Depending on the county’s districting plan, represents their single-member or at-large geographic district and overall countywide interests, as part of the legislative and policy-setting branch of county government. County government is typically responsible for: fire rescue; disaster relief; county jail; constructing and maintaining county buildings, roads, and bridges; providing programs for housing and land conservation, as well as approving the Comprehensive Plan (for development). Unless otherwise provided by county charter, serve staggered 4-years term, with term limit of 8 years, or 2 consecutive 4-year terms. Salary is based on the population of the county set by Florida Legislature or by county ordinance. 2026 Hillsborough County Commissioner salary: $127,320.Each candidate for a seat on the Board of County Commissioners shall be a citizen of the United States of America, a registered voter of the district for which the candidate qualifies at the time of taking office, and a resident of Hillsborough County.Districts 1 - 4 are single member.Districts 5 & 7 are countywide.Term: 4 Years, beginning November 17, 2026
Education
Hillsborough College & USF (bachelor in interpersonal & organizational communications)
Professional Experience
Career community relations expert, worked for U.S. Senator Mel Martinez, Moffit Cancer Center, Helios Education Foundation, Tampa International Airport, and several other local institutions of distinction.
Public Service
Former President of Tampa Hispanic Heritage Inc., active member of Forest Hills Neighborhood Association
Campaign Phone
(813)461-5384
Our overdevelopment of suburban sprawl and our lack of public infrastructure and transportation - these two issues compound one another. Suburban sprawl increases car dependency, erodes already inferior infrastructure, snarls our roads and streets in endless traffic, and erases our green and wild spaces. Additionally, our lack of public transportation options make our metro the 13th most congested in the nation and 8th most dangerous to walk or bike. We must preserve and protect the Urban Service Area that hinders sprawl, be sound stewards in our land use capacity, and make sure our County invests in its long term future by creating the type of transportation options every other world class community has.
First we must restore the Hillsborough County HOPE Affordable Housing Fund to its full $10 million dollars and financial incentives for affordable housing development previously removed by this BOCC. Our County cannot solve its housing crisis without creating a diverse supply of new housing and it cannot do it alone - we must work hand in hand with the private sector to bring new units of every type online. The County should be making strategic, short and long term investments in housing and in land for future housing. Communities such as Austin have proven that by generating diverse housing supply, such as duplexes, quadplexes, and utilization of mixed use, you can drive down the prices for both renters and home buyers.
We have doubled and tripled down on highway and road widening to only induce further demand. The only way we can start to fix our traffic woes is by offering citizens and visitors viable means of travelling across our county without the need for a personal automobile. Every single person utilizing safe and reliable public transportation represents another car not clogging our already congested roads. It is imperative that the BOCC working with HART, the TPO, and FDOT to make sure we are making generational investments in our community instead of putting another expensive band-aid on our problems. Ultimately the only solution is for Hillsborough County to provide opportunities for folks to not need to utilize their own personal automobile.
2024 proved that Hillsborough County still has sincere strides to make in terms of disaster preparedness and resiliency. We have serious flooding issues not only in the areas on the coast, but other areas in land such as Forest Hills in Tampa and around Plant City that also saw serious flooding issues. We need to be making generational investments in our public infrastructure to ensure that we protect people's lives, livelihoods, and property from destruction wherever possible. That means improving stormwater resilience, regrading drainage canals and ditches, and being proactive as opposed to reactive in light of our emergency concerns.
First, we must fix HART. HART is the most underfunded transportation agency per capita in the country and is headed towards a fiscal cliff in 2028. We must create a dedicated revenue source to righting the ship at HART, work with our City of Tampa partners to expand and modernize the TECO streetcar into a serious commuter option for our urban core, and revisit the Hillsborough County ferry as a means to alleviate traffic headed towards MacDill Air Force Base. We have studied the potential solutions to our traffic issues to death, its time we roll up our sleeves, engage private, state, and federal partners, and finance generational investments in our future by making Hillsborough County public transportation more efficient and effective.
There are a number of nonprofits like Walk Bike Tampa and Side Walk Stompers that are already doing the hard work in neighborhoods across the county to make it easier and safer for parents to transport their children to and from school. It is shameful that we are the 8th most dangerous metro in the nation to be a bicyclist or a pedestrian and we must resolve these issues. I will work hand in hand with our School Board, law enforcement, and non profit partners to make it easier and safer for Hillsborough County students to get to and from school.
Education
BS in Management Information Systems & Programming
Professional Experience
Consultant, Cindy Stuart LLC
Public Service
Served Hillsborough County eight years on the School Board and four years as Clerk of the Court and Comptroller
Campaign Phone
813-505-9590
First, Hillsborough faces uncertainty as possible property tax reform poses significant changes to funding the county's resources. Residents need effective, experienced fiscal leadership to push through these challenges. Alongside this, the county's rapid growth means local infrastructure must catch up, which can be done through regional partnerships, collaboration, and improved transportation management.
Addressing the affordability crisis requires collaboration between the state and local government to provide coordination, sustainability, and planning that is in line with the wishes of Hillsborough residents. We also need to ensure all possible growth impacts are evaluated to give residents efficient and successful solutions.
Improving traffic safety comes with improving local infrastructure, and it requires a careful balance of expanding mobility options using data-driven results while also staying responsible when using taxpayers' dollars.
Flood control and storm planning need to be a part of routine maintenance rather than being a reaction to emergency conditions. We need to evaluate and build off of the responses from recent major storms so we can be completely prepared to protect our residents from storm damage and flooding.
Supporting efficient traffic management and road improvements is the first step towards minimizing congestion in Hillsborough, and it's important we foster regional partnerships to help lessen the burden of heavy traffic. Public transportation is also essential to maintaining safety and accessibility in urban areas, and we definitely need to look at investing more into it.
Hillsborough County children deserve safety on the roads, and we must look further into using data and connection to collaborate on keeping the county's roads safe for every resident.
