Another game-changer in Tampa’s muni-elections: Sara Romeo drops out of race for District 1
For those of you suffering from campaign withdrawal, you should start paying attention to the turbulent politics of Tampa’s city elections (definitely bookmark Battleground Tampa Bay). Every day, there is some sort of interesting development: Curtis Stokes breaks his promise not to run on one day, Jim Davis decides not to run on another. Then Mary Mulhern announces her re-election the next day. And just last night, in the dead of Saturday evening, former state representative Sara Romeo drops out of the race for District 1. Mitch Perry has the scoop:
Sara Romeo announced Saturday evening that after “consulting with Board members and my close friends,” she will drop out of her race for the District One Tampa City Council seat that she announced she was running for nearly a year ago.
Romeo had to make a decision following the news published a week ago that because the non-profit group that she’s been the executive director of for the past six years, Tampa Crossroads, has a contract with the city of Tampa, she would have had to resign her position with the agency if she was elected in next March’s municipal election for council.
Romeo issued a press release short after 6 p.m. Saturday night that said in part:
After consulting with Board members and my close friends, we all agree that I can best serve the needs of our community by remaining at Tampa Crossroads and seeing through our many current and new projects that will benefit families in this community. Therefore, I am withdrawing as a candidate for the Tampa City council in order to fulfill my obligations to the families that we serve.
I recommend you keep reading Perry’s comments, especially for the ominous undercurrent in his story which suggests (of course I may be reading too much into this) that there is more at work behind Romeo’s decision not to run.
[...] the District 1 seat on Tampa’s City Council. Mitch Perry reported it on Saturday night. I was offering analysis on Romeo’s decision and Yvonne Capin’s impending announcement throughout the weekend. [...]