Jacob Ogles
Beth Petrunoff has won a seat on the Naples City Council while voters re-elected Terry Hutchison and Ray Christman to new terms.
With all results reported by the Collier County Supervisor of Elections, Petrunoff came out as the top vote-getter in a five-candidate race to fill three seats. The retired GE executive ran on a platform of uniting the business community and residents through a responsive city government. As the city prepares its comprehensive plan, she promised to encourage low-impact development and ensure a pedestrian-scale future for the Southwest Florida city.
Unofficial final returns show Petrunoff won 3,899 votes, about 23.8% of all votes cast.
The city collected 6,572 ballots, but voters notably could support as many as three candidates. Such a system makes it challenging to predict elections. Naples-connected polling firm Victory Insights two weeks ago released a poll accurately reflecting the top three, though it imagined Petrunoff scrapping for the third seat at the dais with John Dugan.
Hutchison and Christman will make return trips to a swearing-in ceremony.
Hutchison, currently the city’s Vice Mayor, took 3,763 votes, about 23% of all votes counted. The former oil engineer-turned-7-Eleven franchise owner has served as president of The Lake Park Neighborhood Association and sits on the Naples President’s Council.
Christman won his seat in a 2019 Special Election. Before that, he served on the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Board and as Executive Director of Ethics Naples. In his second time on the ballot, Christman took 3,496 votes, about 21.4% of ballots cast.
That means all three winners ended up with the support of more than half the voters who participated in the election.
Dugan, a former consultant with Accenture, ran on a platform demanding change at City Hall, including increased transparency.
Christmas ultimately led Dugan by about 4.5 percentage points. Dugan took 2,766 votes (or 16.9%). Ian Rudnick came in last in the race with 2,426 votes or 14.8%.
