Republican challenger files for County Commission District 2

A Republican challenger to incumbent Sarasota County Commissioner Mark Smith has emerged in the 2026 race for the District 2 seat. Kristina Sargent, an attorney and former prosecutor in Baltimore and Sarasota, has filed with the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections for next year’s primary.

District 2 includes much of the city of Sarasota, its boundaries from University Parkway to the north to Stickney Point Road to the south. The coastal district also covers the barrier islands from roughly the southern half of Longboat Key to the northern half of Siesta Key.

Smith won the open seat in 2022 over Democrat Fredd Atkins and is eligible, if elected, to serve one more four-year term.

First, though, he will face Sargent, who moved to Sarasota during the height of COVID-19 in September 2021, taking a job in the State Attorney’s Office.

“Being a prosecutor in Baltimore is very hard. It’s just non-stop trials and you're working 15- to 16-hour days,” Sargent said. “When courts closed I saw that Florida didn't really shut down like the majority of the country, so I came and I loved it.”

In September 2025 Sargent joined the law firm of Burger, Meyer & D’Angelo, with offices in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, and works statewide. She owns a 47-year-old house in the Pinecraft area, where the basis for her candidacy was forged on traffic and infrastructure, the latter in wake of the flooding of 2024.

Smart growth and infrastructure, she said, go hand-in-hand.

“I was very fortunate during the hurricanes that I didn't have any damage to my house and I didn't have flooding, but that wasn't the same for half of my neighborhood,” she said. “We spent a lot of the money in reserves rebuilding after Hurricane Milton, and had we gotten hit with hurricanes this year, we wouldn't have the funds to do that. Instead of just triaging after the fact, the infrastructure needs to be addressed with the growth.”

Unlike the 2024 election with no Democrat opposition for three district seats, whomever emerges from the District 2 Republican primary will face a general election opponent. Andrew Bevan has filed for the Democrat nomination.