Myakka City resident throws his cowboy hat into Manatee County Commission race

When Myakka City’s Mike Harrison, 65, graduated from high school, he said finding animal feed “in town” was easy. 

Off the top of his head, he rattled off six store names. Today, he can only name two feed stores in Bradenton — Tractor Supply and Come See Come Sav. As the livestock continues to move further east, so do the feed stores. 

“That’s a lot of movement because of a lot of development,” Harrison said. “Development in rural areas has affected us. It definitely has affected me. It’s affected the feed stores and the large animal veterinarians.”

Harrison is affected because he’s a farrier by trade. Farriers specialize in hoof care and horseshoes. 

Now, he’s looking to fill another set of shoes, those of the late commissioner Carol Ann Felts. Harrison is running to represent the rural areas of District 1 on the Manatee County Commission, but he will first have to win the Republican nomination in the Aug. 18 primary election. 

“Carol and I had talked about it before,” he said. “She told me, ‘When I’m done with this, you should think about it. It’d be a great job for you.’”

If elected, Harrison plans to follow Felts’ lead and protect rural Manatee County from development many of the residents don’t want.

“Right now, development is the biggest issue in Manatee County,” he said. “Anyone I talk to in the streets — in Parrish, Myakka, Ellenton — nobody wants any more development until we figure out the flaws that we already have.”

Harrison noted that developers aren’t “evil.” They simply “do what big developers do: They develop land and make money.”

Harrison has never run for office before, but he currently holds two leadership positions. He’s served as pastor at the New Wine Worship Center in Sarasota since 2004 and has served as president of the Florida Cracker Trail Association since 2019.

He' a self-described “nice guy,” who knows how to be firm and say, “No,” which he is prepared to do if elected.

Because of recent “government overreach” by the state, Harrison noted that he would be walking into office with “one arm tied behind his back,” but he can still “stand up for what’s right.” 

“If the zoning isn’t changed, don’t change it,” he said. “You just have to stay within the perimeters of the law.” 

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

Harrison sees Myakka City and Parrish as being “overlooked and bypassed.” All Manatee County residents pay taxes at the same rate, but Myakka City barely has any amenities and Parrish is being “totally engulfed by development” and still doesn’t have a community center.

He called it a “sad state of affairs” when even the roads don’t get the county’s attention in rural areas. Harrison lives on a private, dirt road in Myakka City, which many residents prefer because dirt is easier on a horse’s feet and drivers don’t speed as fast as they would on asphalt. 

However, Harrison pointed to Wauchula Road and County Road 675 as paved roads that need work. 

Harrison was involved a wreck on County Road 675. Another driver entered his lane. When he swerved to avoid the car, his car dropped off the ledge into an approximate 9.5-inch ditch because the road has no shoulder.

The animals are overlooked, too. Harrison said “Lord, have mercy” if anyone tried to move a sea turtle. Residents turn down their lights and can’t touch the nests. Yet gopher tortoises are regularly relocated in District 1 because of development.  

Harrison called himself a "true Floridian" who has been fighting to preserve rural Florida and its history for 35 years. He said what you see is what you get. 

"I'm Mike Harrison wherever I go," he said. "I'm the same person at church as I am out here working on horses and when I'm campaigning. I don't know how to change. I'm not a chameleon."