Lynn Hurtak defeats Janet Cruz in Tampa City Council runoff election

On Tuesday, Tampa voters made their final decision on who they wanted to represent them in the city council for the next four-year term.

Prior to the election, the District 3 citywide election pitting Lynn Hurtak and Janet Cruz received the most media attention. Hurtak won the runoff with 60.3% to Cruz's 38.7%.

Hurtak, a Seminole Heights progressive who lives in opposition to the city's Purify Useable Resources for the Environment initiative (PURE), has been a vocal opponent of the proposed PURE wastewater initiative. She was appointed to the position in April 2022, replacing John Dingfelder who had resigned due to a lawsuit over public records. Hurtak, who sits on the dais of the council, has been a strong advocate for affordable housing.

Cruz, who is the mother of Jane Castor's domestic partner and served in the Florida Senate, was endorsed Castor.

On Tuesday, three other seats were decided. These included two additional at-large positions. A total of 26,000 votes was cast, resulting in a 10.76% turnout.

Charlie Miranda defeated Hoyt prindle by a narrow margin of 50.91% votes. Miranda, 82, has been involved in Tampa politics ever since the 1970s. Prindle is a litigation attorney at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP.

The decisions made by council members over the next four-year period will be crucial to meeting the business community's priorities, which include but are not limited to affordable housing, transportation, and workforce development.

Tampa has taken longer to implement some of the reforms in housing policy that St. Petersburg implemented. Transit services in the city are not as good as those of other cities with similar populations. Hillsborough County voters opted not to increase the county sales tax by 1% last November, despite every member of the Tampa City Council endorsing it.

See here. See here for a summary of the results from the March elections.