With the election less than a year away, Tampa City Council member Bill Carlson announced Wednesday he is running for mayor.<\/p>\n
Carlson, who represents South Tampa, joins a crowded field<\/a> of 10 others. His campaign aims \u201cto bring good government back to the people of Tampa,\u201d according to a news release.<\/p>\n \u201cGood government is invisible,\u201d Carlson said in the news release. \u201cYou don\u2019t think about it. You just feel it \u2014 in safer streets, better jobs, faster permits, stronger neighborhoods. When the system works, everything works. Fixing that system is exactly what I\u2019m running to do.”<\/p>\n The two-term council member is one of several past and present elected officials competing to lead Tampa after Mayor Jane Castor, who must leave office due to term limits in 2027. He has teased a mayoral bid for months.<\/p>\n \u201cEverywhere I go, people are running up to me asking me to run,\u201d Carlson, president of the public relations firm Tucker\/Hall, told the Tampa Bay Times in March.<\/p>\n His three kids are on board, too, he said in a phone call with the Times on Wednesday. They have helped write his advertisements.<\/p>\n Carlson was first elected to the City Council in 2019 and won reelection four years later, beating an opponent who was backed by Castor.<\/p>\n Constituents \u201care tired of the status quo,\u201d Carlson said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat our community has lacked for 15 years is two-way communication where we listen to the public,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m in the community every day listening. City Council is on the front line.\u201d<\/p>\n A political committee called Friends of Bill Carlson, which opened in March, has raised more than $34,300, according to campaign finance documents.<\/p>\n Carlson said the committee was \u201cset up three weeks before the end of the quarter\u201d because he \u201chad friends and family who were itching to donate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow that the campaign is filed, and as soon as we get the bank account set up, we\u2019re going to start real fundraising,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m not going to be going after developer money.\u201d<\/p>\n The announcement comes days after that of former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn<\/a>, who filed his paperwork on Monday. Carlson has long feuded with Buckhorn<\/a> and criticized Castor.<\/p>\n A political committee supporting Buckhorn has raised more than $1.8 million<\/a>, including more than $400,000 in the most recent quarter, according to campaign finance reports.<\/p>\n Carlson will also face fellow council member Lynn Hurtak<\/a>, who announced her mayoral bid in February and has listed affordability and transit among her priorities.<\/p>\n Hurtak was appointed to the City Council as a citywide representative in 2022. She beat state Sen. Janet Cruz<\/a> \u2014 the mother of lobbyist Ana Cruz, Castor\u2019s partner \u2014 in an election the following year. That was despite Cruz\u2019s hefty fundraising haul and her endorsement by the mayor.<\/p>\n Taryn Sabia<\/a>, an urban designer and assistant dean at the University of South Florida\u2019s College of Design, Art & Performance, announced her campaign days after Hurtak. And Gary Hartfield<\/a>, a businessman and former vice chairperson of the Hillsborough Transit Authority, filed his paperwork to run for mayor last month.<\/p>\n