Patterson prevails

Sarasota County Commissioner Nora Patterson neared re-election to a fourth term in the Aug. 24 primary election.

The incumbent received 56% of the vote, defeating architect Mark Smith, who got 44%, in the Republican primary.

“This is my second contested election at the county,” said Patterson. “It never gets easier. The issues change. The economy changes, and public opinion changes.”

Patterson and Smith, both Siesta Key residents, had split the major endorsements on the Key.

The Siesta Key Association endorsed Patterson. The Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce and Siesta Key Village Association backed Smith, who is a former president of the Village Association.

“It’s been a great experience and I’ve met a lot of great people,” Mark Smith said. “But it’s extremely difficult for a political unknown to take on a 20-year political machine.”

Patterson will face Democrat Mark Hawkins in the November general election.

Two school board races were also decided Tuesday.

School Board District 5 may have been the most contentious, because Jane Goodwin, the candidate the teachers union backed, was the recipient of e-mails her opponent, Kathy James, called improper.

A high-ranking school district official copied Goodwin on an e-mail about a meeting with another school board candidate and the information he requested. Goodwin was not a school employee, and James was not sent the same information.

Goodwin won the election, receiving 52% of the vote. James got 48%.

Other district employees sent e-mails from their work computers urging members to vote for Goodwin and District 1 candidate Barry Woolf.

Woolf was facing Dr. Joseph Neunder and incumbent Dr. Carol Todd, who cruised to an easy victory.
Todd got 62%. Neunder at 22% and Woolf received the fewest votes at 16%.

“I think the voters looked at my record,” Todd said.

Maryann Boehm defeated Tracy Lee in the race for county judge, Group 3.

Boehm received 62% of the vote to 38% for Lee, who was dogged by his domestic-violence arrest last year. Lee initially dropped out of the election, but after his wife dropped the charges, he re-entered the race.

Five Republicans were vying for two Charter Review Board seats.

In District 2, Steven Fields defeated Robert Copeland 56% to 44%.

Fields faces Democrat Diana Harrington in the general election.

The District 3 race will face a mandatory recount because the vote was so close.

Adam Miller received 38.7%, and Kathy Bolam received 38.4%. They were separated by less than 200 votes.

The third candidate in that race, Dawn Moore, got 22.9% of the vote.

Just one Hospital Board seat was to be decided in the primary. Republican Darryl Henry beat Levko Klos 64%% to 36% for Southern Seat 1.

To download an election totals box for Sarasota and Manatee County races, click here.

To download a PDF of how Sarasota and Manatee counties voted in the state and federal races, click here.

Contact Robin Roy at [email protected].