Brooksville is a city in and the county seat of Hernando County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 7,719, up from 7,264 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Brooksville was named in 1856 for Preston Brooks, a congressman from South Carolina known for his fervent support for slavery and his vicious beating of abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner.