Two of the three Marion County School Board races include incumbents. The third is open, with incumbent Nancy Thrower deciding not to seek another term.
Incumbents Sarah James, who's the board chair, and the Rev. Eric Cummings, were leading their respective races Tuesday night in early returns. In the third contest, Mike Mills and Brigitte Smith were the top candidates in a four-candidate race, with Mills leading Smith 13,414 to 11,388.
Also in that race are Jeff Brewer with 7,129 votes and Buddy Wyckoff with 3,815.
In early returns, James had 18,474 votes (51.33%) while Donald "Donny" Barber had 11,178 votes (31.06%) and Ualthan Bigby had 17.61% (6,339 votes.)
In early returns, Cummings had 21,087 votes (59.00%) to Steve Swett's 41.00% (14,651
votes.)
According to the Florida Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research, for fiscal year 2025-26, a school board member's annual salary is $52,021.
School board members serve four-year terms and are elected countywide. The races are nonpartisan.
With the school board races, if no one receives 50% of the votes plus one, then the top two vote recipients will face off in the November election.
For the three school board races, the top four money raisers of the nine candidates were James with $47,675, Mills with $29,025, Cummings with $17,794 and Brewer with $14,897.04.
Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Marion County School Board incumbents lead in early returns
