independents and burnt-out Republicans.
“It’s important to understand how we got here, what we have to fix, and to come up with a plan to fix it,” Nash said. “Besides, what’s ‘conservative’ anyway?”
Nash’s campaign got a later start than some other local campaigns but when he realized Higgenbotham was set to run unopposed, he saw an opportunity.
“I think my opponent thought that he was just going to run unchallenged and waltz to re-election,” Nash said. “The incumbent has been in office for six years and he cannot tell the public what he has accomplished for his constituents over this time.”
Higginbotham coasted to victory in 2006 when he took 55% of the vote. Now the incumbent not only faces a new challenger, but a redesigned district. Last year District 4’s boundaries were redrawn and now include Plant City, Sun City and the southernmost neighborhoods on Tampa Bay.
Higginbotham was elected Chairman of the Hillsborough County Republican Party in 2003.In 2005, the future commissioner was elected Chairman of the State Chairman's Caucus for the Republican Party of Florida.
No-party candidate Joy Green has also qualified for the race, which will be decided Nov. 6.
So what political superpower will Nash need to develop in order to unseat Higginbotham and join Beckner and the other commissioners at The County Center?
“I’m trying to master the art of being at more than one place at a time,” Nash joked. “Yeah, it’s not necessarily working, but I’m trying.”
If anyone can figure out how to be in multiple places while campaigning, it’s Nash. He not only worked on Beckner’s 2008 campaign, but also on Linda Saul-Sena’s recent, unsuccessful bid for the Florida Senate.
Janet Marks, a Saul-Sena volunteer, remembers Nash’s efforts.
“I realized on our first ride dropping off literature at homes, Mark not only knew the general physical layout of Tampa, he knew every single street and side road, and navigated shortcuts through them that would be the envy of any seasoned cabbie,” she said. “He could point out homes and shops and name past and present owners.”
Marks added that walking the streets of Tampa during Saul-Sena’s campaign was more enjoyable because of Nash and that’s when she understood that he was truly “a son of Tampa.”
“By this I do not mean he was born and raised in Tampa, I am saying that as I watch Mark interface with the people and places of Tampa, I see they are as much a part of his identity as his own skin,” she said. “Following behind Mark in parades or events as he greets and is greeted with broad grins and handshakes from old and new friends everywhere he goes, I realize this is a mutual bond.”
