Politics
House Democrats Fentrice Driskell, Michele Rayner face off in SD 16
Two House Democrats who have spent years confronting the same Republican majority are now running against each other for one of Tampa Bay’s most Democratic Senate seats, and the race will be decided during the Primary.
Florida House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell and state Rep. Michele Rayner face off Aug. 18 in Senate District 16, where they are competing to succeed term-limited state Sen. Darryl Rouson. With no Republican in the race, the Primary will decide who represents the district, which stretches across portions of Tampa and St. Petersburg.
There is plenty the two candidates agree on. Both have focused on affordability, public education, healthcare and working families, and both have spent their legislative careers opposing much of the agenda advanced by Republican leaders in Tallahassee. Despite those similarities, the two Democrats contrast in their political approach and the roles they have built for themselves in the House.
Driskell has spent the latter half of her House career leading an outnumbered Democratic caucus and is leaning on that experience as evidence she can be effective in the Senate, even when her party does not control the agenda. Rayner came to the Legislature from civil rights law and has built a reputation as an outspoken and passionate advocate, while pointing to bipartisan relationships of her own built throughout her tenure.
Driskell was first elected to the House in 2018 and later became the first Black woman to lead a party caucus in the chamber. Her tenure as House Democratic Leader included the departures of state Reps. Hillary Cassel and Susan Valdés, who switched to the Republican Party after the 2024 election.
Raised in Polk County, Driskell grew up with a mother who taught in public schools and a father who worked his way from stocking a warehouse to becoming a dispatcher. She attended Harvard University and Georgetown University Law Center before returning to Tampa Bay to work as a business litigator.
Her rise through the Democratic caucus eventually put her in charge of its House campaign operation. In 2024, Driskell led an effort that raised a reported $9 million for House races, experience that has carried into her Senate campaign.
Driskell has also found opportunities to legislate across party lines. She worked with then-Republican state Rep. Cord Byrd on a 2021 police reform measure that became law, establishing de-escalation and proportional-use-of-force training and requirements for officers who witness excessive force. She also helped secure nearly $4 million for sickle-cell treatment and research and sponsored legislation that created a task force whose recommendations helped lead to the state Office of Historic Cemeteries.
Other efforts have stalled in the Republican-controlled Legislature, including a proposal this year to further protect abandoned historic cemeteries that died in committee, as did Driskell’s plan to lay the groundwork for a multistate insurance compact meant to spread catastrophe risk in an effort to stabilize Florida’s property insurance market.
Her Senate campaign has emphasized worker protections, public school funding and teacher pay, Medicaid expansion and giving local governments more authority. She has also called for greater oversight of artificial intelligence data centers, including their energy and water use and protections for utility customers.
Rayner took a different route into politics. Born and raised in Pinellas County, she comes from a family with its own place in Tampa Bay’s civil rights history. Her parents helped integrate the University of South Florida, and her mother later became one of St. Petersburg’s first Black social workers, according to her campaign.
Rayner worked in the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office before moving into civil rights law. She later represented the family of Markeis McGlockton, who was shot and killed in 2018 after a confrontation that began over a disabled parking space, a case that reignited debate over Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, who worked with Rayner on the case, also encouraged her early political ambitions.
Rayner won election to the House in 2020, becoming the first openly queer Black woman elected to the Legislature, according to her campaign. Her current seat representing House District 62 includes portions of both St. Petersburg and Tampa, though her deepest personal and political roots remain in Pinellas County.
Rayner has been one of the more outspoken Democrats in the House, but her record also includes work with Republicans across the aisle.
During her farewell remarks to the chamber this year, Rayner highlighted bipartisan job-creation legislation with Republican state Rep. Sam Garrison, and legislation regulating social media platforms for minors that she worked on with Republican state Reps. Fiona McFarland and Tyler Sirois. She also spoke about relationships she developed with Republicans including state Rep. Lawrence McClure and Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez despite their political disagreements.
The two Representatives have assembled different pockets of Democratic support in their bid for a Senate seat.
Driskell has earned endorsements from numerous current and former Democratic officials, including Florida Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman, Florida Senate Democratic Policy Chair Tina Scott Polsky, former Florida Senate Democratic Leader Arthenia Joyner, former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, former CFO Alex Sink and former U.S. Rep. Jim Davis.
Driskell has also earned support from every Democratic state Senator who previously held the seat before Rouson: Joyner, Les Miller and Jim Hargrett. Rouson has not endorsed either candidate in the race.
Driskell has also worked to build support across the Bay, including an endorsement from former state Rep. and St. Petersburg City Council Member Frank Peterman. Organized labor has largely lined up behind her as well, with endorsements from the Florida AFL-CIO, West Central Florida Labor Council, Teamsters Local 79 and Tampa Firefighters Local 754.
Rayner has earned endorsement from her own coalition of Democratic officials, including state Sens. Shevrin Jones, Carlos Guillermo Smith, Rosalind Osgood, Barbara Sharief and LaVon Bracy Davis, as well as state Reps. Robin Bartleman, Daryl Campbell, Joe Casello, Kevin Chambliss, Lindsay Cross, Dan Daley, Anna Eskamani, Ashley Gantt, Mike Gottlieb, Rita Harris, Dianne Hart, Christine Hunschofsky, Felicia Robinson, Allison Tant and Marie Woodson.
Locally, Rayner has garnered support from St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, Pinellas County Commissioner Rene Flowers, Tampa City Council Member Gwendolyn Henderson, St. Petersburg City Council Member Deborah Figgs-Sanders and Hillsborough County School Board Member Henry “Shake” Washington.
Rayner is also backed by Equality Florida Action PAC, Stonewall Democrats of Pinellas County, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, 1199SEIU, SEIU Florida and Florida Rising.
The latest reports show that Driskell enters the final stretch of the race with a substantial financial advantage. Her campaign and two political committees have roughly $119,000 remaining through July 31, compared with about $7,000 between Rayner’s campaign and committee.
Voters will decide on Aug. 18 which Democrat they want representing Senate District 16 after Rouson leaves office.
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Janelle Irwin Taylor of Florida Politics contributed to this report.
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