This story has been updated to correct mistakes that appeared in the original version.Chase Anderson "Andy" Romagnanoqualified as a write-in candidate for the Escambia County Clerk of Court and his name will not appear on the ballot, and the name of Felicia Fortune Northcutt, candidate for the Santa Rosa County School Board District 4 seat. Santa Rosa Schools Superintendent candidate Karen Barber was misspelled.
Political candidates across the state of Florida had until noon Friday to meet the qualifications to appear on ballots during the primary and general elections set for the fall.
Across Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, more than 90 names will appear on ballots for public office this fall. Here's a look at the offices up for election and people who will appear on the ballot in both counties.
Escambia County
Escambia County's largest contested race is who will succeed David Morgan as sheriff — Escambia County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Chip Simmons, running as a Republican, or former Pensacola Police Department Chief David Alexander, running as a Democrat.
Another countywide office up for reelection is the Office of Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller. Two-term incumbent Pam Childers will still appear on the ballot in Novemberdespite appearing to be facing no opposition. She was not automatically reelected Friday because she is being challenged by a write-in candidate Chase Anderson "Andy" Romagnano, who is homeless and listed his address as the Waterfront Rescue Mission in his candidate paperwork.
Election 2020:Escambia County races you should be watching now
Three Escambia County Commission seats are up for reelection this year, and all three are being contested.
Primary voters of both parties in District 1 and District 5 will get to vote in open primaries for those seats between the Republican candidates. In Florida, party primaries are allowed to be open to all voters, unless there is a qualified candidate in another party or declared write-in candidate.
District 3 will be a closed primary with only registered Democrats able to participate inthe election contest between brothers Lumon May, the incumbent, and LuTimothy May. The primary became closed when write-in candidate Jason Laird qualified for the election.
Public records indicate Laird is actually a resident of District 5, but is allowed to run so long as he's a resident of District 3 by Election Day.
The local office with the most candidates is the Emerald Coast Utility Authority District 3 seat, which is being contested by eight candidates.
The primary will be held Aug. 18, and the general election is Nov. 3.
In several local offices, incumbents have won reelection by default because no opposition qualified for the ballot, including the property appraiser, supervisor of elections and two school board seats.
Pensacola City Council newcomer to the City Council, Casey Jones, won his seat bid without opposition toreplace outgoing Councilman Andy Terhaar in District 3.
Because three candidates qualified in the District 7 City Council race, that election will be held Aug. 18 during the primary. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, a runoff will be held Nov. 3. The District 5 City Council race will be decided Nov. 3.
Three town council seats up for election in Century are also unopposed.
Below is a list of each Escambia County local offices up for election and the candidates who have qualified for the ballot:
Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller (Open Primary)
- Pamela Lynn Chiders – R – incumbent
- Chase Anderson "Andy" Romagnano –write-in candidate, will not appear on the ballot
Sheriff
- David Alexander III – D
- Chip Simmons – R
Property Appraiser
- Chris Jones – D – reelected without opposition
Tax Collector
- Scott Lunsford – R – incumbent
- Wendy Rich– Non-party affiliated
Supervisor of Elections
- David Stafford – R – reelected without opposition
County Commission District 1 (Open Primary)
- Jeff Bergosh – R – incumbent
- Jesse Casey – R
- Jonathan Owens – R
- Jimmie Trotter – R
County Commission District 3 (Closed Primary)
- Jason Laird – write-in candidate, will not appear on the ballot
- Lumon May – D – incumbent
- LuTimothy May Sr. – D
County Commission District 5 (Open Primary)
- Steven Barry – R – incumbent
- John Reading – R
- Magan Walters – R
ECUA District 1 (Open Primary)
- Debra Brusso – R
- Vicki H. Campbell – R – incumbent
ECUA District 3 (Closed Primary)
- Calvin Avant – Non-party affiliated
- John R. Johnson - Non-party affiliated
- Ellison Bennett – D
- Clorissti Bernie-Shoemo – D
- Eric L. Jordan Sr. – D
- Ashley McDonald – D
- Larry Williams – D
- Pueschel Schneier – R
ECUA District 5 (Open Primary)
- Kevin Stephens – R
- Larry Walker – R – incumbent
Non-partisan races
Escambia County Judge, Group 2
- Charles Young - unopposed
Escambia County School Board District 4
- Patty Hightower – reelected without opposition
Escambia County School Board District 5
- Bill Slayton – reelected without opposition
Santa Rosa Island Authority
- Thomas A. Campanella – reelected without opposition
Pensacola City Council District 1
- Jennifer Brahier
- P.C. Wu – incumbent
Pensacola City Council District 3
- Casey Jones – elected without opposition
Pensacola City Council District 5
- Teniade Broughton
- Ron Helms
Pensacola City Council District 7
- Brenton Goodman
- James L. Gulley
- Delarian Wiggins
Town of Century Mayor
- Benjamin D. Boutwell
- Henry Hawkins – incumbent
Town of Century Council Seat 1
- Ann C. Brooks – incumbent
- Calvin Conttrell Jr.
- Dynette Lewis
Town of Century Council Seat 2
- Luis Gomez Jr. – reelected without opposition
Town of Century Council Seat 3
- Shelisa Dorshae McCall
- Leonard B. White
Escambia County Soil and Water Conservation District, Group 1
- Matt Sharpsteen
- Betty Wilson – incumbent
Escambia County Soil and Water Conservation District, Group 3
Catherine Monroe-Dismuke – elected without opposition
Escambia County Soil and Water Conservation District, Group 5
- Louis A. Toth – elected without opposition
Federal and judicial candidates
Federal candidates and judicial candidates qualified for the ballot in April, while other state offices had a deadlineof noon Friday to qualify. Here's a list of local state candidates and offices up for election this year in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties:
U.S. Representative House District 1
- Phil Ehr– D
- Matt Gaetz– R – incumbent
- Greg Merk – R
- John Mills – R
- Albert Oram– Non-party affiliated
State Attorney
- Ginger Bowden Madden– R– elected without opposition
Public Defender
- Bruce A. Miller– R– reelected without opposition
State Senator District 1
- Douglas V. Broxson– R– incumbent
- Karen M. Butler– D
State Representative House District 1
- Mike Hill– R– incumbent
- Michelle Salzman– R
- Franscine C. Mathis– D
- Barbara Scott-Shouse– D
State Representative House District 2
- Alex Andrade– R– incumbent
- Cris Dosev– R
- Dianne Krumel– D
State Representative House District 3
- Angela L. Hoover– D
- Jayer Williamson– R– incumbent
Santa Rosa County
Another contentious election cycle is already in full swing in Santa Rosa County, with challengers taking on each of the three district County Commissionseats up for grabs and three school district employees vying for the superintendent seat being vacated by Tim Wyrosdick.
The races for commission seats for Districts 1 and 3 will be particularly heated, with three challengers taking on incumbent Sam Parker for District 1and five taking on incumbent Don Salter for District 3.
The issues facing the county are largely the same as they were in October 2019, when voters defeated the half-cent sales tax increase in a landslide and let the sitting commissioners know the key issues they wanted solved were growth, development and infrastructure. Santa Rosa is the 12th fastest growing county in the state of Florida.
The school district is facing several issues of its own: in addition to being currently embroiled in a lawsuit with the Home Builders Association of West Florida over its implementation of impact fees to pay for new schools, the district is also scooping up land across the county to build new schools it doesn’t yet have the money for, as well as dealing with rezonings to accommodate the nearly three-quarters of schools that are at or over capacity.
The district will also likely see a big blow to its budget this year and next year due to the COVID-19 crisis drying up state funds, and the future of virtual learning is up in the air as Gov. Ron DeSantis has left school openings this fall largely up to individual districts.
The cities of Milton and Gulf Breeze will have their candidates and ballot measures appear on the general election ballot in November, as opposed to August. The deadline for those municipalities to submit their filings to the Santa Rosa County Supervisor of Elections is Friday, Aug. 21.
Below is a list of each major county office up for grabs and a brief summary of the race. There are 18 additional minor races, all of which are uncontested, thatcan be found on the supervisor of election's website.
County Commissioner District 1 (Closed Primary)
- Stacy Bryan – R
- Chase Gilbert – write-in candidate, will not appear on the ballot
- Sam Parker – R – incumbent
- Geoff Ross – R
The District 1 commissioner oversees the Pace and Pea Ridge area of Santa Rosa County, which is one of the fastest-growing areas in the county.
The Republican candidates will face off in the Aug. 18 primary, and the winner of that race will face off against the write-in candidate in the general electionNov. 3.
County Commissioner District 3 (Closed Primary)
- Ryan Adkins – R
- Patrick Brown – write-in candidate, will not appear on the ballot
- James Calkins – R
- Jerry Couey – R
- Don Salter – R – incumbent
- Gage Schlegel – R
The most crowded of all the county races, the District 3 commissioner oversees the entire northern half of the county, which includes mostly rural farmland. Current seat holder Don Salter, who has served on the boardthe longest of all five sitting commissioners, is seeking his sixth term.As in the District 1 race, the Republican candidates will face off in the Aug. 18 primary, and the winner of that race will face off against the write-in candidate in the general election on Nov. 3.
County Commissioner District 5 (Open Primary)
Candidates:
- Randal Lane Lynchard – R – incumbent
- Colten Wright – R
District 5 represents Gulf Breeze proper and Midway. Lynchard is seeking his fourth term as a County Commissioner, challenged by newcomer Wright. The race will be decided in the Nov. 3 election.
Property Appraiser
Candidate: Gregory Stephen Brown II – R
Longtime property appraiser Greg Brown withdrew from the race last week and endorsed his son, Greg Brown II, in the race. Brown II is currently running unopposed.
School Board District 2
- Elizabeth Hewey
- Clifton Buddy Hinote– incumbent
The non-partisan office will be decided in the general election.
School Board District 4
- Charles Elliott
- Felicia Fortune Northcutt
Jennifer Granse, who is currently in the District 4 seat, did not file for re-election.
Sheriff
Candidate:Bob Johnson– R – incumbent
Johnson, who is seeking his second term, is running unopposed.
Superintendent of Schools (Open Primary)
Candidates:
- Karen Barber – R
- David Gunter – R
- Michael Alan Thorpe – R
The three candidates are vying for the seat that will be left vacant by current Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick, who is not seeking a fourth term.
Pace Fire Rescue District, Seat 5
- Daniel Mills
- Wayne Swenson
Town of Jay: City council candidates
There are two openings on the Jay Town Council, and only two candidates qualified:
- Wayne Godwin – will retain his council position
- Jane Hayes – will join the council inMaxine Ivey’s current council position
The town of roughly 620 people will also vote on a measure that would allow stores to sell alcohol on Sundays.
Republican State Committeeman
- David R. Farrow - R
- Lonnie Hawkins -R
