{"id":393699,"date":"2026-09-08T14:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T14:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/393699\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T14:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T14:02:17","slug":"tampa-labor-day-event-brings-candidates-and-families-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/393699\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Labor Day event brings candidates and families together"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDemocratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly at the Labor Day event in Tampa on Sept.7, 2026. Photo by Daria Mironova\/WMNF News.<\/p>\n

The West Central Florida Labor Council hosted the Tampa Labor Day community gathering. Families shared lunch while those running for office talked with union members, media, and each other. Several candidates brought their children, giving voters a chance to see them as parents as well as public figures.<\/p>\n

David Jolly discusses the meaning of Labor Day<\/p>\n

Democratic gubernatorial nominee David Jolly told WMNF what Labor Day means to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the midst of an affordability crisis, Labor Day means that everyone in this country needs an economy that\u2019s going to help them afford home ownership, afford their rent, afford health care,\u201d Jolly said.<\/p>\n

\"\"David Jolly at the Tampa Labor Day event on Sept.7, 2026. Photo by Daria Mironova\/WMNF News.<\/p>\n

He added that the holiday means more this year because too many people have been left behind.<\/p>\n

Daniela Simic celebrates teachers and families<\/p>\n

Daniela Simic is running for the Hillsborough County School Board in District 2. She said the campaign has given her new opportunities to meet people who serve their communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been able to go to so many fun events like this that I never would have gone to before,\u201d Simic said.<\/p>\n

Simic has worked in education for 25 years and started her career as a teacher. She said parents understand how much a consistent, well-supported teacher matters to their children.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that the number one most important person is that teacher. There\u2019s not a single parent in this world that would say, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m okay with not having a consistent teacher in my classroom.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She said schools must give teachers the working conditions they need.<\/p>\n

\"\"Daniela Simic talks to community members at the Tampa Labor Day event on Sept.7, 2026. Photo by Daria Mironova\/WMNF News.<\/p>\n

Aileen Rodriguez recognizes local workers<\/p>\n

Aileen Rodriguez is running for the Hillsborough County Commission in the countywide District 7 race. She wore pink, a color she chose for her campaign because she sees it as energetic, joyful, and connected to positive change.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez said Labor Day honors everyone who helps build and support the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabor Day is a federal holiday put in place to acknowledge every single person that\u2019s working to make our community what it is,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cOur teachers, our firefighters, our nurses, the plumbers \u2013 everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

All three candidates will appear on the November ballot.<\/p>\n

Jolly will run against Republican Byron Donalds and others for governor. <\/p>\n

Simic and Brittany Lyssy are competing for the District 2 School Board seat. <\/p>\n

Rodriguez is challenging Republican incumbent Joshua Wostal in the District 7 commission race.<\/p>\n

Those other candidates did not attend the Labor Day gathering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly at the Labor Day event in Tampa on Sept.7, 2026. Photo by Daria…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47499,9413,1813,34793,2450,30415,65059,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-393699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-2026-elections","tag-community-event","tag-david-jolly","tag-florida-elections","tag-labor-day","tag-news-and-public-affairs","tag-state-politics","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393699","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=393699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}