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Sharpe suspending campaign

Posted Feb 10, 2012 by William March

Updated Feb 10, 2012 at 04:11 PM

As expected, Republican Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe has announced he’s suspending his campaign for Congress, in which he would have faced Democratic incumbent Rep. Kathy Castor.

Sharpe said he’s making the move because the district, under the new districting plan just passed in the state Legislature, makes Castor’s district so heavily Democratic the race would be a waste of time.

“I wanted to run and I’m eager to get in and deliver a message, but you have to ask yourself what’s the wisest use of your time and, more importantly, other people’s money,” Sharpe said in an interview.

It’s possible the district lines could change again as result of an expected lawsuit by Democrats and others alleging the Republican-led Legislature gerrymandered the districts. Sharpe said he would return to the race if the district became more competitive—ideally, contiguous with Hillsborough County.

Meanwhile, he’ll suspend campaign activities including fundraising. Sharpe had raised about $90,000 and ha $60,301 left in his campaign account as of Dec. 31, according to campaign finance reports. If he doesn’t return to the race, he said, he’ll give all his contributors partial refunds based on the amount of money left in his campaign account.

Sharpe made his announcement on a talk radio show.

In response to a question about why the district was drawn to be so heavily Democratic, Sharpe said it was done that way to make surrounding districts safe for Republicans: “They see it as giving away one to save the others.”

He recommended a fairer districting plan. “Let’s just make the maps more contiguous and respect the county boundaries,” he said.