A Polite Version of Josh Wostal Is Still Too Much
Stacy Hahn does not sound much like Josh Wostal.
She is thoughtful, well-qualified, and generally pleasant. She sounds like a university professor, which she once was. In contrast, Wostal’s approach is much more combative.
But votes count the same whether they are cast with a scowl or a smile.
Looking at Hahn’s eight years on the Hillsborough County School Board, her connection to Ron DeSantis, and the people and businesses supporting her County Commission campaign, I’ve come to an uneasy conclusion: Dr. Hahn is starting to seem like a polite version of Josh Wostal.
Hillsborough County does not need another one. Nicer or otherwise.
Two boards, one effort to stop a vote
The clearest connection between Hahn and Wostal is not rhetorical. It is a matter of public record.
In April 2024, the School Board voted to place a property-tax referendum on the November ballot. The measure was expected to generate approximately $177 million annually, with 92 percent going to increased compensation for teachers and other school employees. Hahn was one of only two board members who voted against letting Hillsborough voters decide the question. (WUSF)
The Republican majority on the County Commission then attempted to postpone the referendum until 2026. Josh Wostal proposed the delay and voted for it.
The School Board had to sue the County Commission to restore the referendum to the 2024 ballot. Hahn voted against authorizing that lawsuit. In other words, she first opposed putting the measure before voters and then opposed defending the School Board’s legal authority when Wostal tried to stop the vote. (FOX 13)
The courts ruled that Wostal and the commission majority had exceeded their authority. The referendum went before Hillsborough voters, who approved it by approximately 67 percent. (Florida Second District Court of Appeal; Hillsborough County Public Schools)
That situation gives us a clear idea of what a County Commission with both Hahn and Wostal could look like. Wostal tried to stop Hillsborough residents from voting on better teacher pay from one side of Kennedy Boulevard, while Hahn opposed the referendum from the other.
They did not merely share a philosophy. On this issue, they functioned as two parts of the same obstruction.
Hahn can fairly argue that she was concerned about taxes and wanted a more detailed spending plan. She made similar arguments when she opposed placing the 2022 school-tax referendum before voters. But by 2024, Hillsborough had hundreds of teacher vacancies and was losing educators to neighboring counties that could pay thousands of dollars more.
In the end, voters got to decide. With 67 percent in favor, their answer was clear.
The conservative record beneath the pleasant presentation
The teacher-pay fight was not an isolated departure from an otherwise moderate record.
In August 2021, more than 10,000 Hillsborough students and employees were quarantined or isolated after COVID exposure. The School Board adopted a temporary 30-day mask requirement with medical exemptions. Hahn and Melissa Snively cast the only two votes against it. (WUSF)
In January 2023, the board approved a sex-education curriculum for students in grades seven through nine. Conservative activists had attacked the lessons, but a retired judge who reviewed the curriculum found that it complied with Florida law. The final vote was 5-2. Hahn and Patti Rendon were the dissenters. (Tampa Bay Times)
Two months later, Hahn joined a 4-3 majority in removing This Book Is Gay from every Hillsborough middle-school library. This is not the strongest case against her. The book contains explicit material, and reasonable people can disagree about whether it belongs in a middle school. Still, Hahn voted for district-wide removal after both a school committee and a district review committee recommended retaining it. (ABC Action News)
Then came a much simpler question.
In June 2023, the School Board considered proclamations recognizing Juneteenth and Pride Month. Juneteenth passed unanimously. The Pride Month proclamation simply recognized the contributions of LGBTQ people to Hillsborough County. It passed 5-1, with Hahn casting the only vote against it and Rendon abstaining. (WMNF)
There was no explicit library book to debate, no tax increase to oppose, and no detailed curriculum to question. It was a statement telling LGBTQ students, employees and families that they are part of this community.
Hahn voted no.
That vote reveals more about her approach to governing than any amount of campaign talk about working together or building strong neighborhoods.
This is not accidental alignment
Hahn’s relationship with the DeSantis political operation also deserves more attention than it has received.
Ron DeSantis endorsed Hahn in her formally nonpartisan 2022 School Board race while he was building a statewide slate of candidates around parental-rights arguments and restrictions involving race, gender and sexual orientation in public schools.
After winning reelection, Hahn and Rendon helped open the Republican Party of Florida’s “Keep Florida Free” rally in Tampa. Hahn’s reported remarks were not inflammatory. She told the crowd, “The road to success is sweet, my friends.”
What matters most isn’t what she said, but where she said it.
Hahn did more than quietly accept a governor’s endorsement. Immediately after winning a nonpartisan office, she appeared at an explicitly partisan Republican rally promoting DeSantis and other GOP candidates. (Tampa Bay Times)
Her 2022 campaign account also received a maximum $1,000 contribution from Friends of Ron DeSantis. Other maximum contributions came from three separate Florida Realtor political committees, the Tampa Bay Builders Association, and the Florida Gulf Coast chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors. Altogether, Hahn’s candidate account raised $104,280 during that School Board campaign. (Official 2022 campaign reports)
This doesn’t mean Hahn agreed with every DeSantis policy. But it does show her connection to his political movement was open, intentional, and backed by money.
Follow the money to the County Center
Hahn’s current campaign presents her as a champion of “responsible growth,” infrastructure investment and taxpayer accountability.
The people financing that campaign appear keenly interested in those subjects. According to campaign reports filed through August 13, Hahn’s County Commission account received $116,975 in positive contributions and issued one $1,000 refund, leaving net monetary contributions of $115,975. (Official 2026 campaign reports)
By my calculation from the official ledger, 98 contributors reached at least $1,000 in net giving. Together, those maximum-level contributions total $98,000, about 85 percent of everything Hahn raised. This campaign isn’t mainly funded by small donations from everyday people.
At least $28,700 came directly from businesses identified in the reports as working in construction, contracting, engineering, architecture, real estate, property management, or closely related fields. When individual donors reporting occupations in those industries are included, the total reaches at least $43,950, nearly 38 percent of Hahn’s net contributions.
The names include Wharton-Smith, Signal Building Construction, Choice Commercial Construction, Horus Construction Services, Kimmins Corp., Kimmins Contracting Corp., B&I Contractors, PBK Architects, GMF Steel Group, The Kearney Companies, Hahn Engineering, Twin Branch Partners, Majesty Properties and numerous individual contractors, engineers, architects and real-estate professionals.
Several contributions also arrived in clusters:
- AMJR Services, Horus Construction Services, B. Moore Kool and SMD Services contributed a combined net $4,000 using the same North 50th Street address.
- Kimmins Corp., Kimmins Contracting, Transcor Recycling, Joseph Williams and Laura Williams supplied five $1,000 contributions associated with the same East Second Avenue address.
- Michael Griffin and Twin Branch Partners contributed $1,000 each using the same West Corona Street address.
Having the same address doesn’t prove anything wrong or even shared ownership. But it does show that looking at each $1,000 donation separately can hide how much support is coming from certain groups.
The ledger also includes political committees associated with The Southern Group and GrayRobinson, along with government-relations professionals, a government-affairs firm, the builders’ association PAC, and other organized interests that understand exactly how much authority a county commissioner holds over land use, infrastructure, procurement, and public spending.
At least one donor already has a documented and substantial business relationship with Hillsborough County. Wharton-Smith contributed $1,000 to Hahn. County records show that the company has participated in major wastewater construction projects, including a Northwest Regional Water Reclamation Facility contract that grew to approximately $193 million. The County Commission has also approved the company for work on the South County Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility. (Hillsborough Clerk audit report; BOCC vote-comparison report)
A campaign donation doesn’t prove a promised vote, improper influence, or a deal. Saying otherwise wouldn’t be fair.
But commissioners decide on things like development, infrastructure, affordable housing, zoning, and contracts worth millions. When so much of a candidate’s funding comes from industries affected by these decisions, voters have a right to wonder what those donors expect in return.
They are also entitled to notice that this is not new. Many of the same interests supported Hahn’s earlier School Board campaigns. Signal Building Construction, Horus Construction, Kimmins, SMD Services, Hahn Engineering, the builders’ association and The Southern Group all appear in previous campaign records.
The job has changed, but much of the financial backing remains the same.
Fairness requires acknowledging the exceptions
Hahn isn’t a cartoon villain, and her record doesn’t fit every conservative stereotype.
In 2021, she sharply criticized the state’s charter-friendly policies and argued that charter schools were diverting money from traditional public schools without consistently outperforming them. (School Board meeting transcript)
In 2024, she cast the sole vote against splitting an electric-bus purchase between two manufacturers. She supported the superintendent’s recommendation because one bidder offered lower costs, better service, stronger warranties, and additional safety equipment. That was a responsible and well-supported vote. (Florida’s Voice)
She later opposed proceeding with two new public schools because Florida’s expanded Schools of Hope law could allow charter operators to occupy unused space without paying rent. (WUSF)
These decisions set Hahn apart from the most extreme culture warriors, but they don’t change the rest of her record.
Hahn appears willing to challenge conservative orthodoxy when she believes public-school operations are directly threatened. But on taxes, LGBTQ recognition, sexual-health education and DeSantis-era political alignment, her choices have been reliably conservative.
That is why “polite Josh Wostal” seems less like a cheap insult and more like a defensible description.
Hillsborough has another choice
The County Commission’s District 5 seat is elected countywide. Every Hillsborough voter will choose between Hahn and Dr. Neil Manimala.
Manimala is a Hillsborough public-school graduate, physician, and president of the Hillsborough County Medical Association. His stated priorities include protecting the Hillsborough County Health Care Plan, addressing sprawl and flooding, improving public transportation, supporting affordable housing and making county government more transparent. (Neil Manimala campaign priorities)
Hahn brings a familiar mix: promises of fiscal discipline, strong Republican connections, and a campaign funded mostly by construction, development, real estate, and government-relations groups.
We have already seen that combination at work on the County Commission.
Dr. Hahn might be more pleasant than Josh Wostal. She might be more polished and even easier to sit next to during a long meeting. But Hillsborough County is electing a commissioner, not choosing a dinner companion.
Behind the professional résumé and agreeable presentation is a voting record that repeatedly aligns with the same conservative priorities Wostal has pursued on the County Commission. Her campaign-finance reports suggest many of the same interests will have ready access if she wins.
A polite version of Josh Wostal is still a version of Josh Wostal. Hillsborough County doesn’t need another one, no matter how nice they seem.
Sources
- WUSF — Hillsborough voters to decide tax increase for teacher pay – (https://www.wusf.org/education/2024-04-03/hillsborough-voters-to-decide-tax-increase-raise-teacher-pay)
- FOX 13 — School Board discusses legal action after referendum was blocked – (https://www.fox13news.com/news/hillsborough-school-board-discuss-legal-action-meeting-after-millage-referendum-blocked)
- Florida Second District Court of Appeal — Referendum dispute opinion – (https://2dca.flcourts.gov/content/download/2439237/opinion/Opinion_2024-1871.pdf)
- Hillsborough County Public Schools — Millage information – (https://www.hillsboroughschools.org/millage)
- WUSF — School Board adopts temporary mask requirement – (https://www.wusf.org/education/2021-08-18/hillsborough-school-board-to-require-masks-for-next-month)
- Tampa Bay Times — Hillsborough reaffirms sex-education curriculum – (https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2023/01/12/hillsborough-reaffirms-its-sex-education-curriculum-after-legal-review/)
- ABC Action News — Challenge to “This Book Is Gay” – (https://www.tampabay28.com/news/region-hillsborough/hillsborough-school-board-to-consider-appeal-to-challenged-book-the-district-kept-in-library)
- WMNF — School Board approves Juneteenth and Pride Month proclamations – (https://www.wmnf.org/hillsborough-school-board-approves-proclamations-highlighting-diversity/)
- Tampa Bay Times — Hahn appears at DeSantis rally following 2022 election – (https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2022/08/24/at-republican-rally-in-tampa-desantis-supports-candidates-up-and-down-the-ticket/)
- Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections — Hahn’s 2022 campaign-finance reports – (https://www.voterfocus.com/CampaignFinance/candidate_pr.php?c=hillsborough&ca=2134&committee=N&e=23&op=cv&rellevel=4)
- Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections — Hahn’s 2026 campaign-finance reports – (https://www.voterfocus.com/CampaignFinance/candidate_pr.php?c=hillsborough&ca=2661&committee=N&e=27&op=cv&rellevel=4)
- Hillsborough Clerk — Audit report concerning the Wharton-Smith contract – (https://www.hillsclerk.com/documents/d/guest/report_audit_397?download=true)
- Hillsborough Clerk — County Commission vote-comparison report – (https://www.hillsclerk.com/documents/d/guest/bocc-vote-comparison-2022?download=true)
- Hillsborough School Board — June 15, 2021 meeting transcript – (https://schoolboard.hcpswebcasts.com/text/hcsb2021-06-15.html)
- Florida’s Voice — Hillsborough electric-bus contract – (https://flvoicenews.com/hillsborough-bus-contract-ethics-concerns/)
- WUSF — Proposed schools and Florida’s Schools of Hope law – (https://www.wusf.org/education/2025-11-19/hillsborough-build-two-new-schools-threat-charter-takeover)
- Neil Manimala campaign — Priorities – (https://www.neilmanimala.com/priorities)
