Drew WilsonIncumbent Pinellas County Commissioners Dave Eggers and Pat Gerard were re-elected Friday after no opponents qualified for the ballot ahead of the noon Friday deadline.
Gerard, a Democrat, was elected to the District 2 commission seat in 2014. Clearwater Vice Mayor Doreen Caudell filed to challenge Gerard in May 2017 and raised more than $75,000 for her campaign before calling it quits last month to serve out the remainder of her term on the Clearwater City Council, which runs through 2020.
Gerard raised more than $125,000 for her re-election campaign and had more than $100,000 on hand as of her most recent campaign finance report.
Eggers, a Republican, was also first elected in 2014. He never faced a challenger in his bid for a second term in District 4. The lack of threat kept his campaign account bare — he had raised a little over $8,000 as of May 31 and had $7,000 banked.
Though District 2 and District 4 won’t be on the 2018 ballot, the District 6 seat will.
Four candidates have qualified for the seat that had been held by Republican Commissioner John Morroni since 2000. Morroni died last month at the age of 63.
Republican Rep. Kathleen Peters has held the fundraising lead in the District 6 contest since she declared for the seat last year. Also qualifying for the seat are term-limited Republican Rep. Larry Ahern, Republican businesswoman Barb Haselden and Democrat Amy Kedron.
