HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Tony Morejon, who served as the Community Affairs Liaison for the Hillsborough County government for more than two decades, has filed to run for the County Commission District 1 seat currently held by Republican Sandy Murman, who is term-limited out in November.

• Tony Morejon is running for County Commission District 1
• Morejon served as Community Affairs Liaison for over 2 decades
• Morejon, of Cuban descent, is running as a Republican

Morejon was the Hispanic Affairs and Community Affairs Liaison for the county for 24 years, starting in 1994 and retiring in 2018.  He describes himself as someone who helped make connections throughout the county.

“You’ve heard people say, ‘I know a guy who knows a guy? I was the guy,” he told Spectrum Bay News 9 in an interview last week.

Morejon is running as a Republican, the second to enter the District 1 contest. First-time candidate Scott Levinson announced his candidacy for the seat in November. Former Tampa City Council Harry Cohen and Tampa businesswoman Jen McDonald are running for the Democratic nomination for the seat.

Commissioner Murman has been representing District 1 for nearly a decade, but his term-limited out of running again in 2020. The district runs from Lutz south to Ruskin and includes much of Tampa, including MacDill Air Force Base.

“I worked in the country for over half my life,” Morejon says. “I know the people, I know the culture from a whole different perspective.”

Morejon said that he’d like to see county government work more collaboratively with other local agencies, specifically mentioning the school board as well as other local county governments in the region.

Regarding issues of development, he says “we have to look at” impact fees, saying the current structure is outdated.  “You have to have enough growth so that the economy moves forward, but we can’t build ourselves into a corner.”

He also says he’d like to find ways to eliminate more regulations for small businesses.

“We need to knock those obstacles down,” he says.

The 61-year-old Morejon is of Cuban descent. He was born in New York City but raised in Tampa.

Hillsborough County’s Hispanic has grown exponentially in recent years and is just under 30 percent, according to U.S. Census figures.  Yet it’s been a long time since a Hispanic served on the Board of County Commission. The frustrations about not having an elected Latino on the board led activists on two separate occasions over the past decade to advocate for the creation of a new district more favorable for a Latino to be elected into office. 

Neither of those proposals reached fruition. 

Morejon says he didn't support those actions.  He says voters should back candidates who are qualified to run and who "understand those communities.”

“I have the advantage that I am in the culture. I understand those masses of people who probably don’t participate that often in government,” he adds.

In addition to the District 1 seat, there will also be elections for two other county commission seats currently held by Democrats this year.

The District 3 seat currently held by Board of County Commission Chair Les Miller will be open this year – several candidates have already entered to run in what has traditionally been a Democratic-controlled seat.

And in District 6, Democrat Commissioner Pat Kemp faces reelection. No major Republican has filed to oppose her yet.