Local party chiefs weigh in on mid-term election outcomes

GOP’s Jack Brill: ‘We’re about the only ones left right now’.

By Ed James III

Original Air Date: Nov. 5, 2026

Host: Following the blue tsunami, Florida is now a red island, and Sarasota is a dark red spot within that island. WSLR’s Ed James III spoke with party leaders.

Ed James III: Tuesday’s midterm general election saw strong turnout across the Sunshine State, with over 67% of registered voters casting ballots in Sarasota County. That’s breaking a previous record set in the 2018 midterms.

At the top of the ticket, Florida voters decided marquee races for governor and U.S. Senate.

Attendee at a Byron Donalds rally. | Photo: Ramon Lopez

Republican Byron Donalds secured victory in a close gubernatorial race against Democrat David Jolly, maintaining the GOP’s executive hold in Tallahassee. Meanwhile, incumbent Republican Ashley Moody defended her U.S. Senate seat against Democratic challenger Angie Nixon, albeit by a much closer margin than was initially predicted by political analysts and pollsters.

Down the ballot in Sarasota County, Republicans maintained strong positions in key local contests. While some elected officials and activists have been crossing party lines here lately, voters seemed to have voted strictly along party lines, reflecting party registration numbers. In the District 4 Board of County Commission race, Jim DeNiro defeated Democrat Julie London by 13 points. That same along-party-lines voting pattern seemed to have played out in the Sarasota School Board race, with Republican-endorsed Heidi Brandt beating Jimmy Glover by 13 points. In local state legislature seats, Republican incumbents Representatives Fiona McFarland and Danny Nix beat their Democratic challengers by a similar margin, as did Republican newcomer Nick Pachota. In the race for Florida Senate, James Buchanan easily overcame a three-way challenge.

However, David Dean, chair of Sarasota Democrats emphasizes that turnout in urban centers and key precinct gains show building momentum for future cycles.

David Dean | Photo: Gretchen Cochran

David Dean: We did have some very significant wins. The first was two out of the three school board candidates we backed did win in August. The third, Jimmy Glover, of course, did not; we’re very sorry to see that happen. We also kept two of the at-large seats on the Sarasota City Commission. Jen Ahearn-Koch was re-elected, and Flo Entler is going to be seated, which is fantastic because she’s very hard-working and very involved in the community. So we did not prevail in other seats for the State House, State Senate and County Commission, but there were certainly fantastic results around the state. Democrats picked up 16 seats—potentially 17 seats—across the state. Some of those were in counties that haven’t had a Democratic representative in many, many years, including one State Senate seat.

EJ: On the Republican side, party leadership celebrated a sweep across major county offices, local charter review board seats and school board races. Jack Brill, Sarasota chair of the Republican Party:

Jack Brill | Photo: Terri-Anne Bajorek

Jack Brill: We are the rock of red strongholds. We had a 68% Republican turnout, which is the highest ever in a midterm. We won everything—everything locally, all the way through, with the only exception of John Harshman for the City of Sarasota, and that was an uphill battle big-time. But County Commission, charter review board, hospital board, State House, State Senate, Congress for both Sydney and Gray—I mean, we knocked it out. Also, we had an 88% vote-by-mail return because we made thousands and thousands of calls to get people to return their vote-by-mail. We rocked it. Thank goodness we’re in the free state of Florida because we’re about the only ones left right now [laughs].

EJ: Brill said that many registered Republicans voted for Democratic-endorsed candidates in the primary elections. But high turnout fixed that problem in the general elections.

JB: We also had—which happened in the primary—probably 9% to 12% of Republicans voting for the Democratic candidates, but we had enough of a turnout that offset that. We had more votes than D’s and NPA’s combined, which helped us get our folks elected.

Byron Donalds | Photo: Ramon Lopez

EJ: Asked about Byron Donalds becoming Florida’s first Black governor, the local party chief had a color-blind message to minority voters.

JB: Our Hispanic population is almost 12% of the population now, so we want to encourage more candidates. We want the best qualified people. I actually want the best qualified people no matter what. I would like, someday, for the race part of it to go away, everyone’s everyone, and we just get the best people out there that want to have the same values as the Republican party.

EJ: Reporting for WSLR 96.5 FM News, I’m Ed James III.

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