Michael Owen takes fundraising lead among all Hillsborough candidates

With a bit more than a year before the 2022 election, Republican Hillsborough County commissioner candidate Mike Owen has raised the most money of any candidate for local office, nearly $190,000.

That surpasses even incumbent GOP Commissioner Ken Hagan, long one of the county’s most prolific fundraisers, who could face a tough re-election next year and has stashed away $135,405.

Owen is running for the District 4 commission seat, a strongly Republican district covering the southern and eastern areas of the county, currently held by term-limited Stacy White.

Owen currently faces only a primary challenger, civic activist Noelle Licor. Democrat Sheri Lynn Canley, who filed in February, withdrew from the race in August.

Republican Noelle Licor, organizer of the Citizens of South Hillsborough County advocacy group, has filed in the race to replace county Commissioner Stacy White. [ Courtesy of Noelle Licor ]

Owen built his campaign fund largely with contributions from fellow attorneys and law firms, real estate developers and his own money.

He has contributed $10,650 of his own, plus about $3,500 from relatives and his law partner.

Licor, who has worked to combat development sprawl, said she’s running in part because of Owen’s contributions from real estate developers.

Owen, who ran unsuccessfully for the state House last year, looks like the choice of Republican Party insiders in the commissioner race, with endorsements by most of the county’s elected Republicans, including two U.S. House members and White.