Winner and Loser of the Week

Winner: Luis Viera. The Tampa City Councilman led a coalition of local civic and religious leaders in the Soil Collection Project. It commemorates Black victims of lynchings by collecting soil at the spot of their murders. Viera’s group honored the memory of Robert Johnson, who was lynched in Tampa in 1934.

Loser: CD 13 Democrats. The congressional maps submitted by Gov. Ron DeSantis effectively turn two Bay districts represented by Democrats into just one. That’s likely bad news for Ben Diamond, Eric Lynn and Michele Rayner, running for District 13. The district, expected to be a battleground, now favors Republicans.

– Joe Henderson, Extensive Enterprises