Florida → Senate → District 23
The Florida Senate directory lists Danny Burgess (R) for the 2024–26 term and gives the county coverage as Consists of parts of Hillsborough, Pasco counties.
District map · 2022 Senate plan
Municipalities and Unincorporated Areas: Encompasses eastern Pasco County—including Zephyrhills, Dade City, and San Antonio—and extends southward into northern and eastern Hillsborough County, taking in Plant City, Thonotosassa, and sections of New Tampa and eastern Brandon.
Transportation Arterials: Bisected north-to-south by Interstate 75 and U.S. Route 301, linked east-to-west by Interstate 4 through the Plant City logistics corridor, and serviced locally by State Road 56 and State Road 54 across the Pasco growth belt.
Environmental Systems: Contains critical hydrologic features of the Hillsborough River basin, the upper reaches of the Withlacoochee River watershed, and the Hillsborough River State Park corridor, creating recurring infrastructure friction between master-planned suburban sprawl and flood-plain conservation.
Boundary Dynamics: Designed under plan S027S8058 as an inland I-75/I-4 suburban-rural hybrid, drawing high-growth suburban bedroom communities in Pasco together with agricultural and industrial centers in eastern Hillsborough.
Total Population: Equalized near the standard 2020 Florida Senate target population of approximately 539,000 residents per district under census-balanced redistricting standards.
Racial and Ethnic Composition: Predominantly non-Hispanic White majority, with substantial Hispanic population clusters concentrated around Plant City and eastern Hillsborough, and a growing suburban minority electorate along the New Tampa border (exact 2020 Census district block tabulations preserved under plan S027S8058).
Voter Registration Balance: Solid Republican registration advantage across the combined Pasco-Hillsborough footprint, anchored by high Republican margins in eastern Pasco and rural eastern Hillsborough, which outbalance swing and Democratic precincts along the Hillsborough urban fringe.
Socioeconomic Demographics: Stark dual-track profile featuring affluent commuter developments (e.g., Wesley Chapel fringe) contrasted against legacy agricultural, logistics, and blue-collar service communities in Plant City and Dade City.
2022 General Election: Danny Burgess won the newly configured SD 23 seat in November 2022 with approximately 63% of the vote against Democratic challenger Mike Harvey (roughly 37%), confirming the district's strong center-right partisan baseline (Florida Division of Elections Results).
2024 Election Cycle: SD 23 was not on the ballot in 2024 due to the staggered four-year Senate cycle resulting from post-redistricting decennial seat draws.
Partisan Index: Consistently performs at roughly R+12 to R+16 in statewide top-of-ticket contests (e.g., Governor and U.S. Senate races in 2022 and presidential contest in 2024).
Agribusiness and Logistics: Anchored by Plant City’s winter strawberry industry (coordinated through the Florida Strawberry Growers Association), supporting regional cold-storage packaging, distribution centers along the I-4 corridor, and the annual Florida Strawberry Festival.
Higher Education Institutions: Home to Saint Leo University in Pasco County and Pasco-Hernando State College (East Campus in Dade City), as well as close access to Hillsborough Community College (Plant City Campus).
Healthcare Anchors: Anchored by AdventHealth Zephyrhills, AdventHealth Dade City, and BayCare's South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City (which opened a newly constructed replacement facility along the I-4 corridor).
Industrial & Public Safety Facilities: Includes the Zephyrhills bottled water production facilities (BlueTriton Brands) and the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport industrial park.
Key Elected Figures: Senator Danny Burgess (former Zephyrhills Mayor and former Executive Director of the Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs); Pasco County Commissioners representing overlapping districts; Plant City City Commission.
Business & Civic Coalitions: Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce, Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce, and the Tampa Bay Builders Association (heavily invested in Pasco/Hillsborough land development).
Political Action Committees: Coalition for Better Government and associated political committees tied to Burgess's campaign apparatus filed with the Florida Division of Elections Campaign Finance Database.
Committee Assignments: Burgess serves in key Senate leadership roles, having chaired the Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections, the Judiciary Committee, and serving on the Appropriations Committee and the Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee (FL Senate Member Profile).
Legislative Focus: Primary focus on veterans and military affairs (leveraging his background as a Major in the U.S. Army Reserve and former FDVA head), election administration reforms, and judicial procedure modernizations.
Local Funding & Appropriations: Consistent sponsor of regional water supply infrastructure appropriations, transportation bypass funding (e.g., SR 56 extensions and Zephyrhills bypass initiatives), and capital outlay for rural law enforcement and emergency operations centers across Pasco and Hillsborough counties.
Logistics Permitting vs. Campaign Support: What is the correlation between industrial warehousing rezonings along the I-4 corridor in Plant City and political committee contributions made by major real estate developers to leadership PACs associated with SD 23 representation?
Source Leads: Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission Records; Florida Division of Elections Campaign Finance Database.
Observation to Test: Whether logistics corridor land use approvals systematically correlate with political contributions from infrastructure and development PACs.
Water Infrastructure Appropriations vs. Bottled Water Extraction: What is the correlation between state legislative budget allocations for Hillsborough River basin conservation and the permit renewals for commercial groundwater extraction near Zephyrhills?
Source Leads: Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) Consumptive Use Permits; Florida Senate Appropriations Bill Archives.
Observation to Test: Whether state-funded mitigation projects align geographically with commercial water pumping zones to offset local aquifer depletion.
Suburban Road Expansions vs. Agricultural Rezoning: How closely do Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District 7 work programs for SR 54/56 extensions correlate with the timeline of agricultural property conversions to master-planned residential communities in eastern Pasco?
Source Leads: FDOT Five-Year Work Program; Pasco County Property Appraiser GIS & Sales Data.
Observation to Test: Whether state highway capital allocation leads or trails private agricultural parcel aggregation by residential developers.
Research text: Gemini browser session, 2026-10-04. Officeholder and county coverage: Florida Senate directory. The graph keeps these leads separate from the reference office record.