Jacob Ogles
It surprised many observers when Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Planning Commissioner Neil Rainford to a County Commission seat over former Sheriff Tom Knight. Now, the voters of Sarasota County will decide whether they like that choice.
Knight and Rainford face off in an Aug. 20 Republican Primary in Venice-centered District 3. The contest has become one of the most expensive in the region — and arguably the most personal.
Rainford was appointed in June 2023 to serve out the term of late County Commissioner Nancy Detert. But Knight said he had discussed a potential run before Detert’s unexpected death.
He argues the board needs an experienced public servant, rather than yet another businessman tied to the development community.
“When you get a board controlled by developers, you get Commissioners who really don’t know how to govern,” Knight said. “They don’t understand millage or policies, and they make decisions contradictory to what the community wants.”
Knight said that over three terms as Sheriff, not to mention a lengthy Florida Highway Patrol career before that, he learned the needs of a public agency better than most people who have sat on the board in the past.
But Rainford said he has already proven he can do the job, and feels confident voters will install him for a full term. Before his appointment, he served on the Sarasota County Planning Commission and won election to the county Charter Review Board, both positions where he needed a board majority for any decision to carry weight.
“Being a Sheriff is way different than being a County Commissioner,” Rainford said. “You need three votes on anything you want to do. My colleagues listen to me because of the relationships I have and build and because I am well-prepared for meetings.”
Another relationship he boasts: one with the sitting Sheriff, Kurt Hoffman. The current Sheriff previously served as Knight’s Chief Deputy. But in this election, he delivered a slight of not only endorsing Rainford, but cutting an ad critical of Knight.
In the ad, he criticized Knight for choosing to participate in a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, something Knight said helped diffuse a tense situation in the wake of the George Floyd murder in Minnesota that year.
“I told them they had a right to peacefully protest. But it didn’t have to happen on private property or destroy or hurt anything or anyone,” Knight said of his interactions with protesters. “And we never had any arrests.”
But Knight notably has also come out against a Hoffman request for a new Sheriff’s Office headquarters, calling it an unnecessary waste of money as Rainford got behind the plan.
Rainford also has accused Knight of being soft on immigration and gun control, part of the reason he believes DeSantis made the choice he did last year.
“The previous Sheriff caved when it came to Black Lives Matter and gun legislation in the past,” Rainford said.
As for Rainford’s own record, he rejects accusations that he coddles development interests, and said his voting record on the County Commission and Planning Commission includes votes for and against requests to allow more building.
“Applicants will want more density or more height, want to stretch those rights,” he said. “I have looked and said that’s too much, that, yes you have property rights I will never take away as a conservative, but I won’t give you additional capacity.”
Knight said the tenor of the campaign has been negative, but nothing he could not handle.
“It’s a little more on steroids than we anticipated,” Knight said. “The direction from my opponent and his supporters didn’t surprise us, but we were surprised how early they started and by the nastiness they have created.”
The race has been a costly one. Rainford through Aug. 16 spent nearly $275,000 in an effort to retain his seat, while Knight has burned through more than $224,000. All that has gone to reach voters in a single-member district covering about a fifth of the county.
The winner of the Republican Primary will face Shari Thornton, a candidate with no party affiliation, in the General Election.
The District 3 election happens the same day that a Sarasota County District 1 Republican Primary also unfolds, pitting County Charter Review Board member Alexandra Coe against David Group President Teresa Mast.
That race too has centered around development, with Coe calling for historic preservation while Mast, spouse to Suncoast Builders Association CEO Jon Mast, has promised to keep up a pro-business outlook on the Commission.
