Several surprises in Martin County elections yesterday will change how some municipalities and the school board will be governed. There were many more close races than in the past. If anyone doubts the strength of Governor DeSantis and the GOP in this county, they should not. And there are no longer any nonpartisan races here.
Congressman Brian Mast easily beat his three challengers in the Republican primary. Jeff Buongiorno, Melissa Martz, and Ljubo Skrbic combined had 22.5% of the 23,375 votes cast in the county. Mast should beat Democrat Corinna Balderramos Robinson in the general by similar margins.
Val Demings trounced her opponents for U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary without breaking a sweat. She will go on to challenge Marco Rubio in November. Rubio a fixture in Florida politics for over 20 years will have a tough race on his hands. However, this is a red state and only getting redder. Governor DeSantis at the top of the ticket should insure Rubio’s re-election.
Former governor and now Congressman Charlie Crist came out on top over Nikki Fried in their Democratic primary matchup. He will go on to face Ron DeSantis in the general. At this juncture, Crist is on his own Quixotic journey. It may be time for amiable Charlie to practice law and lobbying.
In District 2, Stacey Hetherington beat her dark horse opponent T.J. McGowan handily. Hetherington has been a solid dedicated commissioner throughout her first term. She has grown in the job. McGowan came from nowhere and did not seem to have any accomplishments to point to in his bid for election. The final vote was Hetherington 22,931 to McGowan’s 12,491.
Sarah Heard beat Doug Mustapick by less than 5% of the 35,422 votes cast. Mustapick ran an almost flawless campaign. But going up against an iconic legend can be hard. While his mechanics were good, his message was unclear. He seemed to be anti-growth and an environmentalist. If so, how would he be different than Heard? In this race one need to look where the money came from. The influence of the “Good Old Boys” almost won…message be damned.
Jennifer Russell, a newcomer to Martin County and to politics, beat Liz Bernstein with 56.2% of the vote. This was the most political of the non-partisan races. Russell had the endorsement of DeSantis and the PAC money to back her up. Bernstein ran a flawed campaign that did not take adequate advantage of her solid credentials. She was too close to Victoria Defenthaler and the teachers. Russell, even though her children do not attend regular public schools, is a mother and believer in parent involvement at the district level. Just what the voters of Martin County want.
In the other school board race, Amy Pritchett defeated incumbent Anthony Anderson by less than 1% of the vote. Anderson, a past teacher in Martin County and brother of the late David Anderson who was a fixture on the school board for over thirty years, was in his first term. Pritchett who is active in the “Moms for Liberty” movement has been involved with the school district for several years. Anderson had the experience but was too closely aligned with the educational establishment for this election’s voters. The nature of the school board will be very different in the future.
The continued ½ mill referendum designated mainly to fund a stipend for teachers passed by a two to one margin. I would have thought with the anti-educational fervor, this would have gone down to defeat. I am sure the teachers are very happy with the result.
The voters in the City of Stuart rejected incumbent Merritt Matheson for newcomer Chris Collins. Collins is firmly anti- growth. The vote in that race was 51.31% to 48.69%. Incumbent Eula Clarke beat back challenger William Laughlin with 1930 votes to his1687 votes. The open seat was that of Mike Meier who chose not to run. Campbell Rich won over Mark Brechbill by almost 10%.
Both Rich and Collins were beneficiaries of a voter backlash to perceived over development. New projects in Stuart will be coming to an end. Developers are already saying the gates are closed. The developers are not wrong.
Indiantown elected two newcomers to the council and returned Susan Gibbs Thomas. Both Jackie Clarke and Anthony Dowling were handily defeated in their races for reelection. Carmine Dipaolo won over Dowling by almost 20% of the vote. I would call that a solid drubbing. Clarke was defeated by Angelina Perez by almost 6% of the vote.
The electorate was tired of an ever-growing village government. The rub will come if the developers knocking on the door are allowed in. No matter who sits in these seats, the village will have a vastly expanded population moving in. The one person who may have been the biggest loser is Manager Howard Brown. The new majority will not be as accommodating as the last one.
This is our special election edition. More on the changes that this election will bring in our newsletter of September 4th.