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Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn speaks at a Hillary Clinton rally at the Florida State Fairgrounds in 2015. Credit: Zebrina Edgerton-Maloy<\/p>\nTampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn speaks at a Hillary Clinton rally at the Florida State Fairgrounds in 2015. Credit: Zebrina Edgerton-Maloy<\/p>\n
Bob Buckhorn swears he\u2019s entering the race to succeed term-limited Jane Castor (just six candidates are registered in the race so far).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Winning that contest is going to involve cash\u2014and the man who\u2019s already had two terms as mayor has a lot of it.<\/p>\n
To support the campaign, Buckhorn\u2019s political action committee, Friends of Bob Buckhorn<\/a>, is equipped with more than $1.4 million in contributions. And if money talks, then it appears that investors and developers are Buckhorn\u2019s best friends.<\/p>\n According to a Tampa Monitor analysis of campaign finance data<\/a>, donations connected to construction, development, and real estate total $404,200\u2014or 28% of total PAC contributions.<\/p>\n Contributions from people and entities connected to finance and investment total $460,250\u2014or 32% of PAC donations.<\/p>\n Tampa\u2019s outgoing mayor, Jane Castor, was Buckhorn\u2019s choice for police chief and endorsed by her predecessor. She also benefited from a PAC funded primarily<\/a> by development interests.<\/p>\n Buckhorn told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay he appreciates his PAC contributions. Developers and investors, as he sees it, helped make Tampa an attractive destination for talent. Further development is how the city continues to lure in young talent, he argued.<\/p>\n Buckhorn said that Tampa was once a \u201cdonor city,\u201d from which its \u201cbest and brightest\u201d youth moved. Developing Tampa after the recession, he claims, reversed that migration pattern.\u00a0<\/p>\n But it did create an affordability problem. A study<\/a> from the National Low Income Housing Coalition found that Florida renters would have to make at least $37.27\/hour to afford a two-bedroom rental home.<\/p>\n Buckhorn has previously told CL that affordability will be a hallmark of the race to be Tampa\u2019s next mayor<\/a>. And while development has not always made the city more affordable, Buckhorn added that he \u201cwould much rather preside over a growing city than a dying city.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be tragic if, after all of that work to build this city to the place where this is where they want to be, they are priced out of the market,\u201d Buckhorn said. \u201cSo, absolutely, it is a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n And there are donors who are willing to satisfy Buckhorn\u2019s priorities (see the PAC donation analysis below).<\/p>\n Tampa Bay Entertainment Properties LLC (TBEP) is the biggest donor to Buckhorn\u2019s PAC. The company, founded in 2017 by Benchmark International Arena and former Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, has donated $100,000. TBEP operates Benchmark, along with the Yuengling Center at the University of South Florida\u2019s Tampa campus.<\/p>\n Vinik Sports Group is also partnering with Strategic Property Partners (SPP)\u00a0 to manage a venue<\/a> it\u2019ll hope to build in 2027, just across the street from Benchmark International Arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n Buckhorn said he\u2019s proud to have the partnership and support of Vinik, a billionaire who oversaw the development of Water Street Tampa. Despite critics calling projects like Water Street \u201cvanity projects,\u201d Buckhorn stands by the success and benefits that came from those investments.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen people criticize city government or criticize me for investing in providing the seed money for projects like this, I will tell them in no uncertain terms, \u2018Hell yeah,\u2019 and I would do it again\u201410 times over every day of the week\u2014because of what it brought to this community,\u201d Buckhorn said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Vinik isn\u2019t the only one looking to play ball.<\/p>\n Dream Finders Homes LLC, owned by Rays owner Patrick Zalupski, donated $50,000 to Buckhorn\u2019s PAC. In a proposal for a new stadium<\/a> at Hillsborough College in Tampa. Team owners said they will only pay half<\/a>.<\/p>\n Buckhorn has presided over past Tampa stadium talks with the Rays\u2019 last owners, and told CL he\u2019s certain that the deal will be finalized before the next mayor begins their tenure.\u00a0<\/p>\n Buckhorn admitted not knowing every nuance of the conversations around the new deal. But he believes the remaining cost will primarily have to be addressed by the county, especially since Collective Investment Trust funds are limited in where they go to and the county has more resources and methods it can use.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI will honor whatever agreement that is struck between the Rays and certainly the city, and then work my hardest to make sure it\u2019s successful,\u201d Buckhorn said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ballpark builders aren\u2019t the only ones pitching in to get Buckhorn elected. Real estate enters the mix with contributions from Related Group, a Miami-based real estate development company.\u00a0<\/p>\n Three employees from the company contributed to the PAC. Managing Director Kurt Drvstvnensek, Vice President Christopher Hernandez and Senior Vice President Arturo Pena each donated $100 to Friends of Bob Buckhorn.\u00a0<\/p>\n Individual contributors can only donate up to $1,000\u2014up to $100 if in cash, and up to $50 if they remain anonymous. To bypass these limits, contributors can donate another $1,000 through their business. Related Group gave $1,000 to the PAC, according to campaign finance data.<\/p>\n Buckhorn said Related Group has done great work in the area\u2014and he hopes it does more. As for its influence and position in the city\u2019s development interests, Buckhorn said that most of its processes and plans are public and transparent.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s incumbent upon the bidder to put the best feel forward for the city, just like I did for the eight years when I was the mayor before; there is a process in place,\u201d Buckhorn said. \u201cThere is no favoritism, and the numbers in the proposal speak for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Prominent individuals have also spoken up about Buckhorn\u2019s imminent candidacy\u2014with money and their mouths.<\/p>\n Developer and investor Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., who was convicted of fraud in a sports gambling scandal back in the \u201890s and later pardoned by Trump, donated $30,000 to Buckhorn\u2019s PAC last November. DeBartolo is also the father-in-law of Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister.<\/p>\n Blake Casper, Caspers Company co-owner and CEO, also donated $25,000 to Buckhorn\u2019s PAC. Casper was formerly backed by Buckhorn in the 2023 general election for the Tampa City Council District 4 seat against Councilman Bill Carlson.\u00a0<\/p>\n Casper\u2019s last-minute entry into the one-man race left many speculating<\/a> whether Mayor Castor aimed to back a candidate against Carlson, who has been an opponent of Mayor Castor\u2019s development agenda throughout her tenure.\u00a0<\/p>\n Carlson himself is slated to join the race. He told CL that he\u2019ll be rolling out his plan in the coming months\u2014and that in the meantime, people are asking for him to join the race as a change candidate.<\/p>\n Carlson added that other electoral races have shown how \u201craising a lot of money, especially from developers, is a negative, not a positive,\u201d and that Buckhorn\u2019s PAC is no exception.<\/p>\n Carlson pointed out that other council members, like District 3\u2019s Lynn Hurtak and District 1\u2019s Alan Clendenin, have won elections<\/a> against candidates endorsed by Castor, despite funding deficits.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe pattern is that the grassroots, the community, wants change,\u201d Carlson told CL. \u201cThey don\u2019t want the same shortsighted mentality in political bullying that\u2019s been going on for the last 15 years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re tired of potholes and money that\u2019s spent in the wrong ways and the bullying of the community, divisiveness,\u201d Carlson continued. \u201cThey want a positive vision for the community, and they want somebody who\u2019s a consensus builder, who will bring the community together toward the goals of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Buckhorn told CL that this isn\u2019t his first rodeo and he doesn\u2019t care who\u2019s going to run against him; he\u2019ll just run his race.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat one particular individual has a long history of saying bizarre and conspiratorial things,\u201d Buckhorn said. \u201cI don\u2019t pay any attention to him or the things he says.\u201d<\/p>\n If anything, Buckhorn is most confident in what past voter outcomes say about his potential.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFolks elected me twice. They re-elected me in 2015 with 95% of the vote, so they know me, and they know what I can do because of what I\u2019ve done,\u201d Buckhorn said.<\/p>\n Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in Feb. 19 \u2013 25, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t![\"Tampa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/casper-1.webp.jpeg\")
Blake Casper (right) sits next to his opponent Bill Carlson at a 2023 South Tampa candidate forum. Credit: Dave Decker \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n