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White, Miller win council seats
By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD, Times Staff Writer
TAMPA -- In a runoff underpinned by blood rivalry, a race that exposed long-standing wounds in one of Tampa's most prominent black families, Kevin White narrowly defeated his aunt, Bernadine White-King, for City Council District 5. White took 53.8 percent of the vote to White-King's 46.2 percent. "It seemed like it was David and Goliath," said an ecstatic White, 38, celebrating with supporters at the 8th Avenue Grill in Ybor. "I'm just so humbled, so thankful." "It's still a whirlwind," he said. "I haven't slept in 36 hours. I haven't eaten all day." The election marks the first time that two blacks were elected to the seven-member council in a single election. White said his priorities for east Tampa will be jobs, development and cutting crime. White-King, 51, could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. While White's victory party was going strong after 9:30 p.m., the doors were locked and lights dimmed down the street at White-King's planned celebration spot, Moses White & Sons Barbeque. Moses White, the African-American civil rights activist and restaurateur who died nearly 20 years ago, is a legendary name in the east Tampa district. Bernadine White-King is one of his six children, and Kevin White his grandson. But the extended White family rallied around White-King, and it was her campaign ads, not his, that heavily stressed the connection to the Moses White legacy. White-King's supporters included Gerald Lamar White, who is her brother. He is also the father of Kevin White, who was born out of wedlock and recently said he was pained by his father's lack of support. White said he spent Tuesday making the circuit among the precincts in District 5. He said he stopped at each polling place at least seven times, shaking hands and checking on poll workers who handed out his campaign literature. "If everyone that said they voted for Kevin voted for Kevin I should have run for mayor," he said. "It's been a wonderful response. I put about 300 miles on my car today." In the March 5 general election, White won nearly 33 percent of the vote in a four-candidate race, while White-King took 31 percent, pitting the two in a runoff. As the general election approached, White-King's campaign was hampered by illness -- an appendectomy, a blood clot in the lung and pneumonia. But in recent weeks her campaign had heated up. White said the recent intensity of his aunt's campaign hadn't concerned him. "I've had my people out doing the grass roots campaigning since Day One," he said. "Where she's had to push three times as hard at the end, my people haven't had to push it to the extreme." White said he prefers not to view the election as a "family feud." "I just see it as two people vying for the same position," he said. He said he would feel uneasy campaigning on the Moses White legacy since his contact with the family has been limited, and he does not begrudge his aunt the support of the extended family. "She has been with them all her life, and I have not," he said, noting his mother's support of his campaign. "I would feel quite disheartened if my mother had rallied around someone else." White, a finance director for a St. Petersburg car dealership, worked as a Tampa police officer until 1994. He quit the force after an investigation concluded he wrongfully initiated a police chase that left a bystander badly injured. White-King has worked for the county's Health and Social Services Department for the past 11 years. -- Christopher Goffard can be reached at 226-3337 or goffard@sptimes.com
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