Grassroots candidates dominate Manatee County's primary election

District 7 Commissioner George Kruse said Manatee County voters had identified two distinct camps running in the Primary elections.

When the votes were counted Aug. 20, it was clear who they preferred.

“The reign of (Anthony) Pedicini and Carlos (Beruff) and the developers is over,” Commissioner George Kruse said. 

As the final numbers came in, Kruse celebrated his Republican nomination to retain his seat at the Central Cafe in Bradenton with Tal Siddique, who won the District 3 nomination over April Culbreath, and Scott Farrington, who won the supervisor of elections nomination over current SOE James Satcher for the Republican party. 

Kruse will face off with Democratic candidate Sari Lindroos-Valimaki and write-in candidate Nathan Meyer in the Nov. 5 general election. Siddique is running against Democratic candidate Diana Shoemaker, and the battle is mainly over for Farrington, who only has to square off with write-in candidate Thomas Dell. 

Kruse said while the general election still has to take place, the primary sweep will change the composition of the commission because commissioners Kevin Van Ostenbridge and Ray Turner, who represented District 5 in the Lakewood Ranch area, lost their races, along with Steve Metallo, who was running for District 1.

Van Ostenbridge, Turner, Culbreath and Metallo all were represented by Pedicini, their political consultant.

“No matter what happens, if it’s Carol Felts or Jen Hamey (in District 1) or Bob McCann or Joe Di Bartolomeo (in District 5) or Tal Siddique or Diana Shoemaker (in District 3), there’s no scenario where the public side is not the majority,” Kruse said.

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

Dr. Bob McCann beat out incumbent Ray Turner in District 5. He said the election proves that votes count more than donations.

“It’s not going to be build, build, build,” McCann said. “We’re going to actually talk to the people. We’re going to advocate for the people and what they want.” 

Myakka City resident Carol Felts won the Republican nomination for District 1. If she wins the general election in November, she said her first order of business will be to make a motion to restore the wetland buffers that the current board gutted. 

Farrington was shocked by the public interest his race garnered. 

“The Supervisor of Elections race is usually an afterthought,” he said. "I thought I had a 50/50 shot showing up here tonight." 

Kruse said this primary proves there's another way to win elections in Manatee County, outside of developer dollars. 

"We worked together. We made each other stronger," Kruse said. "We came up with a model of how you can win the right way. Now, you're going to see more good, smart, quality candidates because they know they can win." 

District 72 (Florida House of Representatives)

Lakewood Ranch’s Bill Conerly will be the Republican nominee for the District 72 race in the Florida House of Representatives. 

Conerly will face Democrat Lesa Miller in the general election.

“In this race there were four very good, conservative Republicans, and they all worked very hard. I’m glad I was able to win,” he said. “I think maybe the separator was my education, my experience and the time I’ve spent in business in the area.”

Now with only one opponent to face, Conerly said he’ll continue to work hard to earn residents’ vote, but he likes his chances as Manatee County is more Republican than democrat.