A number of elections will be final.
By Florence Fahringer
Correction: Our news report aired on July 17 misstated the election dates for Districts 2 and 3 of the City of Sarasota Commission. Both districts will be up for election on Nov. 5. District 1 is the only district up for a vote on Aug. 20, because there are more than two candidates; if no candidate obtains a majority on Aug. 20, the two top vote getters will head to a run-off election on Nov. 5. We apologize.
Original Air Date: July 17, 2024
Host: The so-called primary elections on Aug. 20 are final in some cases. Florence Fahringer gives us an overlook of what’s at stake next month.
Florence Fahringer: The general election takes place on Nov. 5, but a number of local positions will be decided months earlier, at this year’s primary elections. That date — Aug. 20 — is just a month away, and its title of “primary election” can be deceiving, seeing as some of the positions can be voted for by all registered voters, regardless of their party affiliation.
Two such positions will be the candidates for the Sarasota County School Board. In these non-partisan elections, all candidates will duke it out in the primaries. Though no candidate can run as a Republican or Democrat they certainly can and do affiliate themselves with certain ideologies. These two seats make up just shy of half of the seats on the five-member board.
First, there’s School Board District Two. Candidates are incumbent Karen Rose, and challenger Liz Barker. In Sarasota School Board District Three, incumbent Tom Edwards is being challenged by two candidates: Thomas Babicz and Greg Wood. Because this is a three-way race, if no one candidate manages to win fifty percent of the vote on August Twentieth, the two candidates with the most votes will face off one-on-one in the general elections later in the year.
Next up is the City Commission of Sarasota. Three of its five seats are up for grabs in these elections, meaning the majority of seats will be decided. All of the seats are non-partisan, and represent the three city districts.
District One is up for grabs on Aug. 20, because there are more than two candidates. That district represents the northeast area of Sarasota — basically, almost everything north of Fruitville and east of Forty-One. Most of this district is made up by the core of Newtown, Sarasota’s largest historic African-American community. Incumbent Kyle Battie is facing two challengers: Sequoia Felton and Melissa Furman. As with School Board District 3, if no one candidate wins over fifty percent, the top two candidates will square off in November.
The last election is something of an odd duckling: District One of the Charter Review Board. It’s a Republican primary, with two Republican candidates, but since no Democrat or Independent is running against them, all registered voters in district one will get to decide the election on August Twentieth. District One covers everything east of the City of Sarasota — essentially, the battleground between Lakewood Ranch and Old Miakka.
Again, for all those elections, if you are a registered voter with any or no party affiliation, you are eligible to vote, so long as the address you’re registered at lies within the appropriate districts.
Now, for partisan primaries. First, we’ll get the Democratic primaries out of the way, starting with the U.S. House of Representatives. District Seventeen covers the entirety of Sarasota County as well as Charlotte County and parts of Lee; Incumbent Greg Steube will face the winner of this primary in the general election, as well as independent candidate Ralph E. Hartman. The two Democrats squaring off in the primaries are Matthew Montavon and Manny Lopez. This primary election will be exclusive to Democratic voters.
Then, there’s Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Rick Scott. Four candidates are vying to be his challenger: Debbie Murcasel-Powell, Stanley Campbell, Brian Rush and Rod Joseph.
Next are the numerous Republican primaries. Unlike the Democratic primary, a number of the Republican primaries essentially act as general elections, due to a lack of viable competition from outside the Republican party. Regardless, they are all closed to Republican voters, meaning these local elections will be decided only by the registered Republicans of the county.
The prime example of such an election is the race for District One of the Sarasota County Commission. District One covers the northeast of the county — essentially, everything east of the City of Sarasota. There are two Republican candidates: Teresa Mast, who is heavily funded by developers , and Alexandra Coe, taking up the mantle of resistance against massive new development. This election was anticipated to be open, due to no competition from outside the party, but last second a write-in candidacy spoiled the chances of an open primary. The write-in candidate, Hope Williams, does not seem to be fundraising or campaigning, and is connected to the campaign of Teresa Mast.
District Three of the Sarasota County Commission covers Venice, Nokomis, parts of North Port, and all the land in between, and it’s seeing two Republican juggernauts going head-to-head: Incumbent Neil Rainford and former Sheriff Tom Knight.
A larger number of Republican primaries will also face considerable opposition in the general election, specifically the positions of Tax Collector, all four districts of the Hospital Board, as well as districts three and four on the Charter Review Board.
So if you’re interested in voting in any of these elections, make sure you’re registered! If you are already registered to vote, make sure that you’re registered at the right address. The deadline for voter registration is less than a week from now, on Monday, July Twenty-Second. This isn’t only the registration deadline for the primaries, but in fact for the general election as well. You can register to vote (or update your registration) at Sarasota Votes dot Gov, all one word, under the “Voter Information” tab.
This is Florence Fahringer, reporting for WSLR News.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.