By Brock Mikosky
Tip O’neill, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, once said, “All politics is local.” Nowhere is this more apparent than eastern Hillsborough County.
Once again, election season is has arrived. Along with it will come millions of dollars of television commercials and mountains of direct mail.
With all of the dollars that will be spent and messages sent, most candidates at the local level will spend a vast majority of their time meeting voters on their doorsteps. This most effective method of personally reaching out to voters will certainly happen en masse in the community.
Hillsborough County is home to nearly 350 voting precincts and the three largest, by the amount of registered voters, are in the eastern part of the county. Ranking first on the list, with over 9,400 registered voters, is Precinct 701, which consists primarily of FishHawk Ranch.
Along with having the most registered voters in Hillsborough County, the precinct also has more Republicans than any other. These factors conspire to make FishHawk Ranch ground zero for retail politics for both the primary elections in August and the general election in November.
Rick Cochran, a candidate for Hillsborough County Commission, District 4, which represents all of east and south Hillsborough County, said, “I have been working to meet voters in FishHawk for over a year. That community is at the core of my district.”
Candidates at all levels, like Stacy Hahn candidate for Hillsborough County School Board District 6, work hard to earn the confidence of voters, one door at a time.
“As a candidate for countywide school board, I must campaign all over the county. However, I started in FishHawk. It was important for me to build a relationship with the residents and to begin to earn the trust of the many families who make FishHawk home,” said Hahn.
The outcomes of this year’s elections may be uncertain, but it is certain that the road to victory will run through FishHawk.
For more information about upcoming elections, visit www.votehillsborough.org.
