Mark Bunker, ousted from Clearwater City Council in 2024, wants his job back

Mark Bunker, an anti-Scientology activist who was ousted from the Clearwater City Council in 2024, is running to get his job back, this time in Seat 5.

Bunker is running to replace Lina Teixeira, who announced in January that she would not seek re-election. So far, Bunker will face Sam Wilson, a congressional staffer for U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna.

Bunker previously represented Seat 2, but lost his re-election bid in 2024 to Ryan Cotton despite being the race’s top fundraiser. Bunker was elected in 2020 with support from King of Queens star Leah Remini, who left the Church of Scientology in 2013 and has since sought to publicly uncover its inner workings, like Bunker.

Documents available on the City Clerk’s website don’t indicate when Bunker filed, and neither he nor Wilson have yet to file campaign finance reports, which are due next month.

Bunker ran for re-election two years ago with backing from anti-Scientology forces, including from Clearwater resident Aaron Smith-Levin, a fierce Scientology critic who himself ran unsuccessfully for City Council. Smith-Levin was removed from the Aftermath Foundation Board — a group he co-founded to help those attempting to leave Scientology — over alleged ethics violations.

Bunker may distance himself this cycle from Smith-Levin, who last year landed back in jail after a court revoked his bail related to charges he battered a Church of Scientology security guard in downtown Clearwater.

It’s not clear whether Remini will weigh in this cycle; she didn’t two years ago.

In the 2024 race, Bunker finished with just over 39% of the vote, landing about 3 percentage points behind Cotton despite raising more than twice as much. Bunker raised nearly $55,000, largely through out-of-state contributions, while Cotton raised just over $23,000.

Bunker first came to Clearwater in 2000 when he accepted a position with the Lisa McPherson Trust managing multimedia for the group, which sought to expose deceptive and abusive practices within the Church of Scientology and assist people they believed were abused and defrauded by the group. Bunker recorded interviews with former Scientologists and protests against the group.

Like his last race, Bunker will face a competitive election against a conservative candidate likely to have significant establishment backing.

Wilson, who serves as Luna’s District Director and has her support in his race, also previously served as an intern for several federal officials, including for U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Gus Bilirakis in Florida. Prior to that, he interned with then-U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. He also previously served as an intern research liaison with the group Citizens Defending Freedom, according to his LinkedIn bio.

The two will face each other in the Aug. 18 municipal election. If no other candidate enters the race, it will be decided at that time. If the race draws an additional candidate and no candidate receives more than half the vote on Aug. 18, the top-two vote-getters would advance to a General Election on Nov. 3.

Qualifying for the race begins May 4 and ends May 15 at 5 p.m.