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State Senator — District 14

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Research as of Oct. 24, 2026. Early voting runs through Nov. 1; Election Day is Nov. 3. Check your voter info at votehillsborough.gov

State Senator — District 14

State Legislature

State Senator — District 14

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Research as of Oct. 23, 2026

Read by a synthetic voice from this page’s research. A summary, not a recommendation.

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A Tampa-area state Senate seat that flipped by a few hundred votes in March is up again, in a rematch. Republican Josie Tomkow faces Democrat Brian Nathan, the incumbent. Nathan won the March 24 special election by 409 votes, according to official county results. Trump carried the district by more than 7 points in 2024. No public poll was found. Nathan is a Navy veteran and union organizer. Republican mailers call him a socialist; Nathan calls them lies. Tomkow is a cattle rancher and former state representative from Polk County, and critics note she does not live in Hillsborough. She is campaigning on tax cuts, law enforcement and insurance reforms. In state filings through mid-October, Tomkow's political committee had raised about 1.8 million dollars since last November. Nathan's committee had raised about 177 thousand. Tomkow is endorsed by the Hillsborough Republican Party, Sheriff Chad Chronister and the Police Benevolent Association. Nathan is endorsed by the Florida AFL-CIO, the Florida Planned Parenthood PAC, Equality Florida and the Sierra Club. Creative Loafing Tampa Bay's editors back Nathan. They call the socialism attack a smear, and criticize Tomkow's votes limiting public-sector unions. No Tampa Bay Times pick was found in this race. Research as of October 23, 2026. Sources and the full picture are on this page.

Official sample ballot wording

State Senator, District 14 · Vote for one

  • Josie TomkowRepublican
  • Brian NathanDemocratic
Mark your ballot: State Senator — District 14
EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks Brian Nathan
  • CL calls the Republican ad tying Nathan to the Party for Socialism and Liberation a desperate smear: it is built on a CL photo from a May Day workers' rally that the West Central Florida Labor Council helped organize.
  • Nathan, who won the seat in a special election in March, stands with working people; CL sees that as a belief that honest work should pay for a dignified life, not as socialism.
  • Against Josie Tomkow: in nearly eight years in the Legislature she voted for the 2023 limits on public-sector unions (SB 256), skipped the final vote on the 2024 bill blocking local heat-protection and wage rules (HB 433), and this year voted for a law making public-sector union recertification harder.
  • More broadly, CL says Florida Republicans claim to be the workers' party while resisting minimum-wage increases, banning local living-wage rules for contractors and loosening child-labor protections.

Ray Roa, Creative Loafing voting guide 2026: Tampa Bay's Florida State Senators

Where it stands

FactState legislature · State Senate, District 14 (Rematch)

No poll. Nathan won March by 409 votes

No polls found in the research. Research as of Oct. 24, 2026.

Lead recommendationEditorialCreative Loafing Tampa Bay, Oct. 23, 2026

Creative Loafing’s pick

Brian Nathan

Why, as they argue it (our summary of their write-up)

  • CL calls the Republican ad tying Nathan to the Party for Socialism and Liberation a desperate smear: it is built on a CL photo from a May Day workers' rally that the West Central Florida Labor Council helped organize.
  • Nathan, who won the seat in a special election in March, stands with working people; CL sees that as a belief that honest work should pay for a dignified life, not as socialism.
  • Against Josie Tomkow: in nearly eight years in the Legislature she voted for the 2023 limits on public-sector unions (SB 256), skipped the final vote on the 2024 bill blocking local heat-protection and wage rules (HB 433), and this year voted for a law making public-sector union recertification harder.
  • More broadly, CL says Florida Republicans claim to be the workers' party while resisting minimum-wage increases, banning local living-wage rules for contractors and loosening child-labor protections.

Ray Roa · Creative Loafing voting guide 2026: Tampa Bay's Florida State Senators · every pick: the full guide

Creative Loafing’s reporting on this race (8)

Why this leads: The site owner's choice (Oct. 24): the recommendation that best matches the owner's values, shown first on every contest. Still an editorial: one outlet's opinion, not this site's.

The money gap

Fact

10×Josie Tomkow has raised 10 times as much as Brian Nathan.

Raised by each candidate's own political committee

  • Josie TomkowRepublican

    $1.79Mdate not given

    Since November 2025. She has nearly $2M on hand, and the GOP committee behind her raised $3M+ in the March special.

  • Brian NathanDemocrat · incumbent

    $177Kas of Oct 16, 2026

    His campaign raised another $88K through Oct. 2.

Figures from the money map research, compared like for like. Outside groups' spending isn't counted unless noted. The latest figures run to different dates, shown beside each amount.

What the research holds

Counts from every page and file
Polls
0
Money-map edges1 with money
4
Network edges
2
Progressive support
12
Progressive oppose
1
Right-leaning support
4
Right-leaning oppose
0
Sources
27
People & groups
19

Tampa Bay Times

EditorialMoney map

Not found in the research.

EditorialAs recorded in each guide

Progressive guide
No 2026 recommendation found
Right-leaning guide
No 2026 recommendation found

Other editorial pages

Opinion columns, not endorsements

No other editorial page in the research has made a pick here.

Endorsements, both lenses

Neither lens is this site's voice

Progressive lens

LensOpen the guide

Nathan won the seat in a March 2026 special election by 408 votes over Tomkow

Primary notes

No contested 2026 primary found. Tomkow resigned her Polk County House seat to run in the March special election.

Brian NathanDEMIncumbent12 support · 0 oppose

SupportEndorsement

Reproductive rights
Progressive & community organizing
Josie TomkowREP0 support · 1 oppose

OpposeEndorsement

Progressive & community organizing

Conservative side, as noted in this guide

Tomkow (special election): Sheriff Chad Chronister, U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee, Tampa firefighters; $418K in-kind from the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Searched, nothing found

Gun Sense Candidate, LCV, Run for Something. Florida Conservation Voters score for Tomkow could not be found.

Right-leaning lens

LensOpen the guide

Rematch. Nathan won the March 24 special election 40,212 to 39,804 in an R+7.4 district

Money

General-election contributions (Transparency USA, from Division of Elections data): Tomkow $168,042; Nathan $77,889. A PAC spent $3M+ for Tomkow in the special.

Josie TomkowREP4 support · 0 oppose

SupportEndorsement

Republican Party & officials
Law enforcement & public safety (often bipartisan)
Brian NathanDEMIncumbent0 support · 0 oppose

No listings found in this guide.

Progressive side, as noted in this guide

Nathan: Florida AFL-CIO, Planned Parenthood PAC, Equality Florida, Sierra Club, DLCC target race.

Searched, nothing found

Florida Chamber, AIF, NRA, Florida Right to Life endorsements for the general.

Terms

Definition

Sources

27 in the registry, official records first · All sources
Show 17 more sources

Where sources disagree

All conflicts

  • SD-14 March 24 special election margin

    • 405 votes
    • 409 votes (40,245 to 39,836; 50.26% to 49.74%)
    • 409 (official)

    Resolved: 409

    Hillsborough SOE official results (enr.electionsfl.org/HIL/3921/Summary/).

Matched from the research's conflict list by contest, candidate, judge or measure name.

Where to vote