Former opponent Cyril Spiro is endorsing Jim Davison in the runoff election taking place next month for the Tampa City Council District 7 race.
“Based on my knowledge of their experience, policies and character, I am endorsing Jim Davison,” Spiro recently wrote to supporters. “He has displayed outstanding character, placing people above personal political interests. He believes in fiscal responsibility and I know that he will make sure that our taxpayer dollars are used wisely. And, he has in-depth knowledge of the transportation issues that we are facing in our city.”
Davison is battling Luis Veira in the Dec. 6 runoff election. The only registered Republican in the race, Davison received 31 percent of the vote, with Viera coming in second with 22 percent.
Spiro works in health care data analytics and currently serves as board chairman of the Cory Lakes Isles Community Development District board. He came in fifth with 12 percent of the vote. “If you voted for me, I ask that you go to the polls on December 6th and vote for Jim,” he says explicitly in his statement.
“Humbled to have Cyril’s endorsement. He ran an honorable campaign,” Davison tweeted Monday morning.
Also in his statement, Spiro says there is a flaw in the election system that locks in the two-party system, and he supports Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) as an alternative.
“RCV ensures that you won’t throw away your vote if you pick an independent candidate,” he writes.
RCV allows voters to choose their to ballot choices from first to last instead of simply choosing a single candidate. If no candidate wins an outright majority, then the election outcome is determined by additional rounds of tabulations. It’s also called instant runoff voting, and has been used in several U.S. cities, including Oakland, where it led to the election of Jean Quan in 2010. Different cities use different versions of an RCV system, and voters in Maine approved the process last Tuesday.
