Mike Wright
Citrus County has never seen a Sheriff’s race like this one.
The incumbent, Mike Prendergast, is on the ballot for his third term. His challenger is David Vincent, the Citrus County School District Chief of Police.
Both are Republican. The Primary is open to all voters and whoever wins is elected Sheriff.
On a ballot with the County Commission, School Board, and Superintendent of Schools, it’s the Sheriff’s race that has captured the attention of Citrus County voters.
Prendergast has been an enigma since first arriving in Citrus County in spring 2016 to run for Sheriff. He came with big-time credentials, as former Chief of Staff for Gov. Rick Scott who had resigned as the Director of Veteran Affairs to run for office.
The race took a tragic turn when, just weeks after ballot qualifying, front-runner Phil Royal died while participating in an annual fundraising run from Tallahassee.
That left Prendergast and two other candidates. Royal’s widow, April Royal, and the sitting Sheriff, Jeff Dawsy, support Prendergast.
He was elected, and then re-elected in 2020. Prendergast seemed headed for another easy election before a series of public relations blunders that began in 2022 and haven’t let up.
He has openly battled with county officials, antagonized Democrats and angered Donald Trump supporters with his agency’s assistance in the arrest of a Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rioter. When County Commissioners said they gave him all he requested in prior budgets, Prendergast responded this year with a 79% budget increase — which Commissioners ignored.
Meanwhile, opposition heated up. First, Calvin Adams Jr., a retired colonel with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, jumped in. Then, Vincent.
The race took a turn, though, with Doug Alexander’s candidacy. Alexander, an Inverness pastor, former Sheriff’s deputy and community leader known for helping Citrus County’s downtrodden, immediately urged voters to veer from Prendergast and toward a community-minded candidate.
Prendergast held an enormous financial edge. He had already raised close to $200,000 before qualifying — more than twice as much as his competitors combined.
Voters who wanted Prendergast out were now concerned that he would split a four-candidate race and win with less than 50% of the vote.
Then, the three challengers got together for a private chat. On the final day of qualifying both Adams and Alexander dropped out, throwing their support to Vincent.
“It is imperative the vote not be split among so many like-minded candidates,” Adams said at the time.
Alexander said he had no trouble asking his supporters to back Vincent.
“A vote for Dave is a vote for Doug,” he said. “A vote for Dave is a vote for this community.”
Prendergast’s fundraising has significantly slowed since May. Since qualifying, Vincent’s has ratcheted up. Half of Vincent’s $102,000 in donations came in after Alexander and Adams withdrew.
Dawsy, retiring Superintendent of Schools Sandra “Sam” Himmel and Chamber of Commerce President Josh Wooten are all supporting Vincent. Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis backed Prendergast.
Vincent, who retired from the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office in 2020 as a captain after a 27-year career spanning several areas of the agency, has pledged a more community-focused Sheriff’s Office that aims to seal partnerships with Citrus County officials. He says the county needs more focused traffic enforcement, and Vincent supports body-worn cameras for deputies.
Prendergast has focused on what he calls “historic drug busts.” Prendergast is known for posing in photos with undercover officers displaying confiscated drugs and weapons.
But it was a nonpolitical event that had Prendergast in knots.
At the Lecanto High School graduation ceremony in May 2023, Deputy Andy Lahera was struck by a car and critically injured while directing traffic on a dark, drizzly night.
On the one-year anniversary of Lahera’s injury, his wife, Michelle, penned a guest column in the Citrus County Chronicle that detailed Prendergast’s plan to bump her husband from the Sheriff’s employ without long-term medical benefits in place.
The community was outraged. Prendergast’s attempts to deflect blame only brought more public scrutiny.
Then, just last week, the Chronicle reported that the Florida Highway Patrol determined that the driver who struck Lahera was not at fault.
Wednesday night, WFTS-TV, Channel 28 in Tampa, reported radio transmissions from that night showed deputies warned supervisors not to open a second exit for graduation traffic because the intersection was not lit. Someone ordered it open, and that’s where Lahera was struck.
