Two races for Clearwater City Council will be on the ballot for eligible voters Tuesday.

A race for Seat 4 to replace retiring Council Member David Allbritton will be decided on Election Night. The race for Seat 5 to replace outgoing City Council Member Lina Teixeira could be decided Tuesday, but also could advance to the November General Election if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote.

Incumbents are not on the ballot in either race.

The Seat 4 race pits Bianca Latvala, a GOP political strategist and wife of Republican Pinellas County Commissioner Chris Latvala, against Jared Leone, a community advocate and freelance journalist who ran unsuccessfully for Clearwater City Council two years ago.

The Seat 5 race also features a candidate who previously ran unsuccessfully, Mark Bunker. Bunker faces opponents Kevin Laughlin and Sam Wilson. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers will advance to a runoff in the General Election Nov. 3.

Seat 4

Bianca Latvala was the first to enter the race, in February, after weeks of speculation that she might run. Her campaign has been focused on affordability, fiscal responsibility, economic vitality and strengthening the community for the future.

In addition to her political work, Latvala works in digital marketing, where she partners with businesses and organizations to improve strategy and growth, a role that has given her firsthand insight into how city decisions impact local small businesses and jobs.

Latvala currently serves on boards for the Rotary Club of Clearwater, PACE Center for Girls and the Lyla Goode Foundation. She also serves as Chair of the City of Clearwater’s Community Resiliency and Leisure Services Committee, helping guide efforts that strengthen neighborhoods, enhance recreation and support long-term planning for the city’s future.

She’s widely considered the front-runner in the race, with strong financial backing and a GOP establishment in her corner, even if the race is nonpartisan.

Latvala has raised nearly $60,000 for her campaign, and another $19,000 to her affiliated political committee, Friends of Bianca.

But Leone has enjoyed a late-campaign surge, with more than $70,000 raised to a political committee launched to support him last month. Additionally, Leone has raised less than $13,000 to his campaign. Combined, Leone has raised more than $83,000, about $4,000 more than Latvala.

And Leone recently got an assist from Christian Ulvert, founder and President of Edge Communications and a prominent South Florida Democratic strategist. Ulvert helped to launch Leone’s political committee and stock it with cash.

Nearly all of the funds came from one source — Citizens for Law Order and Ethics, a committee chaired by Rick Asnani, another South Florida Democratic operative. Citizens for Law Order and Ethics appears to have gotten the $70,000 from another political committee, Floridians for Economic Leadership, through a $75,000 contribution. Asnani is also the Chair for Floridians for Economic Leadership.

In jumping into the Clearwater race, Ulvert previously told Florida Politics he believed it was time to start focusing more on local elections, arguing that “donors across Florida are paying close attention to races in competitive counties like Pinellas.”

To put Ulvert’s influence on the race into perspective, Leone raised just $6,000 in his previous race.

Leone finished third in his race two years ago, earning just 13% of the vote in a three-way race. Now-City Council Member Mike Mannino took home 63% of the vote, replacing former Council Member Kathleen Beckman on the dais.

While Latvala finds herself recently outraised, her name recognition and access to conservative support and resources could still give her the edge. The current City Council and Clearwater Mayor are all registered Republicans, though the seats are nonpartisan.

And while her party affiliation won’t appear on the ballot, as a conservative candidate, Latvala enjoys a voter registration advantage. The race is decided citywide, and Republicans significantly outnumber Democrats. Republicans make up nearly 41% of the Clearwater electorate, while Democrats compose less than 29%.

Seat 5

In Seat 5, Bunker is launching a comeback. Bunker was unseated from the Clearwater City Council two years ago, losing to firefighter Ryan Cotton. Cotton was the top finisher in the race, with 42% of the vote. Bunker trailed with 39%. While Clearwater City Council races now require runoffs if no candidate exceeds 50% of the vote, that ordinance had not yet been in place for the 2024 race, allowing Cotton to secure victory with less than majority support.

Now, Bunker is hoping for a different outcome, though he has faced a challenging race marked by lackluster fundraising and plenty of criticism.

Bunker has raised just over $9,000 for his race, making him the least funded candidate in the three-way race. Laughlin has raised more than $12,000, while Wilson leads the pack with more than $36,000 raised to his campaign account and another nearly $27,000 to his affiliated political committee, bringing his total resources to about $63,000.

The largest contribution to the committee came from Joseph C. White and Teresa Lee, who each donated $5,000. White is a local philanthropist who often gives to conservative candidates and interests. Lee is a real estate investor. The committee also took in $2,500 from the Building a Better Florida Political Committee, which supports Republican candidates.

Wilson is a registered Republican, and he currently works for U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a firebrand conservative allied with President Donald Trump. Friends of Nick DiCeglie, the political committee supporting the state Sen. Nick DiCeglie, also contributed $1,000.

While Wilson is gathering conservative support, Laughlin is claiming the left lane, with endorsements from the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the Sierra Club, both organizations that typically support Democrats. NOW usually supports women, but does sometimes endorse men in races where no woman is running. Perhaps ironically, and in an example of how the group skews left, NOW has endorsed Leone in the Seat 4 race, despite there being a woman on the ballot.

Laughlin owns Breezeworks Services, which sells marine alternator kits to convert old boats to new technology. He also sits on the Clearwater Marine Advisory Board.

He supported efforts to create a municipal electric utility in Clearwater. That push ultimately failed when the city brokered and approved a new franchise agreement with Duke Energy after critics of dumping Duke argued the cost to acquire Duke’s assets, including a likely lengthy legal process, made the plan financially unfeasible.

Laughlin’s agenda also includes improving traffic and parking on Clearwater Beach. He also opposes a $180 million plan to replace The Landings Golf Course with a new sports and entertainment complex, according to his campaign website.

Bunker, meanwhile, is a prominent critic of the Church of Scientology. He was elected to the City Council in 2020 with support from King of Queens star Leah Remini, who left the Church of Scientology in 2013 and has since sought to publicly uncover its inner workings, like Bunker.

Bunker first came to Clearwater in 2000 when he accepted a position with the Lisa McPherson Trust managing multimedia for the group, which sought to expose deceptive and abusive practices within the Church of Scientology and assist people they believed were abused and defrauded by the group. Bunker recorded interviews with former Scientologists and protests against the group.

But Bunker has struggled with personal finances. He’s currently facing a lawsuit from Capital One alleging he owes more than $6,000 in unpaid credit-card debt. Capital One filed the small-claims case April 7 in Pinellas County, alleging Bunker owes about $6,000 and has not made a payment on the account since March 1, 2025.

Bunker filed for personal bankruptcy in 2018. He told the Tampa Bay Times the bankruptcy came after a costly heart surgery. According to the newspaper, records from the filing show he owed at least $12,000 on two credit cards, including more than $9,000 to American Express and nearly $3,000 to Bank of America.

Early voting in both races, and across Pinellas County, is already underway and continues through Sunday. Election Day is Tuesday, with polls open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.