Gardner, Bexley, Johnston, Lenhart elected unopposed as filing deadline passes in Flagler elections

County Commission, Palm Coast City Council and School Board candidates among the races to be on the ballot.


Election signs are popping up, including at the corner of U.S. 1 and Palm Coast Parkway. Photo by Brian McMillan
Election signs are popping up, including at the corner of U.S. 1 and Palm Coast Parkway. Photo by Brian McMillan
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With filing deadline passing at noon June 12, four constitutional officers have been re-elected by virtue of being unopposed: James E. Gardner Jr. as property appraiser, Tom Bexley as clerk of court, Suzanne Johnston as tax collector, and Kaiti Lenhart as supervisor of elections.

"I'm really humbled, and I didn't expect it," Lenhart said. "You never know what's going to happen even up and until the last minute." With the pandemic, increased mail-ballot voting a presidential election coming in the next few months, Lenhart is also relieved.

"I can actually focus on doing my job without having to worry about keeping it," she said.

Twenty-eight other candidates qualified for the offices of sheriff, County Commission, School Board and Palm Coast mayor and City Council. There were a few changes to the list as of June 12: For example, John Sowell withdrew from his attempt to run for School Board District 3.

Also, in the County Commission District 5 race, Denise Calderwood changed her affiliation from Republican to no-party affiliation at about 11:30 a.m. June 12. By doing so, she will not be included in the Republican primary in August but will be on the November ballot. Paul Anderson is also running as an NPA in that race. Bob Jones is the challenger in the Republican primary against incumbent Donald O'Brien.

Early voting will be Aug. 3-15 for the Aug. 18 primary, which will feature races in which there are at least two candidates of the same party. For nonpartisan races, such as the Palm Coast mayor's race, the five candidates will be on the ballot in August, and there will be a run-off of the top two vote-getters, unless one candidate receives 50% of the vote, plus one vote.

Some offices will be decided in the August primary, and they will be on all ballots, regardless of the voter's registered party. Flagler County Commission District 3, for example, has two Republicans registered for office: Kim Carney and incumbent Dave Sullivan. Democrats, Republicans and NPAs will be able to vote for one or the other, and the office will be decided without a November vote. The same is true of School Board districts 1 and 5, each of which has two candidates for the nonpartisan offices.

 

In the list below, the candidates that will not be included in the primary, but will be voted on in November's election only, will be indicated in italics. For a full list, including community development districts and Mosquito Control, see flaglerelections.com and click on "Local Candidates and Committees."

Flagler Sheriff

Larry Jones, Democrat

Rick Staly, Republican

Flagler County Commission

District 1

Andy Dance, Republican

Corrine Marie Hermle, Democrat

District 3

Kim M. Carney, Republican

David Sullivan, Republican

District 5

Paul T. Anderson, NPA

Denise L. Calderwood, NPA

Bob Jones, Republican

Donald O'Brien Jr., Republican

Flagler School Board

District 1

Vincent Lyon

Jill Rena Woolbright

District 3

Carol "Mother Elizabeth" Bacha

Colleen Conklin

Paul Mucciolo

District 5

Maria Pinto Barbosa

Cheryl L. Massaro

City of Palm Coast

Mayor

John Brady

Donald Alan Greene

Milissa Holland

Alan Lowe

Michael Andrew Schottey

City Council, Seat 1

Ed Danko

Sims E. Jones

Lou Salvagio

City Council, Seat 3

Nicholas Klufas

Cornelia Downing Manfre

Zack Shapiro

 

 

author

Brian McMillan

Brian McMillan and his wife, Hailey, bought the Observer in 2023. Before taking on his role as publisher, Brian was the editor from 2010 to 2022, winning numerous awards for his column writing, photography and journalism, from the Florida Press Association.

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