- July 15, 2026
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If a candidate for the Manatee County Commission was a lifelong resident, a Kiwanis volunteer and a frequent speaker at the Manatee Tiger Bay Club, who also worked on state, county and school board campaigns and served as a commissioner’s aide, would you think he's qualified to hold the seat?
Given that resume, would it change your mind if you heard he was 22 years old?
Voters in District 2 will have to make that decision during the primary election Aug. 18 because 22-year-old Edward Bailey Jr. is vying for the Republican nomination against incumbent Amanda Ballard.
Before becoming a candidate, Bailey was District 5 Commissioner Bob McCann’s aide.
"Age is different than maturity," McCann said.
East County voters living in McCann’s district can’t cast a vote for Bailey or Ballard in District 2, but they will decide if they want a 23-year-old representing District 5 on the School Board of Manatee County.
Savanna at Lakewood Ranch’s Camden Bedinghaus is running for the seat against Jonathan Mullis and Chantal Wilford. Both Mullis and Wilford are over 25 years Bedinhaus’ senior.
Mark Twain said, “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” Will voters agree?
The East County Observer attended a candidate forum hosted by the Lakewood Ranch Republican Club at the Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club June 17 to ask attendees if age mattered to them.
The overwhelming answer was “No.”
The forum featured commission candidates running for District 2 (Bailey and Ballard) and District 4 (Glen Gibellina attended, incumbent Mike Rahn did not).
The only person to openly express any concern over Bailey’s age during or following the forum was Ballard.
“I, too, am a young candidate,” said Ballard, who is 37. “I am so young that when I decided to run in 2022, (Ed Bailey's) mother said, ‘Don’t you think you’re too young? Don’t you think you should wait your turn until you have a little more experience? I was 32.”
Bailey said his mother, Xtavia Bailey, never made those statements, but Ballard made her point.
In Manatee County, commissioners make decisions for over 450,000 people. How much does experience matter?
The youngest commissioner on the board right now is 31-year-old Tal Siddique. He was 29 when campaigning and 30 when elected.
Siddique had built a successful career as a software engineer and entrepreneur. He worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, and the U.S. Air Force.
Ballard spent eight years working as a child welfare attorney, experience she often draws from on the dais during discussions about county issues, such as homelessness and opioid addiction.
Both Siddique and Ballard are married, and Ballard is raising three children.
Bedinghaus is a former Bayside Community Church youth coordinator, a graduate from the University of South Florida, the director of the Manatee County chapter of Turning Point USA, and a book author.
It's an impressive resume, but akin to many of his peers who are fresh out of college, his address on the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections website is that of his parents, Troy and Treva Bedinghaus.
Do factors, such as owning a home, matter as far as life experience? Not if voters don’t mind.
Residents of District 5 in York County, Nebraska voted to elect 18-year-old Joe Burgess into office in November 2024. The district has about 3,000 residents.
Burgess drives an hour from his dorm room at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to the York County Courthouse every other Tuesday to attend commission meetings. He checks his county emails in between classes.
Burgess is working toward a degree in chemical engineering. In September 2025, the York County Development Corporation said “Burgess brings a young voice to the county government, but also an informed one.”
The Lake Club's Evin Ersan stuck out among the forum's attendees. While most were retirees, at 24 years old, Ersan is just starting his career in finance.
He finds the quality of the candidate more important than the age given the caveats that a candidate shouldn't be so old that they're senile or so young that they have no experience.
Even if Bailey were 10 years older, he would still be at a disadvantage when it comes to experience because the other two candidates, Ballard and Democrat Charles B. Smith, already have represented District 2 on the Manatee County Commission.
However, because of McCann, Bailey has more insight into the job than many of the candidates countywide. He has dealt with McCann's constituents and sat in on commissioner briefings and meetings.
Carolann Garafola, treasurer of the Republican Club, was shocked when she learned Bailey was 22 years old because she said he carries himself with such “maturity.”
Garafola has experience in local politics. She served on the Warren Township Committee in New Jersey for 23 years, of which six of the years she served as mayor.
Garafola has such confidence in Bailey and Bedinghaus that she made financial contributions to both campaigns.
“You’ve got to put your money where your mouth is,” she said.
Donna Hayes served as the District 5 Manatee County commissioner from 2004 through 2012. She joked that “Joe McClash wasn’t even young at that time.” McClash was voted into office in 1990 when he was 33 years old.
“We were all in our 50s and 60s,” Hayes said. “I think Ed Bailey is an excellent candidate. He is young, yes, but I certainly consider that a plus. He’s got the energy and spirit to make valid decisions.”
Hayes’ brought a friend to the luncheon in Bradenton’s Barbara Ellen. Ellen, a former Miss Indiana, was the first runner-up in the 1978 Miss America pageant when she was 24 years old.
“Being in the Miss America pageant, you have to be able to think on your feet, be truthful and articulate,” Ellen said. “This young man (Bailey), when he announced he was 22, I had to do a double take and digest if that was a good thing or a bad thing. But I like what Donna said — he’s bringing youth to Manatee County.”
So why don't more young candidates run for office?
In Siddique’s case, he thought it would hurt his career. Financially, it did. When elected in 2024, the salary for a Manatee County commissioner was $104,723. Siddique took an $80,000 a year pay cut.
Siddique noted that he was not complaining about his salary, but it’s also “not cheap to live here,” and serving as commissioner is a full-time job.
Siddique didn't run his campaign on "just being a young person," he ran on bringing a new generation of leadership, new perspectives and new experiences to Manatee County.
He views age as a correlation to experience, which is important, but he also added a need for younger people in leadership roles.
Siddique said older politicians in their 60s, 70s and 80s have a lot of great experience, but they don't understand certain issues, such as the cost of living and the middle class barely being able to afford to buy homes.
McCann, a retiree in his 60s, echoed that sentiment, noting that young people often leave Manatee County after college because they can't find jobs and afford to buy houses.
He said it will take young leaders like Bailey to solve such problems.
