TAMPA, Fla. — Former county commissioner Thomas Scott and nonprofit executive Naya Young are projected to face each other in a runoff for Tampa’s District 5 seat after Tuesday’s election narrowed a 14-candidate field.
14 candidates were vying to become the next Tampa City Council representative for District 5. The seat was left open after the untimely and unexpected death of City Councilwoman Gwen Henderson.
WATCH: Thomas Scott and Naya Young projected in runoff election for Tampa District 5 City Council seat
Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer posted unofficial Election Night results, saying results include Vote By Mail, Early Voting and all Election Day precincts. Provisional ballots and mail ballots pending signature cure are not included. In accordance with statute, the 1st Unofficial Results will be certified on September 11 at 5 p.m.
In City of Tampa municipal elections, a candidate must receive more than 50 percent of the vote; otherwise, the race will proceed to a runoff election.
Tonight’s results include Vote By Mail, Early Voting, and all Election Day precincts. Provisional ballots and mail ballots pending signature cure are not included. In accordance with statute, the 1st Unofficial Results will be certified on September 11 at 5 p.m.
The final unofficial results showed Scott leading with 27.09 percent of the vote and Young in second place with 13.27 percent. Both advanced to the October 28 runoff.
Turnout was 11.97 percent, with 5,394 ballots cast out of 45,079 registered voters.
“I feel real good about very grateful for district five and for the people who turn out to vote for me on turning their ballot to vote,” Scott said. “When you consider you have 14 people, we got 27.41% is really great. Just wasn’t enough to get us to that 50 plus one. So we got a run off. And so I feel good about the runoff. I think we’re in good, good shape."
Meantime, Young also said she was encouraged by the results.
“Excited, happy, grateful, hopeful,” Young said. “We’ve got six more weeks, but it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be exciting. I’m so ready,” Young said.
Throughout election day, we talked to voters after they cast their ballots.
Rudolph Kelly says the 14-person ballot was challenging.
“Got pretty tough, but I already had my mind made up.” Kelly said. "I was surprised to see that many, because I haven't really seen that many before. So it was like, you know, looking through things, what this one can do, what that one can do."
This is what Kelly wanted to hear from the candidates.
“Better streets. New housing, put some stuff in the community for the kids that you know what I mean, so they can have something to do after school,” Kelly said.
Another voter, Corey Brown, said he was motivated to cast his ballot after a candidate visited his home.
“One of the candidates came over to our house and had a conversation that would led us to come out and vote,” Brown said.
“Well, it gave us an opportunity to have a real dialog. And she expressed her opinion on certain things, and there was an alignment there. So really, it was putting in face time. So that was led us to come out here and pass our vote,” Brown said.
And during the next round of voting, it will be just as important.
“Because if you’re willing to come sit me at my house, or, you know, come to my doorstep, then you’re probably willing to listen to my my concerns,” Brown said.
Scott highlighted his years of service.
“There’s only one candidate who has ever been elected to public office who brings experience, leadership, bring integrity. I’m the only candidates. I’ve been saying that has been elected by the public, 10 years on the county commission, four years on city council, three terms as Chairman of county commission, three terms as Chairman of city council. It says a lot about my experience and my leadership as an elected official,” Scott said.
Young said her background in nonprofit work motivated her to run.
“When you work in grassroots nonprofit, you see a lot of things on the ground, especially working with children and families, and it gets to a point where it’s like,' Okay, I’ve done everything that I can in this space, but I can’t necessarily change condition as much. And so what else can I do so that I can continue to help people?',” Young said.
Young says her goal for the next six weeks is to establish her name as a trusted listener throughout District Five.
“Just because I may think something is important, I may not live in an area where they think that, where the constituents that live in that area think is important. So it’s always going to be community first and people first,” Young said.
She says, despite her willingness to listen, these are her priorities.
“Youth empowerment, youth opportunities, just because I’ve worked in nonprofit for so long, and I really, truly believe that giving youth opportunities can you know it’s gonna it helps to bridge that gap, and I think it’d be great for District Five neighborhoods, making sure that our communities feel like they are heard, that their needs are being met. Economic development and also smart growth," she explained. "Our city is growing so much, but how we go about doing it is really important, and so housing and transportation. How are we moving people from one place to the next, and how are we making sure that we have homes and different types of homes for different sized families and different people."
On September 12, the Official Results will be certified, and a post-election audit will be conducted to verify the tabulated results.
Since neither candidate is projected to reach the 50 percent threshold, a runoff will be held on Oct 28. Early voting is slated to begin October 23-26.
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