Joseph Ryan Taylor

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Joseph Ryan Taylor

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 20, 2024

Education

High school

Pinellas Park High School

Associate

St. Petersburg College, 2017

Bachelor's

Florida State University, 2019

Personal

Birthplace

Tampa, Fla.

Profession

Library media specialist

Joseph Ryan Taylor (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners to represent District 6 in Florida. He lost in the Democratic primary on August 20, 2024.

Taylor completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Joseph Ryan Taylor was born in Tampa, Florida. He graduated from Pinellas Park High School. He earned an associate degree from St. Petersburg College in 2017 and a bachelor's degree from Florida State University in 2019. His career experience includes working as a library media specialist.

Elections

2024

See also: Municipal elections in Hillsborough County, Florida (2024)

General election

General election for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 6 At-large

Chris Boles defeated Sean Shaw in the general election for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 6 At-large on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chris Boles (R)	52.1	334,304
		Sean Shaw (D)	47.9	307,112

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 641,416
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 6 At-large

Sean Shaw defeated Joseph Ryan Taylor in the Democratic primary for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 6 At-large on August 20, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sean Shaw	80.9	54,702
		Joseph Ryan Taylor	19.1	12,933

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 67,635
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Mark Nash (D)
• Mariella Smith (D)
• Sonja Brookins (D)
• Cynthia Fuentes (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 6 At-large

Chris Boles defeated Jim Davison in the Republican primary for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 6 At-large on August 20, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chris Boles	59.0	39,193
		Jim Davison	41.0	27,207

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 66,400
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Rico Smith (R)

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Taylor in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Joseph Ryan Taylor completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Taylor's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a Florida native from that served the people of Hillsborough County for over four years as an employee of the Tampa - Hillsborough County Public Library. I have dedicated the past few years of my life to trying to make the lives of Hillsborough County's residents a little easier, and I hope to continue that work as a member of the Board of County Commissioners.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Our public libraries need more support from the Board of County Commissioners. While Commissioners have sought to make a name for themselves by placing libraries at the center of a pointless culture war, Hillsborough County's libraries have been suffering from a staffing shortage that began during the COVID-19 pandemic and has continued with no end in sight.
• The cost of housing in Hillsborough County has skyrocketed over the past four years. I believe Commissioners need to take steps to make sure that Hillsborough County's residents are not priced out of their homes, beginning with increasing the supply of housing by rezoning neighborhoods to encourage the development of more multi-family homes,
• Hillsborough County needs to start developing a robust public transportation system that can carry commuters from the periphery to the denser areas of the county. As more people continue to move to Florida, traffic conditions will continue to get worse. Widening or building toll roads are not good long term solutions to relieving traffic.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Due to my work for the library, the area of public policy I am most passionate about is in providing Hillsborough County's residents with the services they need to live better, more fulfilling lives. The library works best when people can access the services they need freely and easily, whether someone needs to use a computer to write a resume, or a child needs additional help with homework, or a person just wants to find a nice book or movie to enjoy for a bit. Over the past year the Board of County Commissioners has sought to add barriers to accessing the services that the library offers, which fails at their stated goal of protecting children, only succeeding in being an inconvenience to parents.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

I believe that all elected officials must make decisions that benefit the majority of their constituents. Any decision an official makes should be based on a framework of improving the lives of the people that are affected by the choice.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was working as a sales associate for department store, a job that I had for three years. While I enjoyed working with all of my coworkers, I am much happier now signing people up for library cards instead of store credit cards.

Tell us your favorite joke.

Why does a chicken coop have two doors? Because if it had four, it would be a chicken sedan.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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