Hillsborough County voters approved all three county ballot questions on Tuesday. The results are unofficial. The Supervisor of Elections posted them after all 446 precincts reported.
County ballot questions
- Referendum 1, elected school superintendent: Yes 58.10% (287,996), No 41.90% (207,669). Voters will elect the superintendent in a partisan race for a four-year term. The first election is the 2028 general election. Today, the School Board appoints the superintendent.
- Referendum 2, larger County Commission: Yes 51.72% (253,488), No 48.28% (236,601). The County Commission grows from 7 to 9 members. All members will come from single-member districts. Voters will no longer elect countywide commissioners. The board grows to 11 members when the county reaches 2.5 million people.
- Referendum 3, school half-cent sales tax: For 61.55% (306,289), Against 38.45% (191,375). The current half-cent school sales tax continues for 10 more years, starting January 1, 2029. The money pays for school air conditioning, repairs, construction and security.
The state laws that put Referendum 1 and Referendum 2 on the ballot require a simple majority.
Countywide races
All voters in our area chose these seats:
- County Commission District 5: Neil Manimala (D) 54.86%, Stacy Hahn (R) 45.14%.
- County Commission District 7: Aileen Rodriguez (D) 56.21%, Joshua Wostal (R) 43.79%.
- School Board District 6: Karen Perez 56.90%, Ken Gay 43.10%.
Congress
- U.S. House District 14 covers almost all of Brandon, Valrico, Bloomingdale, Seffner, Riverview and Plant City. Kathy Castor (D) 51.21% (153,586). Mike Beltran (R) 45.88% (137,599). Brian Lambert (LPF) 2.91% (8,730).
- A small part of northwest Brandon is in District 15. Laurel Lee (R) won that district with 54.3%.
Florida House
- District 68 (Valrico, Seffner, Plant City, Dover, east Brandon): Ryan Gill (R) 56.6% (35,916), Tony Smith (D) 43.4% (27,545).
- District 69 (Bloomingdale, most of Riverview, FishHawk, south Brandon): Ashley Elizabeth Herrmann (D) 51.65% (35,388). Incumbent Danny Alvarez (R) 48.35% (33,130).
- District 70 (south Riverview and areas south): incumbent Michael Owen (R) 52.45% (49,343), Luther Keith Wilkins (D) 47.55% (44,734). Wilkins led in the Hillsborough part of the district. Owen won the district overall.
- District 67 (small parts of Brandon and Seffner): Luis Viera (D) 66.37%, Lisette Bonano (R) 33.63%.
Florida Senate
- District 20 (Bloomingdale, Riverview, parts of Brandon and Valrico): Jim Boyd (R) 55.79% (134,453), Gerald Baldi (D) 44.21% (106,534). Baldi led in the Hillsborough part. Boyd won the district overall.
State constitutional amendments
Amendments need 60% of the statewide vote to pass.
- Amendment 3, larger homestead exemption: Passed with 61.99%. The exemption for non-school taxes goes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. The yearly cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property drops from 10% to 5%. The amendment takes effect January 1, 2027.
- Amendment 2, farm equipment tax exemption: Failed with 58.22%.
- Amendment 1, budget stabilization fund: Failed with 40.9%.
What happens next
- Voters with a mail ballot signature problem have until 5 p.m. Thursday, November 5, to fix it. The same deadline applies to proof of eligibility for a provisional ballot.
- The canvassing board certifies the first unofficial results November 6 at 11 a.m.
- Overseas ballots dated by November 3 count if they arrive by November 13.
- Florida law orders a machine recount when a race margin is 0.5% or less. No race on this list is that close.
- The canvassing board certifies official results November 16 at 10 a.m.
Full results are on the Supervisor of Elections results page. District totals for races that cross county lines come from the Florida Division of Elections.
