Former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn has made official what he has been promising to do for months: a run to regain the office he held from 2011 to 2019.
Buckhorn filed the necessary campaign paperwork with the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections office on Monday morning.
Buckhorn said he is running "to finish the job."
“This city’s best days are yet to come," he said Monday during a news conference outside out the Frederick B. Karl County Center in downtown Tampa. "We can fix those challenges. We can fill those potholes. We can pave those streets. We can invest in that infrastructure. That’s not why people hire mayors. That’s not why I’m running for office. I’m running to build a city that is the envy of the nation and to continue down this path that we set out on 10 years ago.
"We’ve proven we can do it. I’ve already done it. Now, it is time to write out next chapter.”
Buckhorn joins a list of 10 candidates vying to replace Jane Castor, whose second term is slated to end May 1, 2027.
He jumps in with a significant advantage in donations. His Friends of Buckhorn committee lists more than $1.8 million in the bank, according to the Supervisor of Elections office.
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The next closest, according to the supervisor’s website, is urban planner and educator Taryn Sabia ($21,171), whose campaign website announced raising more than $20,000 within 29 days of filing on March 2.
City Council member Linda Hurtak has raised nearly $15,000 since filing Feb. 23.
Buckhorn, 67, has made no secret of his intentions, which he offered as far back as April 2025 while addressing students during a Saint Leo University Faith and Politics class. He also didn’t sidestep the issue in June, at an event renaming the Tampa River Center in his honor, when he said it was "the worst-kept secret in Tampa."
“I have never been more excited about the future of the city and the opportunity to come back,” Buckhorn said Monday.
Buckhorn’s two terms as mayor were defined by downtown redevelopment, waterfront revitalization efforts and a push to modernize infrastructure. He focused on economic development, public safety and flood mitigation.
He supported major projects like the Riverwalk and Water Street, oversaw development of Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park, expanded access to community centers and renovated Perry Harvey Sr. Park, which highlights the history of Tampa’s African American community.
Buckhorn said the biggest challenge the city faces is transportation, and he plans to use the mayor’s “pulpit” to advocate for an investment “that is desperately needed.”
“We have got to find a way to deal with our transportation issues, otherwise we will end up like Miami, or we will end up like Atlanta, and we will choke on our growth,” he said. “Transportation is expensive. I thought we had a solution when All for Transportation passed. Clearly, it was overturned in a very political decision by the Florida Supreme Court.”
The 2018 referendum created a 1-cent county sales tax over 30 years to fund roads, transit, sidewalks and safety improvements. It was challenged by business groups, and in 2021 the high court ruled the ballot language did not clearly inform voters about the measure’s full legal effects.
“We have to go back and pass that referendum again to give us a dedicated revenue source to do big, big projects,” Buckhorn said. “We need multimodal transportation. We can’t build enough roads to get ourselves out of the ditch. We need light rail. We need mass transit. We have BrightLine coming in from Orlando at some point. We need internally to Tampa the ability to move people around that doesn’t involve scooters.”
Tampa allows former mayors to run for a third term, but not consecutively.
The municipal election takes place March 2, 2027, with a runoff — if needed — eight weeks later.
Other candidates include Hurtak, Sabia, Ryan J. Edwards, Anthony Gilbert Jr., Gary Hartfield, Alan Jared Henderson, Julie Magill, Tres L. Rodmon, and Reginald B. Strachan.
The mayor's race is nonpartisan, although Buckhorn is a Democrat with strong ties within party circles at the state and national level. Buckhorn briefly considered a run for governor in 2018, but decided against it in a competitive primary environment.
