TAMPA, Fla. — Early voting is underway for the Florida State Senate District 14 special election.
The seat, which covers the city of Tampa, was left vacant this legislative session after former Sen. Jay Collins was tapped to become the state's lieutenant governor. Collins beat Democratic incumbent Janet Cruz for the seat in 2022.
Dr. Susan MacManus, professor emeritus of political science, said the political world will be watching which way this seat goes, especially since Democrats have performed better in special elections around the country.
"We've seen a switch, but it's still considered a more competitive district compared to a lot of others in the area," MacManus explained.
"Republicans in this area are hopeful that a high turnout will yield high turnout in the general, and that's what both of them are concerned about. They're going to be looking at turnout as well as the victor, in fact, probably more so in light of how they're looking at the district for the general election in November."
Tampa Bay 28's Jada Williams reached out to Republican candidate Josie Tomkow and Democratic candidate Brian Nathan at the beginning of the week. As of the publishing of this story, Jada has not heard back from Tomkow, but the information about her platform can be found on her website.
According to Tomkow's website, every sheriff in Tampa Bay supports her. She also champions introducing financial literacy in high school and working to mitigate flooding concerns in the county.
Tomkow currently represents District 51, covering parts of Polk County in the Florida House, but is term-limited in that seat.
Tampa Bay 28 sat down with Democratic candidate Brian Nathan to ask him what he thinks are important issues. Nathan, an organizer with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said he wants to protect workers.
"We need to protect our workers," Nathan said. "So Senate Bill 1296 got passed. It made it harder for teachers' unions and other public sector unions to have to actually have a union for these workers. And so we need to roll that back, because the right to organize, the right to have a union, is in the Florida State Constitution."
Nathan also wants to see protections for public schools.
"We really need to tackle what's going on in our public education system," he said. "We have things like Schools of Hope co-locating charter schools in public schools without costing the charter schools a dime. Those are public-funded institutions. The public paid for those, and now we're turning them over in part to private enterprise."
Nathan also filed a complaint with the Florida Elections Commission questioning the residency of his opponent, Republican Josie Tomkow. Nathan claims Tomkow is term-limited in District 51 and has an address listed in Polk County on conservation land, while her husband lives in South Tampa.
Florida's 14th Congressional District primarily includes Tampa, St. Petersburg, and parts of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
Early voting ends March 21, and Election Day is March 24. Voters can find more information on poll locations here.
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