Scott Powers
Elected officials from Seminole County like the job Mike Ertel has been doing to supervise their elections.
Ertel on Thursday released a list of scores of current and former elected officials from the county who have either endorsed his re-election bid this fall or have contributed to his campaign.
Ertel, a Republican, does not have any opponents so far in the race.
“That helps,” he said.
Still, Ertel boasted Thursday that the near-unanimity of his endorsement list is “unprecedented,” showing it has united the community.
Among those he listed as supporters: former U.S. Rep. and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, former U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams, Florida Chief Executive Officer Jeff Atwater, state Sen. David Simmons, state Rep. Jason Brodeur, state Rep. Scott Plakon, state Rep. Bob Cortes, State Attorney Phil Archer, Sheriff Don Eslinger, Tax Collector Ray Valdes, Property Appraiser David Johnson, Clerk of Court Maryanne Morse and dozens of other local officials and former state and county officials.
His list also includes dozens of business leaders in Seminole County.
Almost all the elected officials are Republicans, though there are exceptions, but then so are almost all elected officials from Seminole County.
Ertel was first appointed to the supervisor’s position in 2005 and has been elected and re-elected three times so far.
He made history last summer when he became the first Seminole County candidate in memory to turn in all his qualifying petitions to be on the ballot nearly a year and a half before Election Day.
Ertel hopes the theme of Seminole County United will extend beyond his re-election campaign.
“This campaign has brought together people who otherwise wouldn’t unite. As the guy in charge of the process, I see firsthand, and more than most, the strife during campaigns. Elections have an ability to bring strangers together, but also tear friendships apart,” he said. “When the contentiousness of the political wrangling in an election year is over, we all still have to live in the same community. Our kids attend or attended the same schools, we visit the same parks, we shop at the same stores, we work together. This united effort will hopefully be about more than simply re-electing a supervisor of elections, but continuing to highlight a united community after the election fracas has subsided.”
