{"id":150878,"date":"2026-02-10T23:47:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T23:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/150878\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T23:47:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T23:47:32","slug":"one-of-tampas-most-popular-food-influencers-is-running-for-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/150878\/","title":{"rendered":"One of Tampa\u2019s most popular food influencers is running for mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a cold and blustery Saturday in January, one of Tampa Bay\u2019s most widely followed food influencers was outside an East Tampa grocery store, talking about running for mayor.<\/p>\n

Anthony Gilbert, known as @callanthony_ on Instagram, stood in front of Kings 22nd Grocery & Meat in the Belmont Heights neighborhood, seemingly unfazed by the weather as patrons passed by, some with steaming foam cups of boiled peanuts with neckbones and corn on the cob.<\/p>\n

Kings is one of the first spots at which Gilbert filmed a food review that really took off, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to be a representative for the people that have been underserved for so long,\u201d Gilbert said.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 3, he announced he had filed to run for mayor on his Instagram page. Within a few hours, hundreds of positive responses hit the comments section.<\/p>\n

Gilbert, 42, is an East Tampa native from the Belmont Heights neighborhood. He said he wants to change the narrative from many in his community who feel politicians don\u2019t represent their most pressing needs. Gilbert has a lot of pride for the city he seeks to represent.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, a lot of areas of Tampa are overlooked, like the area we\u2019re in right now \u2026 and a lot of voters don\u2019t come out and vote because they don\u2019t feel their vote counts for anything,\u201d he said on that day outside of Kings.<\/p>\n

Gilbert\u2019s reviews and features on social media of bodega and gas station food and local minority-owned businesseshave earned hima combined following of over 129,000 on Facebook and Instagram.That\u2019s about double what he had thelast time the Tampa Bay Times spoke with him in December 2024.<\/a> Gilbert did not allude to any political ambitions then.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI was built here,\u201d he said. \u201cI do a lot of community outreach work. I do a lot of feeding the homeless, feeding the community, toy give-backs. I\u2019ve been doing that for the last 15 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilbert is one of seven candidates so far to file for the 2027 raceto replace the term-limited Mayor Jane Castor. Others expected to enter the race include <\/a>former mayor Bob Buckhorn, who is an executive vice president at Shumaker Advisors; Bill Carlson, a Tampa CityCouncil member; and Gary Hartfield, vice chairperson of the Hillsborough Transit Authority\u2019s board of directors.<\/p>\n

A political committee supporting a Buckhorn candidacy has already raised more than $1.4 million<\/a>, according to campaign finance reports.<\/p>\n

Gilbertsaid he will run a grassroots campaign, with plans to become Tampa\u2019s first Black mayor. He plans to host community-based events like concerts, shows and meet-and-greets. He also plans to roll out a fundraising campaign that the public can donate to.<\/p>\n

Outside of Kings,Gilberttalked about working with Greedy Lee\u2019s Barbecue<\/a>, Llana\u2019s Soul Food<\/a> and other local restaurants in the aftermath of the 2024 hurricane season to help feed what he estimated were over 15,000 residents.<\/p>\n

Gilbert expresseda desire to be more present in communities like East Tampa and Sulphur Springs than he thinks other local politicians have been.<\/p>\n

A quick scroll through his Instagram showslively promotions for upcoming events, his reviews of local small businesses, and community outreach and activism.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gilbertsaid he specifically chooses to featurebusinesses that are underserved, Black- and minority-owned, and that have been in the community for a long time and may not havereceived as much exposure as they should.<\/p>\n

Going through the notes on his phone, Gilbert shared some of his priorities: addressing mental health support and outreach; setting up small business grants through Tampa\u2019s Community Redevelopment Agency to revitalize storefronts along main roads in Tampa like Nebraska Avenue and 22nd Street; transforming public safety through community partnership initiatives with a focus on trust, transparency and safety, not just enforcement. He envisions the Tampa Police Department being more engaged with mentorship, sports and neighborhood events, he said.<\/p>\n

Gilbert is focused first on getting voters in East Tampa registered and organized. There are roughly 45,000 eligible voters in District 5, according to the Supervisor of ElectionsOffice. Forthe last City Council election, only around 5,000 voted<\/a>, Gilbert pointed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping they\u2019re going to change that \u2026 it\u2019s a big difference, because we want to see the change, but we have to participate in these elections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gilbert stays busy. Hesaid he has a restaurant in the works called Just Chicken that will focus on specialty chicken wings. He recently partnered with Rap Snacks, a national brand that features artists like NBA Youngboy, Rick Ross and Lil\u2019 Baby on its potato chip bags and instant noodle cups. Gilbert helped Rap Snacks launch Big Back Honey Buns in Tampa and get them featured in sandwiches served atthe Snack Trap food truck at 2205 N. 22nd St.<\/p>\n

Inside Kings, Gilbert greeted people as he made his way to the register. He facilitated an order of boiled peanuts with \u201ceverything,\u201d describing the mixture with two words: \u201cgumbo, basically.\u201d A large neckbone rested on top as hot boiled peanuts and more neckbones stewed in a spicy, salty broth, savory steam wafting. The shop owners know him. One asked if he\u2019s been \u201cmoving around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, man. I\u2019m everywhere,\u201d Gilbert said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a cold and blustery Saturday in January, one of Tampa Bay\u2019s most widely followed food influencers was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[72836,72839,72837,13398,72838,135,1526,137,136],"class_list":["post-150878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-anthony-gilbert","tag-belmont-heights","tag-boiled-peanuts","tag-east-tampa","tag-food-critic","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}