ALL COUNTIES – In Manatee County, four candidates are running for County Judge. All four are in good standing with the Florida Bar.
Melissa Gould is the Assistant State Attorney in the 12th judicial circuit. She touts her experience both as a prosecutor and in criminal defense, plus in civil litigation.
Connie Mederos Jacobs is running on 31 years of courtroom experience, having practiced in all 20 circuits in Florida.
Chris Pratt has practiced law for more than 35 years and says his qualities are his patience, courtesy, and professionalism
Kristy Zinna touts her experience as both a prosecutor and a criminal defense attorney, and her experience in both criminal and civil procedures.
In District 1, the school board race pits incumbent Gina Messenger against Bridget Mendel. Messenger is running for a second term and says the district is in better financial health with an improved bond rating. Mendel is running as an outsider who is running strongly pro-public education and campaigns for more financial transparency and less money going into testing.
In District 3, five candidates are running for school board. Dave Miner is running for reelection and says his experience matters during the COVID crisis. He wants the school district to make large strides in becoming a zero energy efficient school district.
Scott Boyes is running on 26 years of experience in Manatee County, with over 17 years of administrative experience as a principal.
Christine Dawson has 36 years of experience in Manatee schools and disagrees with what she sees as a “one size fits all” approach to helping kids. She thinks two of the five members of the school board should be at-large to represent the entire county.
Mary Foreman touts more than 40 years as a CPA. She says her experience can lead the School Board to more effectively make financial decisions.
And Rick Murphy is running as a former teacher who served as a school board member in Hendry County for 14 years and later became superintendent in that county.
If none of the candidates get more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters will run against each other in November.
For the Charlotte County Airport Authority District 1 Republican Primary, Vanessa Oliver touts her endorsement from State Senator Joe Gruters and the Port Charlotte Sun. She says she wants to bring more passengers through the Punta Gorda Airport by attracting new airlines and continuing its relationship with Allegiant Air.
She faces Bob Starr, a former Charlotte County Commissioner and former Chairman of the Republican Party in Charlotte County. He told the Port Charlotte Sun he was ready to retire, but the noise from planes flying over his home became “unbearable.” He says he will reduce jet liner noise in Eastern Charlotte County by changing flight patterns and redirecting them over DeSoto County. He also says the airport should make more money from Allegiant.
In Sarasota County, Sheriff Tom Knight is not running for reelection. One of the candidates running to replace him is Colonel Hoffman, the current command staff member under Knight. He touts endorsements from all five county commissioners, Congressmen Vern Buchanan and Greg Steube, and Sheriff Tom Knight himself. He supports a new correctional facility instead of a new jail.
“So we can build on the successes that we’ve had with rehabilitating the inmates that have come through our jail,” Hoffman says.
His opponent is Paul Fern, a former federal air marshal with 24 years in law enforcement. He thinks the current jail can’t sustain future population growth and needs an expansion. He told SNN he supports bringing community policing back into the Sheriff’s Office. He also says he’s “100 percent” behind implementing body cameras, especially after George Floyd’s death.
“I think transparency and people seeing an incident start to finish, what led to what happened, I think that needs to be to be in every agency in the country. I think body cameras are the way of the future,” Fern says.
For the Sarasota County Commission District 1 Republican Primary, incumbent Mike Moran faces Republican Mike Hutchinson. Commissioner Moran says he wants what he considers to be a healthy balance between environmental protections and business growth. He wants to finish the north and south county road grid system.
Mike Hutchinson is campaigning to prevent urban sprawl in East Sarasota County and conserve natural lands. Hutchinson says Moran will not protect Celery Fields. Commissioner Mike Moran also faces controversy in this primary. The Herald-Tribune reported that Moran pushed through a controversial and allegedly self-serving redistricting plan that moved his opponent at the time into another district and turned Moran’s seat from Democratic-leaning to safe Republican.
There are two school board races in Sarasota County attracting much attention. First, David Graham and Karen Rose are running for an open seat in District 2. David Graham says he was motivated to run after watching controversy involving former superintendent Todd Bowden, who was accused of not responding to complaints of sexual misconduct by Cheraina Bonner.
He fears a win by his opponent would shift the School Board into charter schools and private schools peeling away high-performing public school students. Karen Rose says she’s been dedicated to public schools all her career.
Incumbent School Board Commissioner Eric Robinson of District 3 is running for reelection. He says he wants to put more money in the classroom and less in administration and wants to hold charter schools more accountable. His opponent, Tom Edwards, says Robinson is too pro-charter school and that a Robinson win would tilt the School Board that direction. Edwards thinks winning would remove the drama that has faced the school board.
A slew of other races will be on the ballot.
“[Other races include] hospital board, charter review board, city commission in Sarasota and North Port, state house races, state attorneys races,” Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner says.
Early voting is over. Tuesday is the last day to vote.
