Mariella Smith

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Mariella Smith

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Democratic Party

Prior offices

Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 5 At-large

Successor: Donna Cameron Cepeda

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Elections and appointments

Last election

August 20, 2024

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Mariella Smith (Democratic Party) was a member of the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners in Florida, representing District 5. She assumed office in 2018. She left office on November 22, 2022.

Smith (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners to represent District 6 in Florida. She did not appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary on August 20, 2024.

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.
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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.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates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

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	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 Smith in this election.

2022

See also: Municipal elections in Hillsborough County, Florida (2022)

General election

General election for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 5 At-large

Donna Cameron Cepeda defeated incumbent Mariella Smith in the general election for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 5 At-large on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Donna Cameron Cepeda (R)	52.7	248,424
	Submit photo	Mariella Smith (D)	47.3	222,689

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 471,113
= 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.

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Mariella Smith advanced from the Democratic primary for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 5 At-large.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Donna Cameron Cepeda advanced from the Republican primary for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 5 At-large.

2018

See also: Municipal elections in Hillsborough County, Florida (2018)

General election

General election for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 5 At-large

Mariella Smith defeated Victor Crist and Joe Kotvas in the general election for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 5 At-large on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Mariella Smith (D)	52.3	265,414
	Submit photo	Victor Crist (R)	44.7	226,885
	Submit photo	Joe Kotvas (No Party Affiliation)	3.0	15,058

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 507,357 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= 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.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 5 At-large

Mariella Smith defeated Elvis Piggott in the Democratic primary for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 5 At-large on August 28, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Mariella Smith	82.9	77,479
	Submit photo	Elvis Piggott	17.1	15,965

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 93,444
= 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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 5 At-large

Victor Crist defeated Angel Urbina in the Republican primary for Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 5 At-large on August 28, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Victor Crist	81.2	70,107
		Angel Urbina	18.8	16,194

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 86,301
= 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.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Mariella Smith did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Mariella Smith did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2018

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Mariella Smith completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Smith's responses.

What would be your top three priorities, if elected?

? Transportation, Growth Management (these are connected) ? Affordable Housing, Economic Prosperity for all (these are connected) ? Equality & Human Rights ? Environmental Protection

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Transportation, Growth Management, Affordable Housing, Economic Prosperity for all, Environmental Protection, Equality & Human Rights, Economic Prosperity for all

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

Honesty, integrity, transparency. Passion to serve the citizens ? not special interests.

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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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners District 5 At-large 2018-2022	Succeeded by Donna Cameron Cepeda (R)