MANATEE COUNTY – Republican candidate Tal Siddique won the District 3 Manatee County Commission seat, defeating Democratic candidate Diana Shoemaker.
Incumbent Republican candidate George Kruse won the countywide at-large District 7 county commission seat, defeating Democratic candidate Sari Lindroos-Valimak.
Anna Maria Island voters helped determine the winner of the District 3 race, with District 3 encompassing the entire Island as well as the northern portion of Longboat Key, the village of Cortez and portions of unincorporated Manatee County and Bradenton.
In the District 3 race, Siddique received 23,609 votes (60.72%) and Shoemaker received 15,197 votes (39.09%), according to the unofficial results posted at the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections website. Siddique will fill the commission seat currently held by Kevin Van Ostenbridge.
Island voters helped determine the winner of the countywide At-Large District 7 race in which Kruse received 142,920 votes (66.82%) and Lindroos-Valimak received 70,968 votes (33.18%).
Island voters also helped determine the winner of the non-party-affiliated District 3 school board race won by Charlie Kennedy. Kennedy received 21,094 votes (57.51%) and his opponent, Jonathan Lynch, received 15,583 votes (42.49%).
Supervisor of elections
In August, Island voters helped determine the winner of the Supervisor of Elections Republican primary race in which former elections office chief of staff Scott Farrington defeated Gov. Ron DeSantis appointee James Satcher.
Running unopposed in the general election, Farrington received 173,936 votes (96.85%) votes and he will serve as Manatee County’s next duly-elected Supervisor of Elections, taking over from Satcher on Jan. 7.
Other county races
In the District 1 county commission race, Republican Carol Ann Felts defeated Democratic candidate Glenn Pearson and non-party-affiliated candidate Jennifer Hamey. Felts received 35,651 votes (64.27 %), Pearson received 14,631 votes (26.37%) and Hamey received 5,192 votes (9.36%). Felts will fill the county commission seat vacated by Satcher in April, when he was appointed to serve as the interim supervisor of elections.
In the District 5 county commission race, Republican candidate Bob McCann defeated non-party-affiliated candidate Joseph Di Bartolomeo. McCann received 41,229 votes (72.4 %) and Di Bartolomeo received 15,717 votes (27.6 %). McCann will assume the county commission seat currently held by Commissioner Ray Turner.
In the non-party-affiliated District 1 school board race won by Heather Fulton, Fulton received 28,573 votes (57.57%) and Mark Stanoch received 21,060 votes (42.43%).
Manatee County voters approved a county referendum to increase from 5% to 6% the county tourist development tax collected on hotel, motel, resort and short-term vacation rental stays. On that referendum question, 141,803 county voters (68.04%) supported the tourist tax increase and 66,603 county voters (31.96%) opposed it.
Manatee County voters overwhelmingly supported renewing the school district’s 1-mill property tax assessment that generates additional property tax revenues for the county school system, with 171,321 county voters (82.55%) supporting the tax increase and 36,224 county voters (17.45%) opposing it.
State and federal races
In Manatee County, 121,234 voters (54.55%) supported Amendment 3 (legalizing recreational marijuana) and 100,999 voters (45.45 %) opposed the amendment to the Florida Constitution. The state amendment failed because it garnered 55.8% of the vote statewide, failing to meet the state’s 60% threshold.
In Manatee County, 121,814 voters (54.9%) supported Amendment 4 (an amendment pertaining to preserving abortion rights) and 100,066 county voters (45.1%) opposed the amendment. The state amendment failed because it garnered 57% of the vote statewide.
In Manatee County, incumbent Republican District 71 State Rep. Will Robinson Jr. candidate received 43,881 votes (59.9%) and his Democratic challenger, Adriaan DeVilliers, received 29,375 votes (40.1%).
In Manatee County, incumbent Republican District 16 U.S. Congressman Vern Buchanan received 141,756 votes (64.18%) and Democratic candidate Jan Schneider received 79,100 votes (35.82%).
In Manatee County, Republican incumbent U.S. Senate candidate Rick Scott received 136,300 votes (61.1%) and Democratic candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell received 83,392 votes (37.39%).
In the presidential race, 138,876 votes (61.45 %) were cast in support of Donald Trump and 84,555 votes (37.41%) were cast in support of Kamala Harris.
On Election Day, there were 281,798 registered voters in Manatee County, with 227,224 of those voters (80.63%) casting votes in the general election.
