District 4 incumbent Joe Neunder lost his reelection bid Tuesday to retired Sarasota Police Sgt. Jim DeNiro, who received 53.33% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office.
District 2 incumbent Mark Smith received 53.32% of the vote in a rare universal primary against fellow Republican Kristiina Sargent.
Both DeNiro and Sargent were critical of the current board, focusing on the county’s expanding budget and rapid growth.
Smith owns an architect firm, and he is a longtime Siesta Key resident.
Along with District 3 Commissioner Tom Knight, Smith has been a consistent opponent of developing “mega hotels” on Siesta Key – which is crucial because it takes a four-vote supermajority to change the
Sarasota County Comprehensive Plan.
Next up for DeNiro will be a Nov. 3 contest against Democrat Julie London, who had no challenger in the primary.
According to the unofficial tally by the Supervisor of Elections office, 33.06% of Sarasota County’s 328,751 registered voters cast ballots in the primary, including 37,444 on Aug. 18 while 18,127 took advantage of the early voting period and 53,105 voted by mail.
A total of 57,786 Republicans voted, along with 36,831 Democrats and 14,059 other or no-party-affiliation voters.
Overall, there are 162,747 Republicans, 80,594 Democrats, and 85,410 other or no-party-affiliation voters registered in Sarasota County.
You can see the Herald-Tribune's live election coverage here.
Earle Kimel primarily covers local governments in Sarasota County as well as land development and environmental issues for the Herald-Tribune. Follow him on Facebook, and X. He can be reached by email at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: DeNiro ousts Neunder, Smith wins reelection to Sarasota County Commission
