All but 1 Pinellas constitutional officer elected without opposition

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Four of five Pinellas County constitutional officers have been elected without opposition after the qualifying deadline came and went without much fanfare.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, Clerk of the Court Ken Burke, Property Appraiser Mike Twitty, and Adam Ross, who ran unopposed to replace retiring Tax Collector Charles Thomas, have all been elected.

Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus will face Chris Gleason in an open Republican Primary.

Burke raised $30,550 and spent just over $3,000, while Gualtieri raised more than $73,000 and spent just over $10,000. Twitty raised more than $85,000 and spent about $17,000 fending off any potential challengers.

Of all the constitutional officer races, Ross, as a non-incumbent, raised the most. He exceeded six figures, with nearly $106,000 raised to his campaign, spending a little over $10,000.

Marcus, meanwhile, raised more than $65,000 and has about $48,000 left on hand as she trudges on to an open Primary.

Other than constitutional offices, Pinellas County Commissioners Chris Latvala, a Republican, and Democrat Rene Flowers were also re-elected without opposition to Districts 5 and 7, respectively.

Two County Commission races — Districts 1 and 3 — have competition. The District 1 race between Democrat Cookie Kennedy and Republican Chris Scherer will be decided in the Nov. 5 General Election, as neither candidate faces Primary opposition. The two are running to succeed Janet Long, the Democratic incumbent who is not seeking re-election. 

In District 3, Democratic incumbent Charlie Justice will face the winner of a GOP Primary. Government watchdog Vincent Nowicki drew a last-minute challenge from influencer David Scott Leatherwood.

All County Judge candidates — Cathy Ann McKyton, Aaron Weston Hubbard, Diane Croff, Lorraine Kelly and Susan Bedinghaus — were elected without opposition for the nonpartisan judicial races.

Several School Board races are also on the ballot, including incumbents Laura Hine in District 1 and Eileen Long in District 4. They face Danielle Marlof and Erika Picard, respectively. Both are Moms for Liberty-backed candidates running against incumbents that the group targeted this cycle.

The District 5 School Board race is also competitive. The three qualified candidates include Brad DeCorte, a registered Democrat, as well as Katie Blaxberg and Stacy Geier, both registered Republicans. Moms for Liberty is backing Geier and has labeled Blaxberg, a former staffer for then-state Rep. Latvala, as a RINO (Republican in Name Only).

Blaxberg briefly changed her party affiliation to Democrat after rejecting the politics of former President Donald Trump over comments about sexually assaulting women and allegations of actually sexually assaulting them. Blaxberg is herself a rape survivor. It’s worth noting that the School Board races are nonpartisan and candidates’ political affiliations will not appear on the ballot.