Fourth candidate files to run for Sarasota City Commission

With about nine months remaining in the city’s candidate-qualifying period, four candidates are in the running for two Sarasota City Commission at-large seats in the 2026 election.

Incumbent Jen Ahearn-Koch is among the four who have filed paperwork for the election. Debbie Trice, the other at-large candidate on the commission, has not but the deadline is not until mid-June, 2026.

Rob Rominiecki, 56, filed and announced his candidacy last week.

Courtesy images

Before moving to Sarasota in 2015, the 56-year-old Rominiecki was head of security and safety at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. A musician and illustrator in his younger years, he has been a stay-at-home dad to his two sons. His wife, Jennifer Rominiecki, is president and chief executive officer of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in the city.

He’s served on the School Advisory Committee at Southside Elementary School.

“I’ve seen how art expands horizons, creates community, and gives people hope,” he said in a prepared statement. “That’s the kind of vision I want to bring to Sarasota’s future.”

The other candidates in line for the race are:

Sherman Baldwin: Baldwin, 66, has lived and worked in Sarasota for more than 15 years. He and his daughter own Hart’s Landing, a beloved community landmark, and Court 13 at Payne Park Tennis Center. He is president of the Park East Community Association and serves on the delegate to the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations.

He is the founder of Baldwin Access Media, a Sarasota-based company involved with event-based advertising and community engagement.

Michael Bennett: Bennett, 80, is no stranger to local elected office, serving as supervisor of elections in Manatee County and, previously, in the Florida House of Representatives and Senate from 2002 to 2012.

Then, for 12 years, he was Manatee County Supervisor of Elections, his final term ending in November 2024. He moved to Sarasota from Bradenton shortly thereafter.

Jen Ahearn-Koch: Ahearn-Koch, 61, was first elected to the City Commission in 2017 and has served as mayor and vice mayor. Ahearn-Koch moved to Sarasota with her mother when she was 14, but it wasn’t always clear she’d come back. A Cardinal Mooney High graduate, she went to Paris for college. After earning a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University in New York City, she returned to Paris. There, she met her husband and began a career in marketing.

She was first active in her neighborhood, eventually becoming president of the Tahiti Park Neighborhood Association. From there, she got involved in the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations, joining that group’s executive committee. From 2009 to 2015, she was a member of the city’s Planning Board.