Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, facing no opposition in his re-election effort, is holding a major fundraiser Thursday that features a long list of high-profile Tampa business leaders.
The event begins 5:30 p.m. at the Tampa offices of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, Suite 2800 of the Bank of America Plaza, 101 East Kennedy Blvd.
Event co-chairs include Shumaker partners Ron Christaldi and Erin Aebel (who is also Tampa’s 2014 Business Woman of the Year), EWI Construction co-founder Casey Ellison, architect Rob Ledford, Corporate Interiors head Drew Marshall and philanthropist Aakash Patel.
After the withdrawal of Occupy Tampa activist Becky Rubright from the race December 1, Buckhorn – who is enjoying solid approval ratings with voters — now has no declared opponent for the municipal elections set for March 3, 2015.
As of the end of October, the most recent financial reporting on file, Buckhorn has raised more than $183K in contributions.
In 2011, Buckhorn won his first four-year term with nearly 63 percent of the vote, after finishing second in a five-person primary and defeating former Hillsborough County Commissioner Rose Ferlita in the runoff election. Once in office, the Mayor’s biggest push was development in the city’s Hillsborough River district, with a goal of making it a business and cultural center, a change from earlier efforts focusing on Tampa’s western edge.
