Florida Rising

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Progressive & community organizing

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Progressive lens

On this ballot

• Attorney General
  Mark your ballot: Attorney General

  James UthmeierREP (Republican)Jose Javier RodriguezCreative Loafing's pickDEM (Democratic)

  Clear

  EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks José Javier Rodríguez

  Creative Loafing listed this pick in its guide without a write-up.

  Creative Loafing voting guide 2026: How to vote in Tampa Bay, and who we're voting for

• Board of County Commissioners — District 5
  Mark your ballot: Board of County Commissioners — District 5

  Stacy HahnREP (Republican)Neil ManimalaCreative Loafing's pickDEM (Democratic)

  Clear

  EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks Neil Manimala

  • Manimala is the only commission candidate with a comprehensive plan to make it possible to live in Hillsborough without a car: better transit and less strain on the roads, which CL sees as the county's core growth, safety, cost and health problem.
  • CL expects him to work with both parties and calls him a hard worker with fresh ideas.
  • CL credits Stacy Hahn's eight years on the School Board and her primary win over incumbent Donna Cameron Cepeda, but argues Manimala is the one who can fix how the county gets around.

  Valerie Smith, Creative Loafing voting guide 2026: Hillsborough County Commission, School Board and referendums

• Board of County Commissioners — District 7
  Mark your ballot: Board of County Commissioners — District 7

  Joshua WostalREP (Republican)Aileen RodriguezCreative Loafing's pickDEM (Democratic)

  Clear

  EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks Aileen Rodriguez

  • Against incumbent Joshua Wostal: he opposed the county's health care program for low-income residents and funding for local arts, refused to sign commendations for Tampa Pride and the Tampa Organization of Black Affairs' MLK breakfast, and builds no coalitions; even his popular vote against Rays stadium money drew only one ally.
  • His PAC took a late $50,000 check from developer Homes by West Bay, its largest ever and over $62,000 in all from that developer; its next-largest donor is tied to the lawsuit that killed the All For Transportation tax.
  • Rodriguez, a former director for U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, has long been active in the community and brings steady, practical ideas on transit and responsible growth. She also beat former Clerk of Court Cindy Stuart in the primary.
  • With the commission possibly growing, CL wants a member who unifies rather than divides.

  Ray Roa, Creative Loafing voting guide 2026: Hillsborough County Commission, School Board and referendums

• School Board Member — District 6
  Mark your ballot: School Board Member — District 6

  Kenneth "Ken" GayNonpartisanKaren PerezCreative Loafing's pickNonpartisan

  Clear

  EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks Karen Perez

  • The race is nonpartisan, but Ken Gay's largest donor is the Hillsborough County Republican Party, which gave him $5,000 in September and endorsed him. CL describes that party as anti-union and fixated on DEI, Muslims in classrooms and transgender students.
  • CL says voters are tired of culture-war bait in school board races.
  • Perez, a social worker and strong public school advocate, is the most qualified, and CL sees no reason not to re-elect her.

  Colin Wolf, Creative Loafing voting guide 2026: Hillsborough County Commission, School Board and referendums

• State Representative — District 64
  Mark your ballot: State Representative — District 64

  Dan WeldonREP (Republican)Luis SalazarCreative Loafing's pickDEM (Democratic)

  Clear

  EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks Luis Salazar

  Creative Loafing listed this pick in its guide without a write-up.

  Creative Loafing voting guide 2026: How to vote in Tampa Bay, and who we're voting for

• State Senator — District 14
  Mark your ballot: State Senator — District 14

  Josie TomkowREP (Republican)Brian NathanCreative Loafing's pickDEM (Democratic)

  Clear

  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

• United States Senator
  Mark your ballot: United States Senator

  Ashley MoodyREP (Republican)Angie NixonCreative Loafing's pickDEM (Democratic)Neil J. GillespieNPA (No Party Affiliation)

  Clear

  EditorialWhy Creative Loafing picks Angie Nixon

  • Nixon won the Democratic primary decisively despite being outspent 16 to 1 by the party's preferred candidate, and CL calls her easy to get behind.
  • She was a single mother for 12 years and runs a Jacksonville bookstore and coffee shop. In six years in the Legislature she filed early-learning bills, fought cuts to public schools and limits on abortion, and was arrested protesting the gerrymandered congressional maps.
  • Her agenda, as CL reports it: extend Affordable Care Act subsidies first, lower costs, shore up Social Security and protect families from medical bankruptcy, partly by raising taxes on the very wealthy.
  • CL relays Nixon's case against Ashley Moody: Moody's role in the Hope Florida scandal, her stock trading, her vote for the "Big Beautiful Bill" and its Medicaid cuts, and her refusal to debate.

  The guide lists Nixon without a write-up; these reasons are from CL's Oct. 19 story on her Ybor City rally, which recommends her.

  Ray Roa (with Dave Decker), In Ybor City, Angie Nixon and Bernie Sanders rally against ‘lying, cheating, scheming, thieving Ashley Moody’ (w/photos)

Stances Endorsement

Each endorser's own stated position, as recorded in the progressive and right-leaning guides.

Where it appears