U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 15

(Temple Terrace, USF, East Hillsborough & West Polk counties)

Dennis Ross (R) Ross was part of the Tea Party shellacking that dominated the 2010 midterm elections, and he’s remained consistently conservative in his two terms in Washington. He has ignored calls for comprehensive immigration reform, and his retort at a town hall meeting to a fast-food worker — declaring “it’s not right“ to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and asking, “If we are going to make it a living wage, who’s going to pay for it?” — went viral.

Alan Cohn (D) The best Democrat to run for this seat in over a decade, the 52-year-old broadcast journalist brought down former Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim Norman with his exposé of the undisclosed $500,000 donation given to Norman’s wife by a Republican power broker to pay for a dream house in Arkansas. Now Cohn is trying to make news via the electoral process. He’s for immigration reform, a woman’s right to choose, and raising the minimum wage. He’s an impressive candidate all around, but can a Democrat win in this district?

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, DISTRICT 7

(Countywide)

Al Higginbotham (R) Attempting to win countywide for the first time after eight years representing the much more conservative District 4 region, Al Higginbotham referred to his Christian faith back when he opposed a domestic partnership registry in early 2013. But that was then; this is an election year. A kinder and gentler “Higgy” supported the DPR this year, and has indicated initial enthusiasm about supporting a transit tax in 2016. He has also made sure everyone knows that he’s advocating for a minority to be represented on a nascent committee that would deal with possible sites for a new ballpark for the Rays.

Pat Kemp (D) This longtime Seminole Heights activist has worked with Kathy Castor in county government and Sara Romeo in the state legislature. She’s a big supporter of public transit and what she calls smart growth. That means no tax incentives for Bass Pro, but whatever it takes to promote and grow local start-up industries & businesses. A member of the Sierra Club, she’s also been an enthusiastic backer of Ed Turanchik’s public/private proposal for ferry service from South County to MacDill and ultimately St. Petersburg.

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, DISTRICT 2

(Includes much of northern Hillsborough, including Lutz, Carrollwood and Thonotosassa)

Victor Crist (R) This former state legislator is looking forward to another four years in office. He says some of the darndest things on the dais, and is known for telling people that he’s really not as conservative as his voting record indicates, but he has to vote that way to represent his district. Or worry about a right-wing challenger. Or something like that. He infamously voted against a domestic partner registry in 2013, then voted for it last month.

Elizabeth Belcher (D) This former IRS agent from the Seffner area is running for office for a second time, having lost to Tom Lee in a bid for the state Senate in 2012. She frequently attends County Commission meetings to tell commissioners they’ve lost their way, specifically by spending over $6 million in county road work to lure Bass Pro Shops, and allowing a big-box store in the Bloomingdale area via a little-publicized zoning change.

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, DISTRICT 4

(Brandon, Valrico, Plant City, FishHawk, Riverview and Wimauma)

Stacy White (R) This pharmacist opted not to run for re-election to his school board seat this year, once he knew that there’d be an open seat on the commission when Al Higginbotham term-limited out. White calls himself a “social and fiscal conservative.” He believes the county needs to get its act together on transportation, but won’t be supporting any referendum in 2016, thanks for asking.

Christopher Lawrence Weaver (Write-in)

STATE SENATE, DISTRICT 24

(Brandon, Plant City)

Tom Lee (R) In the Senate from 1996-2006, the 52-year-old Lee (who is also the Hillsborough County Republican Executive Committee chair) returned to the Senate last year. Although he had been considered a moderate, his votes skewed pretty conservative in 2014, including strong opposition to in-state tuition for undocumented students.

Brandon R. Thebeau (Write-in) Says mandatory sentencing for nonviolent drug offenses “perpetuates a system that leads only to future crime.” Supports Medicaid expansion.

Stephen P. Warren (Write-in)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 59

(Brandon, Riverview, Valrico)

Ross Spano (R) Although you may think this eastern Hillsborough District is strictly red, Democrat Gail Gottlieb got within two percentage points of beating Spano here in 2012, and might have taken it if not for a vicious RPOF mailer that went out on the weekend before the election that essentially accused Gottleib, a mild-mannered policy wonk, of having terrorist connections because of her work with the Sierra Club and other D.C.-based organizations.

Donna Fore (D) Originally a candidate for the Hillsborough County District 4 seat (“Fore for Four” was her mantra), Fore has been with her auto glass company, P.F. Auto Glass, for 20 years, and thinks the federal government forgot about mom-and-pop shops like hers when it bailed out GM a few years ago. “They didn’t think full circle, and the past few years I’ve noticed that our local government is doing the same,” she told CL this summer.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 61

(Ybor City, downtown Tampa, East Tampa, Seminole Heights)

Ed Narain (D) Narain beat out Sean Shaw in a bitterly contested race back in August. He’s an impressive candidate, and the fact that he comes from the business community might help him get some Republican support on any proposed legislation he might propose. Might, we emphasize.

Nicole Santiago (Write-in)

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 63

(North Tampa, Carrollwood, Lake Magdalene, Lutz, USF area)

Mark Danish (D) The 60-year-old native New Yorker is being targeted big-time by the state GOP for a seat that they think belongs to them. A schoolteacher, he’s big on public education and against school vouchers. Pro-Medicaid expansion, he calls himself a fighter for Florida’s middle class.

Shawn Harrison (R) He narrowly lost his seat to Danish in 2012, and he wants it back. The former Tampa City Councilmember says he’s the rare Republican who can see the virtue in expanding Medicaid to get people health care. Supports school vouchers.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 64

(North Hillsborough — Keystone, Westchase, Citrus Park, Northdale — and North Pinellas – Oldsmar, parts of Clearwater)

Jamie Grant (R) A mostly doctrinaire conservative, but he’s been a champion of Uber and is trying to get rid of the Hillsborough County PTC. He also fought party leadership in 2011 by opposing cuts to Moffitt Cancer Center.

Miriam Steinberg (R) The wife of longtime Hillsborough political animal (and Democrat) Michael Steinberg, who lost to Grant in 2010, Miriam Steinberg has never run for office. She believes in incentives to bring solar power to more homes and businesses in Florida, and champions small businesses as well.

Daniel John Matthews (Write-in)

Note: OK, what are we doing with two Republicans facing each other in a general election? Blame it on an idiotic rule that says that when the only candidates to qualify for a primary are in the same party, then the race is moved to the general election and opened to members of both parties.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD (non-partisan)

District 6

(Countywide)

April Griffin The best-known and most polarizing candidate to run for school board this year, Griffin has a fervent following. Though some analysts have noted how many votes went to the many other candidates in the primary, Griffin still ended up surviving, making it into the run-off. There’s a lot of animosity directed at School Board Superintendent MaryEllen Elia, and Griffin’s supporters consider her to be nearly heroic in how she’s stood up to Elia. Miss Manners, she ain’t, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Dipa Shah Her fundraising prowess helped her get into the run-off, and her GOP background could put her over the top. She’s skeptical of Common Core, and how things have been run in the District. “I think our teachers are very professional, but we don’t treat them that way,” she told CL in August. “Our educators in our school district work very, very hard, and I wish they had a more positive experience to work in.”

District 2

(South Hillsborough County)

Michelle Popp Shimberg You can’t get much more “insider” than this 51-year-old, who has volunteered in the district for a number of years but has no direct education experience. It’s probably not going to matter, as she is well-financed and has secured the endorsement of virtually every local club and publication that makes endorsements.

Sally Harris She owns a preschool in South Tampa and has worked with special needs children. Comes down a little harder than Shimberg on School Board Superintendent MaryEllen Elia.

District 4

(Eastern Hillsborough County)

Melissa Snively Runs an insurance agency and is the former Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce chair (i.e, she’s very well-connected). She’s also a mother of four. She believes the board needs more transparency, telling a Tiger Bay audience in Tampa in June that in order for there to be trust between the school board and the public, “every decision, every conversation, every rationale needs to be open and public in order to maintain that trust.”

Terry Kemple The Christian conservative is once again on the ballot, and has a solid following in east county. He’s also a lightning rod who has offended gays and Muslims over the years, and is hard-pressed to ever get a majority of the vote. *Note that House District 64 extends beyond Hillsborough into Pinellas County.