Janelle Irwin Taylor
Republican Chris Scherer has flipped another Pinellas County Commission seat red, defeating former Indian Rocks Beach Mayor Cookie Kennedy.
Scherer will replace Democrat Janet Long, who is retiring from office. With 83% of precincts reporting Scherer is winning 53% of the vote, with a vote lead of more than 27,000 votes.
Democrats needed to hold onto the seat to stave off further gains by the local GOP after the Republican Party claimed a majority on the Commission just two years ago. Republicans were hoping for a flip, and got it, that will cement that advantage for years to come.
Scherer thanked Pinellas voters for their confidence.
“I will use my 40 years of experience to lead the charge on the commission to rebuild our stormwater & waste water systems. I will push our building departments to fast track permits for our homes and businesses. I will work every day to eliminate wasteful spending and cut our property taxes. Most importantly, I will help our communities recover from the devastating hurricanes and make sure we are prepared and resilient in case of future storms,” Scherer pledged of his service.
“Our families and businesses deserve a leader in local government who knows how to build things and get projects done, and I’m excited to get to work.”
Scherer entered the race about two months ahead of Kennedy, late last February. A graduate of Texas A&M University with a degree in finance, Scherer has lived in Pinellas County for 30 years. He founded Scherer Development in 1994, a company that provides clients with development services ranging from site selection and design to construction, leasing and property management.
Scherer served from 2010 to 2016 on the St. Pete Development Review Commission.
Scherer previously said he’s running “to protect and improve what makes Pinellas special,” which includes a platform of preserving the environment; lowering taxes; enacting term limits; supporting law enforcement; and securing elections.
Signs had been pointing to a Republican edge for Scherer.
The most obvious advantage for the GOP this cycle was a clear voter registration advantage. Republicans outnumber Democrats on the voter rolls by about 35,000 voters, with more than 207,000 Democrats and just under 243,000 Republicans. There are also more than 168,000 voters with no party affiliation and more than 19,000 registered with a third party.
That means Democrats needed support from no-party and third-party voters, and potentially some crossover support from registered Republicans.
Kennedy, who served as Mayor of Indian Rocks Beach for more than five years, attempted to straddle the political divide, gathering at least some bipartisan support.
This Summer, Kennedy earned an endorsement from the Pinellas and Central Pasco Realtor Organizations, groups that tend to back conservative candidates they view as being more lenient on property rights issues.
Endorsements for Kennedy also included a bipartisan slate of current and former elected officials and community advocates. That includes, among others, Pinellas County Commissioner Charlie Justice; Pinellas County School Board member Caprice Edmond; Belleair Beach Mayor Dave Gattis; Indian Shores Mayor Diantha Schear; Dunedin City Commissioner Jeff Gow; Indian Rocks Beach Mayor Denise Houseberg; North Redington Beach Mayor Bill Queen; Redington Shores Mayor Lisa Hendrickson; Indian Rocks Beach Vice Mayor Janet Wilson; Seminole Vice Mayor Trish Springer; Indian Shores City Commissioner Bill Smith; Indian Rocks Beach City Commissioners John Bigelow and Jude Bond; Seminole Vice Mayor Trish Springer; and St. Pete City Council member Gina Driscoll.
But Scherer built a seemingly impenetrable coalition of support almost exclusively from conservatives, including Sens. Nick DiCeglie and Ed Hooper; Pinellas County Commissioners Dave Eggers, Chris Latvala and Brian Scott; former Education Commissioner and House Speaker Richard Corcoran; former St. Pete Mayor Rick Baker, former Sen. Jeff Brandes; and more. Scherer also had support from the Suncoast Police Benevolent Association, among other groups.
Kennedy also faced a funding disadvantage. As of Oct. 18, Kennedy had raised just under $151,000. Scherer, meanwhile, had raised nearly $169,000 to his official campaign, and another nearly $175,000 to his affiliated political committee, Friends of Chris Scherer. As of the most recent reports, Scherer maintained about $34,000 in his campaign account, with his committee run dry. Kennedy maintained only about $3,000.
The GOP has been eyeing Long’s seat for years, coming within striking distance four years ago, but narrowly missing the chance to flip her seat. Long defeated Republican former Rep. Larry Ahern in that race by just 1 percentage point.
Republicans this year were also competing for the District 3 seat held by Democrat Charlie Justice, who also only narrowly secured re-election four years ago. Justice faced Republican challenger Vince Nowicki. With votes still being counted, Justice is trailing Nowicki by about 12,000 votes.
It was widely believed that if Republicans flipped even one of these seats it would be next to impossible for Democrats to recover and regain a majority within the next decade. If Democrats had held them, strategists believed taking back a majority could be possible within a cycle or two.
