TAMPA — It’s been nearly a decade since John Dingfelder held a seat on Tampa’s City Council and the 62-year-old politician finished Tuesday’s election just shy of being granted a second act. Dingfelder clinched 48.96% of the vote in a four-way race to replace term-limited council member Yvonne Yolie Capin, not enough to avoid a runoff election on April 23. Corporate human relations manager Stephen Lytle, 36, finished with 20.26% of the vote and will face Dingfelder. LIVE BLOG: Get the latest news on Tampa’s mayoral and city council contests. LIVE RESULTS: See the results in each race. Gas South marketing manager Nicholas Glover, 36, was not to far behind at 19.74% and Realtor Vibha Shevade, 38, grabbed 11.04%. Returning to City Council as an at-large member would be a new role for Dingfelder, who represented South Tampa’s District 4 from 2003 to 2010. Capin was appointed to a partial term in July 2010 after Dingfelder resigned during an unsuccessful bid against Sandy Murman for a spot on the Hillsborough County Commission. That effort was one of at least seven major election campaigns for Dingfelder since 2003, when he was first elected to Tampa’s City Council. In both 2003 and 2007, Dingfelder cinched enough votes in a three-way race to win the seat without a runoff election. On his website, he touts that he only raised $40,171 for that first victory. For his comeback campaign, records show Dingfelder brought in just under $147,000 in monetary and in-kind contributions — more money than all three of his competitors combined — though about $50,000 of those donations came from his own pocket. A lawyer and former schoolteacher before he joined City Council, Dingfelder's campaign efforts were bolstered by his wife-turned-campaign manager, Lynn Marvin. Dingfelder has spent most of his time since 2010 working as a lawyer and serving on numerous civic boards, including the Tampa General Hospital board and the Humane Society Board. Lytle is a human resources manager with Walmart’s health care division. He has served with philanthropic and civic groups, including Tampa’s Citizen Budget Advisory Committee, and he’s been endorsed by Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman. Lytle is registered under no party affiliation, and he has raised just shy of $62,300 for his campaign. It’s been nearly a decade since John Dingfelder held a seat on Tampa’s City Council and the 62-year-old politician finished Tuesday’s election just shy of being granted a second act. Dingfelder clinched almost 49 percent of the vote in a four-way race to replace term-limited council member Yvonne Yolie Capin. He will face either Walmart corporate human relations manager Stephen Lytle, 36, who finished with 20.23 percent of the vote, or Gas South marketing manager Nicholas Glover, 36, who was not far behind at 19.74 percent. Realtor Vibha Shevade had about 11 percent of the vote. “We’re thrilled to have done as well as we did,” Dingfelder said after the final results. “It’s the most crowded field we’ve ever been involved in - the most candidates I’ve ever had to go up against before was 3 or 4, so that made a big difference. We had a feeling we’d probably be headed toward a runoff.” Returning to City Council as an at-large member would be a new role for Dingfelder, who represented South Tampa’s District 4 from 2003 to 2010. Capin was appointed to a partial term in July 2010 after Dingfelder resigned during an unsuccessful bid against Sandy Murman for a spot on the Hillsborough County Commission. That effort was one of at least seven major election campaigns for Dingfelder since 2003, when he was first elected to Tampa’s City Council. In both 2003 and 2007, Dingfelder cinched enough votes in a three-way race to win the seat without a runoff election. On his website, he touts that he only raised $40,171 for that first victory. For his comeback campaign, records show Dingfelder brought in just under $147,000 in monetary and in-kind contributions — more money than all three of his competitors combined — though about $50,000 of those donations came from his own pocket. A lawyer and former schoolteacher before he joined City Council, Dingfelder's campaign efforts were bolstered by his wife-turned-campaign manager, Lynn Marvin. Dingfelder has spent most of his time since 2010 working as a lawyer and serving on numerous civic boards, including the Tampa General Hospital board and the Humane Society Board. Lytle has served with philanthropic and civic groups, including Tampa’s Citizen Budget Advisory Committee, and he’s been endorsed by Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman. Lytle is registered under no party affiliation, and he has raised just shy of $62,300 for his campaign.<doc-sep>TAMPA — Joseph Citro will move on to an April 23 runoff election for the Tampa City Council District 1 seat, but his opponent is still unclear. With all 103 precincts reporting Tuesday night, three candidates are vying for second place and a chance to challenge Citro. Because they all appear to be within one-half percent of each other, there likely will be a recount to determine Citro’s challenger, said Gerri Kramer, spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections. LIVE BLOG: Get the latest news on Tampa’s mayoral and city council contests. LIVE RESULTS: See the results in each race. District 1 is one of three citywide City Council districts and is currently held by the termed-out Mike Suarez, who ran for mayor. Citro, 60, finished with more than 31 percent of the vote. He has served on the Ybor City Development Corporation, the Code Enforcement Board and most recently, the Tampa Charter Review Commission. A registered Democrat, he emphasized economic development and transportation growth in his election platform. His fourth City Council campaign raised $23,500. Citro says his long record of service on city boards are part of a “master’s level curriculum” he’s designed for himself on city government. “It’s time for me to take the next step,” Citro said during the campaign. Walter Smith, Alan Clendenin and Craig A. Newman will now await the recount to determine who goes on to face Citro. Such a recount would take place immediately after the unofficial results are certified, said Kramer, who did not offer an exact timetable. Walter Smith, 46, is an environmental consultant and community activist. He hosts a weekly radio talk show on WMNF 88.5 FM. He’s involved with a number of West Tampa civic groups and is running on a platform of jobs, environmental protection and social justice. The Democrat has raised about $7,500. Alan Clendenin, 59, is an air traffic controller by trade. He’s also a Democratic Party activist running in part on getting Tampa ready for climate change. He’s won the endorsements of a litany of Democratic elected officials: Congressman Charlie Crist, state Sen. Janet Cruz and Mayor Bob Buckhorn. Clendenin raised over $56,000 in his run for City Council — the most of anyone running in District 1. Craig Newman, 63, is a licensed chiropractor who says he’s running to “help move this city forward.” A registered Democrat, he also wants to make Tampa a better place for businesses. He has raised more than $36,400 in his run.<doc-sep>TAMPA — The city’s former top cop will battle one of its richest men as the race to become Tampa mayor heads to a runoff. Former police chief Jane Castor almost won the election outright Tuesday night, avoiding an April 23 vote. With all 103 precincts reporting, Castor had 48 percent of the vote. If she had breached 50 percent, the election would be over. Retired banker David Straz finished second with 15.5 percent. He'll face an uphill battle to overtake Castor, who tripled his vote totals. LIVE BLOG: Get the latest news on Tampa’s mayoral and city council contests. LIVE RESULTS: See the results in each race. Castor, 59, won all but two precincts. The two she lost were in East Tampa, where Straz bested here by a combined 26 votes. Addressing cheering supporters at the Vault downtown, Castor said the city has a unique chance to grow into something special. She vowed to focus on transit, affordable housing and job creation. She didn't mention Straz. "We have one opportunity to create that city that we want to live and work in. That city we can pass off to the next generation," she said. "We can lift Tampa up to the be greatest city in the nation." Meanwhile, Straz told his backers at Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park that his business background would propel him to a come-from-behind victory. He signaled future lines of attack: Castor’s record as police chief, the city’s finances and race. "And one final question: Should there be racial profiling in Tampa?" Straz, 76, asked at the end of a prepared speech, according to an email provided by his campaign. "Tampa has a bright future. The city needs a mayor who can manage a billion-dollar budget with honesty, integrity, transparency and imagination." City Council member Harry Cohen finished third with 12 percent of the vote followed by former county commissioner Ed Turanchik with 9 percent, retired judge Dick Greco Jr. with 8.5 percent, City Council member Mike Suarez with 5 percent and branding consultant Topher Morrison with 2 percent. A shortage of affordable housing and increasingly dangerous and congested city streets were the top-tier issues during the nearly 30 mayoral forums held around the city since early October. But the Castor-Straz contest should bring the city's fiscal health to the forefront. Budget deficits are predicted to rise until at least 2021 that will add about $13.6 million to the city's tab during the next fiscal year. None of the candidates said they would raise taxes, including Straz and Castor. In fact, Straz said a citywide audit should identify enough “waste and fluff” to cut 10 percent from the city’s budget. While Castor said at one January forum that “surgical” cuts would have to be made, she later said the city's budget, especially its workforce, has been pared to the bone. She has criticized Straz's assessment. During the forums, the candidates also addressed climate change, immigration, parks and potholes. But Straz often raised issues that had little to do with the nuts and bolts of city government. He told the Tampa Bay Times editorial board in January that he had evidence of “graft and corruption” in a city department, but he declined to name the department or alert city officials. And in mid-February he called for an investigation of Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, who has endorsed Castor and given her campaign at least $53,000. Overall, she’s raised more than $1 million. Castor largely praised the leadership of Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who kept her on as police chief when he took office in 2011. She served until 2015. She has stressed her track record of leadership and her desire to keep the city on a growth trajectory. But she was dogged by controversy during her tenure as chief, notably the disproportionate ticketing of black bicyclists for minor offenses. The fight for mayor was easily the most expensive in Tampa’s history, with the seven candidates raising north of $5 million. That total was led by Straz’s bankroll of more than $3 million, most of it his own money, according to the latest campaign finance documents. The candidates’ actual total is likely closer to $6 million once all the affiliated political committee reports are filed next week. In comparison, the widely-noted spending spree in St. Petersburg’s 2017 contest between Mayor Rick Kriseman and challenger Rick Baker ended up raising about half of the cash spent so far in the Tampa mayoral race this year. Straz and Castor rarely jousted in public, but their campaigns jabbed at each other over biking while black. A Straz mailer read: “If you were black and low income and riding a bike, police chief Jane Castor wanted you stopped & frisked. Now she wants to be your mayor.” The city’s police union, which endorsed Castor, held a press conference with the widow of an officer slain in 2010, saying Castor’s picture on the Straz ad, which showed her wearing a commemorative band over her badge in mourning, was inappropriate. The Straz campaign responded that their ad had nothing to do with the two officers killed by Dontae Morris nearly nine years ago. The Straz campaign has also attacked Mayor Bob Buckorn, releasing a song Tuesday that included lyrics that the 76-year-old Straz was "for us, not the powerful" and "just imagine, a mayor that tells the truth." Straz's frequent criticism of Buckhorn earned a veiled rebuke from the mayor at the polls Tuesday morning. "I haven’t spent the last eight years building this narrative to allow it to be destroyed," Buckhorn said after voting at Marjorie Park Marina in Davis Islands. The mayor didn't mention Straz, but he has been critical of the first-time candidate's tactics, including a political mailer linking him to Straz in a positive light. Buckhorn indicated he would make an endorsement in the runoff. He is likely to back Castor. A rainy, dank election day depressed voter turnout, which didn’t reach levels seen in 2011, the last competitive mayoral race in Florida’s third-largest city. Turnout was just over 20 percent.<doc-sep>Tampa's former police chief and a community philanthropist are set to face off to become the city's next mayor. TAMPA, Fla. — And then there were two: Jane Castor and David Straz will head to a runoff to determine the city’s next mayor. None of the seven candidates running for Tampa mayor, a successor to Bob Buckhorn, reached the 50-percent threshold to stave off a runoff election on April 23. Unofficial results show Castor leading with 47.99 percent of the vote. Straz is in second with 15.47 percent. Real-time election results: Visit the Supervisor of Elections website Castor spent six years as the city’s police chief before putting away the badge in 2015. She was the first woman to hold the top post and the first openly gay one. Hoping to win the top spot, Castor has campaigned on her experience in policing to promote a safer city. Straz, a community philanthropist, sold off his bank business to focus on the David A. Straz Jr. Foundation and other community initiatives. In downtown, his name is lit up in lights at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts. His campaign focused on several topics, including LGBTQ equality, equal pay for women, gun safety, developing affordable housing and more. Tampa residents wanting to participate in the runoff election have until March 25 to register to vote. Early voting starts April 14 and runs through April 20, with Election Day on April 23. What other people are reading right now:<doc-sep>
TAMPA — Public relations executive Bill Carlson was quick to make a bid for Harry Cohen’s soon-to-be-vacant Tampa City Council District 4 seat, representing much of South Tampa. The 51-year-old’s enthusiasm, coupled with an extensive marketing resume dating back to childhood days spent working in his parents' hardware store, could have been the key to besting Lee Lowry and Sal Guagliardo Jr. for the seat. Carlson won Tuesday’s election with 51.05% of the vote after all 27 precincts reported. LIVE BLOG: Get the latest news on Tampa’s mayoral and city council contests. LIVE RESULTS: See the results in each race. The final votes trickled in as Carlson, president of Tampa-based public relations firm Tucker Hall, searched for a parking spot outside his election night watch party at SoHo's Epicurean Hotel. It's a victory that can be attributed to a groundswell of support from local businesses, friends, neighbors and strangers who know him by his work. "I've been deeply involved in the South Tampa community for a long time, especially when it comes to neighborhoods and community issues, and people know me because of that and they trust me," Carlson told the Tampa Bay Times. "What I found is that through my volunteer activities and because of the commitment the firm has had over the years to contributing to local nonprofits, the community responded and helped my campaign raise five times as much as either of my opponents." From left to right the Tampa City Council District 4 candidates: Sal Guagliardo Jr.; Bill Carlson, who won; and Lee Lowry. [Times files] In fact, Carlson managed to net more monetary and in-kind campaign contributions than any of the 28 other candidates running for City Council — a staggering $158,127.49. He pulled in donations from well-known names including District 3 City Council member Yvonne Yolie Capin, former Hillsborough County School Board member Candy Olson, former Tampa City Council member Mary Mulhern, St. Petersburg City Council member Darden Rice, former state Rep. Will Weatherford, Jeff Vinik’s Strategic Property Partners and Creative Loafing publisher Benjamin Eason. A first-time candidate for office, Carlson is perhaps best known as the co-founder of the community forum series Café con Tampa and his role in helping transform Tampa International Airport into a hub for international travel and trade. Carlson plans to do the same on City Council and transform Tampa into a "global city," he said. "I'm excited to start working," Carlson said. "If we want a new vision for Tampa, a bigger vision than we had, it has to go beyond downtown. We can’t accept that we’re the same as every other city. We have to think bigger." From left to right: Marvin Youngblood, campaign manager for City Council District 2 candidate Joe Robinson; mayoral candidate Harry Cohen and his mom Iris Pastor; mayoral candidate Dick Greco Jr.; City Council member Charlie Miranda campaign volunteer Miranda Chapman; and City Council District 4 candidate Lee Lowry hold signs outside the Tampa Garden Club voting precinct on Tuesday. [MONICA HERNDON | Times] Carlson holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Tampa and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School. He has served in leadership positions at the Hillsborough Education Foundation, Leadership Tampa Bay, Rotary International and the Tampa and Florida chambers, and has served on the board of the Florida Chamber Foundation, Florida TaxWatch, Synapse and the Museum of Florida History. The single-member district blankets the urban peninsula south of San Jose Street, encompassing MacDill Air Force Base and all of Davis Islands and Harbour Island.