Lee won’t run for Hillsborough County clerk in 2020 after all

TALLAHASSEE — With his wife, Laurel, serving as secretary of state in Tallahassee, outgoing Sen. Tom Lee said Monday he will not run for local office in Hillsborough County this year.

Lee, a former Senate president who announced May 29 that he will leave the Legislature two years before his term expires, said in a statement that he filed paperwork Friday to run for Hillsborough County clerk of court. But as qualifying started Monday for the November elections, he said he had changed his mind about running for the county post.

“While my head told me I wanted to continue representing the residents of this great county, ultimately, my heart told me that this was not the best way for me to serve my community at this time,” Lee said in the statement. “My wife, Laurel Lee, is currently serving as secretary of state, and she and my young daughter are in Tallahassee.”

Laurel Lee was a Hillsborough County circuit judge before being tapped by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January 2019 to become secretary of state. Tom Lee, a longtime lawmaker who served as Senate president from 2004 to 2006, submitted his resignation from the Legislature last month, effective Nov. 3, which is Election Day. His term for the District 20 seat, which covers parts of Hillsborough, Polk and Pasco counties, would ordinarily end in 2022.

A day after advising DeSantis about his plans to leave the Senate, Lee acknowledged serving as Hillsborough County clerk of courts would be a “good fit” for him. But he said the decision to end his legislative career had been on his mind for several years and wasn’t motivated by a run for any local office.

“I learned to govern in a different era, and, for whatever reason, the legislative process has changed,” Lee said May 30.