Lakewood Ranch resident brings government experience to District 6 race

Greenbrook’s Tara Poulton has an idea for a campaign slogan — Make Manatee County boring again. 

Poulton is running for the at-large District 6 commission seat currently occupied by Jason Bearden. 

“Politics, as a whole, is very polarizing right now,” Poulton said. “There are a lot of eyes on governments, and there always should be. But when you’re an organization or a small business, and you’re doing it right and you gain that trust, I think people take a deep breath, step back and let you do your thing.”

Poulton is speaking from experience. She served as the public information officer and as division director for DeSoto County, overseeing parks and recreation, probation, the public library, social services, veterans services, public transit and the office of economic development and tourism.

“I think Tara Poulton is the most experienced candidate with the broadest skillset for any position in Manatee County in the past 10 years,” Commissioner George Kruse said. “She has a universe of experience that is directly relevant to what we’re doing in Manatee County.”

Poulton noted that of the four candidates vying for the Republican nomination in the Aug. 18 primary election, she is the only one to have ever sat on the dais during a commission meeting because she used to fill in for the county administrator during her three-year tenure with DeSoto County. 

Poulton also learned county budgeting during that time. She was impressed with how DeSoto County was able to operate on a “shoestring budget” and still offer all the same services that other county governments offer, albeit less services than bigger counties. 

Kruse sees Poulton's experience working with a tight budget as an advantage for Manatee County as it’s trying to make millage cuts within the county and prepare for possible property tax cuts coming down from the state.

Kruse noted that Poulton deals with veterans, trails and animal welfare in her current role as chief of staff for Congressman Vern Buchanan.

Photo by Lori Sax

She dealt with wetland issues during her time with the Southwest Florida Water Management District, nonprofits when with United Way of Manatee County and economic development when with the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Manatee Chamber of Commerce. 

“Literally everything we’re working on now, she’s already done and has real world experience to bring to us,” Kruse said.

Over the past 10 years, Poulton has held four different jobs because she kept being recruited. 

Kruse has wanted her to run for a commission seat since 2022, and the thought has been on Poulton’s mind much longer, but the timing was never quite right. 

Now, it is. Buchanan is retiring at the end of his term this year, and her husband, Bill Poulton, former chief procurement officer for Tropicana Brands Group, retired earlier this year. She bought him a cookie cake that read, “Congrats on being a stay-at-home dad.” 

The couple share an 11-year-old daughter, Mary Anne Poulton, and Bill Poulton has three children from a previous marriage — 24-year-old Jack Poulton, 22-year-old Emily Poulton and 19-year-old Tyler Poulton. 

While Poulton can only campaign on nights and weekends because she’s committed to finishing what she started to see the congressman through to the end of his term, she has the support and enthusiasm to do both. 

“I’m used to running 100 miles-an-hour all the time,” she said. 

Poulton is ready to bring that energy to the dais. If elected, the first item on her to-do list will be to listen — listen to directors because they know what's working and what's not and to listen to residents for the same reason.

Instead of town halls, she would like to host "listening sessions." At Buchanan's office, they hold round table sessions with about 25 people. It's an effective way to get to the heart of an issue.

Even though Poulton has worked on all levels of government — county, state and federal — and people have asked if she would run for the congressman’s seat, Poulton wants to be a county commissioner because local government is “where the rubber meets the road.” 

“It’s what I’m most passionate about,” she said. “Nothing impacts us more than the decisions that are being made at the local level — the roads we drive on, the neighborhoods we live in, our trash pickup, turning on the faucet — it’s all happening at the local level.”