In Hillsborough, buckle up for a busy election season. Here’s who qualified.

Election qualifying ended at noon, setting the candidate slate for this year’s elections in Hillsborough, one of the nation’s fastest-growing counties and where Republicans in 2022 flipped the County Commission.

Three of Hillsborough’s seven commission seats are up for grabs this year, offering voters the potential to disrupt or expand the board’s slim Republican majority. All three races head to primaries.

Three of the county’s constitutional officers also face challengers. Meanwhile, Tax Collector Nancy C. Millan, whose opponent withdrew from the race, and Sheriff Chad Chronister, whose Democratic challenger failed to qualify, are automatically reelected.

The primary is on Aug. 20. The general election is Nov. 5.

As of Friday afternoon, the county had some 288,000 registered Democrats and 278,000 Republicans.

County Commission

District 2:

Ken Hagan, the longtime Republican incumbent of this northern county seat, will face fellow Republican and first-time candidate Melissa Nordbeck in November’s primary. Nordbeck, an Odessa resident and land-use activist, says she jumped into the race because the county puts developers’ interests over citizens’.

The current chairperson of the Hillsborough County Commission, Hagan has increasingly become the swing vote in the narrowly divided board.

Democrat Patricia Altagracia Alonzo, a professional sign language interpreter and New Tampa resident is also vying for the seat. She decided to move into electoral politics, she said, because “our county needs a change.”

Hillsborough commissioners make a baseline salary of $120,164.

District 4:

In a bit of last-minute election maneuvering, Commissioner Michael Owen resigned this week to run for the State House. Fellow Republican Christine Miller, CEO of the Plant City Chamber, jumped into the race for this eastern Hillsborough district.

Miller faces real estate broker Cody Powell in the Republican primary.

Also running for Owen’s seat: Democrat Jonathon T. Chavez and Matthew Taylor, a former Republican running without party affiliation who has a tractor business and does stand-up comedy as Matt The Welder.

District 6:

This countywide seat is being vacated by term-limited Democrat Pat Kemp.

Lawyer and former state Rep. Sean Shaw will face Joseph Ryan Taylor, a first-time candidate who works as a library service and technology guide, in the Democratic primary.

In the Republican primary, longtime Hillsborough firefighter Chris Boles and James Davison, who has previously run unsuccessfully for spots on both the County Commission and the Tampa City Council, are vying for the seat.

Constitutional officers

Elections Supervisor:

Longtime incumbent Craig Latimer, a Democrat first elected in 2012, was unopposed when he ran for reelection in 2016 and 2020.

This November, he faces a challenge from Republican political newcomer Billy Christensen, a Seffner real estate agent and elections integrity skeptic. Latimer is the first supervisor of elections to earn the Governor’s Sterling Award, considered the state’s top honor for industry leadership.

In Hillsborough, the supervisor of elections receives a baseline salary of $205,918 — the same as the clerk of the court, property appraiser and tax collector.

Clerk of the Court:

Two Republicans are challenging incumbent Cindy Stuart, a Democrat who was first elected in 2020 after serving eight years on the Hillsborough County School Board. She previously told the Tampa Bay Times she wasn’t surprised to get an opponent given months of talk that Republicans planned to mount challenges in the county.

Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Melony Williams and former state Sen. and Hillsborough County Commissioner Victor Crist head to the Republican primary.

Property Appraiser:

Democrat incumbent Bob Henriquez, a longtime officeholder and popular former high school football coach with a political base in West Tampa, faces a challenge from Republican John Ballance of Lithia.

Sheriff:

Chronister became the county’s top law enforcement officer in 2017 upon his appointment by Gov. Rick Scott. He has been twice reelected. The Hillsborough Sheriff receives a baseline salary of $243,837.

Democrat Gary Pruitt, a former Tampa police corporal who unsuccessfully challenged Chronister in 2018 and 2020, did not qualify this year.

Tax Collector:

Millan will also automatically be reelected after her challenger withdrew. She is the first female and person of Hispanic descent in Hillsborough County’s history to serve as tax collector.