Bridget Ziegler hasn’t closed the door on running for office in 2026

Bridget Ziegler takes particular offense to a LGBTQ flyer targeted to teens.

The race for Bridget Ziegler’s seat on the Sarasota County School Board is on. But it’s no certainty that the incumbent will leave the seat quietly.

Allies have said they will wait for Ziegler to announce her ambitions, even as another Sarasota Republican, Heidi Brandt, announced a campaign for her District 1 seat.

Florida Politics asked Ziegler about rumors she may run for the Florida Legislature. She would neither confirm plans to run nor say she will step away from the trail.

“We’re over a year out from the election, and there will be plenty of time for politics and campaigning at a later date,” she said by text.

“My focus remains on continuing to deliver for those who hired me — the residents of Sarasota County — ensuring top-quality academics for our students and shielding our schools from the radical influences relentlessly attempting to infiltrate our education system.”

Ziegler most recently won re-election in 2022, when a conservative majority took over the board and named her Chair. But the three-term board member saw colleagues demand her resignation amid a sex scandal in 2023, declined to say if she intends to run for her current office again.

“Again, right now I’m focused on doing the job Sarasota voters hired me to do,” Ziegler texted.

“If that changes, I’ll make sure to let you know so that you can hopefully avoid using baseless rumors to generate fake news.”

Speculation has stepped up as Brandt made her intentions known. The comments from Ziegler came a couple days after multiple sources confirmed an in-person conversation between her and Brandt.

Max Goodman, a political consultant for Brandt, said he approached prominent GOP Treasurer Eric Robinson, who operates out of Sarasota County, about doing finances for the new candidate’s campaign.

Robinson did not ultimately take the gig. He long served as a treasurer for Ziegler’s campaigns, and also served on the Sarasota County School Board with the incumbent.

“Bridget is my friend,” Robinson said.

But the discussion prompted a conversation between Ziegler and Brandt at Robinson’s office. Discussion about the timing of any announcement took place. But ultimately, Goodman said his own advice to Brandt was to announce for the seat more than a year from an August 2024 election.

“I always like to be first out of the gate,” Goodman said. Brandt on Thursday became the first candidate to announce for any Sarasota County School Board seat.

While conservatives won a majority last time Ziegler appeared on a ballot, progressive candidates won both seats on the ballot in November.

But many expect Ziegler to turn her attention to a legislative seat. While she has told local officials she will not run for an open Florida Senate seat in the region, Rep. James Buchanan, a Venice Republican, is term-limited in House District 74.