A pair of up-and-coming Republicans are entering the official campaign as favorites in the Aug. 18 Clearwater City Council elections, with qualifying officially closing Friday at 5 p.m.
In Seat 4, Bianca Latvala, a digital marketing professional and local GOP strategist, has spent the spring stacking up institutional backing for her bid to replace term-limited Council member David Allbritton. Latvala has secured endorsements from Mayor Bruce Rector, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, and a majority of the sitting Council, including Mike Mannino, Allbritton, and Seat 5 incumbent Lina Teixeira. Latvala, who chairs the city’s Community Resiliency and Leisure Services Advisory Board, is running on a platform of fiscal discipline, public safety, and what she calls “thoughtful” growth management. She is married to Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Latvala, who quarterbacked the 2024 Republican sweep that elected Rector and reshaped the dais.
Latvala faces Jared Leone, a freelance journalist and president of the Clearwater Neighborhoods Coalition, who is running as an unaffiliated candidate after finishing third in a Seat 3 bid in 2024. Latvala’s fundraising has dwarfed Leone’s, with more than $23,000 reported in the most recent quarter, plus an affiliated political committee that brought in another $10,000.
In a Facebook post after qualifying closed, Latvala leaned into a new angle. “With the departure of Lina Teixeira and the close of qualifying, I am now the only woman running in any Clearwater race—making this election the only chance to continue having a woman serve on the Council,” she said.
The Seat 5 race is shaping up as similarly lopsided. Sam Wilson, the 26-year-old District Director for U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, has banked north of $38,000 across his campaign and his Clearwater Families for Affordability political committee. His endorsement roster includes Luna, Rector, former Mayor Frank Hibbard, four Pinellas County Commissioners, three sitting Council members, and the Sun Coast PBA. Wilson, who started with Luna as a scheduler in 2022 before climbing to District Director, is running to replace Teixeira on a platform of lower property taxes, storm recovery, and government transparency.
Kevin Laughlin, who chairs the Clearwater Marine Advisory Board and operates a local business, has filed against Wilson. Former Council member Mark Bunker, an anti-Scientology activist unseated in 2024, is also seeking the seat.
Council races in Clearwater are nonpartisan, but every current member is a registered Republican — a reflection of the 2024 sweep that gave the local GOP working control of the dais. A new charter rule, approved by voters that same year, means any race without a majority winner on Aug. 18 advances to a Nov. 3 runoff.
— Ed. note: This story was drafted with assistance from AI. Editorial judgment, sourcing, and final review were performed by Peter Schorsch and the Florida Politics editorial team.
