A Sarasota School Board near-sweep, an incumbent’s loss, the end of the Manatee County grassroots rebellion, and more.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: August 18, 2026
Yesterday’s primary election produced a few surprises – locally and statewide.
Statewide, the most remarkable win was probably that of Florida House Rep. Angie Nixon, who easily beat well-funded, and party establishment-supported Alex Vindman by 11 points. Her clear win in the Democratic primary, according to AP, came thanks to double-digit leads in the most Democratic-leaning metro areas. Nixon will now face incumbent Senator Ashley Moody, who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to replace Marco Rubio.
In local state legislature primaries, James Buchanan held competitor Vic Rohe at bay, easily, to head to the general election for Florida Senator representing Sarasota. And in the race to replace the term-limited Buchanan on House seat in District 74, former Venice Mayor Nick Pachota won against four competitors.
The biggest impact of these elections in Sarasota County will probably be felt around public schools: Liberal candidates are close to sweeping all three seats vacated by conservative school board members. Adding to the two existing liberal members, the Sarasota School Board will now have a decisively liberal tilt. Megan Tinnamon and Beth Mayberry easily overtook their conservative opponents. Meanwhile, in a three-way race for the northern District 1, Jimmy Glover led the pack with close to 45% of the vote, ahead of conservatives Heidi Brandt (31.7%) and Teresa DeWitt. Because he didn’t reach 50% +1, Glover will have to beat Heidi Brandt in a Nov. 3 runoff, before becoming the first African American school board member in Sarasota ever.
Other surprises: After a campaign involving PACs and mudslinging on both sides, Republican Joe Neunder lost his re-election bid for District 4 of the Sarasota County Commission against retired cop Jim DeNiro, who garnered more than 53% of the vote. Neunder had been endorsed by slow-growth community organizer Lourdes Ramirez. DeNiro will now face Democratic dark horse-candidate Julie London in the general elections.
In the other county commission race, for the northern District 1, Republican Mark Smith coasted to re-election against Republican Kristina Sargent, obtaining 53% of the vote.
In the City of Sarasota Commission race for two at-large seats, incumbent Jen Ahearn-Koch and Flo Entler held comfortable leads in the five-candidate race. But they have to go to round two Nov. 3 with third-place candidate John Harshman. 
The only hospital board race in this cycle saw incumbent Brad Baker coast to a comfortable win with 63% against challenger Bill Woeltjen.
In the Charter Review Board race for District 1, Alex Coe returned to the seat she once held with close to 50% of the vote, ousting Nicolas Altier and holding a third candidate at bay.
In the primaries for Congressional District 17 – the seat held by Greg Steube – Matthew Montavon prevailed over Allen Spence and will now face Steube, who ran unopposed.
In the Manatee County-centered District 16 – that’s the seat Vern Buchanan is vacating – Kelly Kirschner and Sydney Gruters won their respective primaries in clear fashion.
Meanwhile in Manatee
In the Manatee County Commission races, where some had hoped for the 2024 grassroots rebellion to keep growing, it was like night and day compared to the last elections. Only one grassroots candidate – Liz Arnold – prevailed against the “candidate of money”, Mark Stanoch, but barely. Grassroots organizer Glenn Gibellina lost clearly to incumbent Mike Rahn, and Edward Bailey lost against incumbent Amanda Ballard.
Bill Conerly, the state representative widely seen as developer-friendly, coasted to re-election.
Here’s how Bradenton Times Editor Dennis ‘Mitch’ Maley explained it to WSLR News:
“This time, the money seems to have made a difference,” he said, suggesting that voters might have second thoughts about the rebels they voted on the county commission two years ago. Maley says the reason is that the rebel commission was kneecapped by the state.
“We know you didn’t get what you voted for in 2024, but it’s really because you’re not paying attention to what’s happening in Tallahassee, and until you get the same kind of grassroots candidates elected to go up there and make sure that they’re not kneecapping our local government and just getting rid of the Home Rule that we enjoy, then it’s going to continue to get hard.”
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