Candidates in Delray Beach and Boca Raton look ahead to the March elections

Abigail Hasebroock, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
·4 min read

Nine candidates have stepped forward to run for Delray Beach City Commission seats in the March 19 election, while four hopefuls are running for public office in Boca Raton.

They’re among the many candidates seeking local office in more than 20 cities in Palm Beach County this March.

Other candidates, whose seats were uncontested, already have received automatic wins, such as three incumbents in Highland Beach.

Here’s a look at the cities’ candidates in southern Palm Beach County.

Delray Beach

Nine people are running for three different positions in Delray Beach, vying for seats one, three and five.

Running for mayor, Seat Five, are Ryan Boylston, Tom Carney and Shirley Ervin Johnson.One of them will replace Delray Beach City Mayor Shelley Petrolia, who has served in that position since 2018.

The candidates for commission Seat Three are Anneze Barthelemy, Juli Casale and Nicholas Coppola. One of them will replace Boylston, who has served on the City Commission since 2018 and whose vice-mayor term is up.

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Running for commission Seat One are James R. Chard, Tennille DeCoste and Thomas Markert. The winner would replace current City Commissioner Adam Frankel, who is ineligible to run again in his current seat due to term limits.

The qualifying period for candidates ended Nov. 21, according to the Delray Beach City Clerk. And candidates had to submit their latest financial reports by Jan. 10, said Boylston, the current vice mayor.

Boylston, who filed to run for mayor last summer, said the introduction of Deputy Vice Mayor Rob Long and Commissioner Angela Burns last March created a “significant shift” in the tone of the city commission meetings.

“Things are very stable at city hall. The meetings are just very collaborative, and it’s just a positive vibe since last year, and we want keep that going,” he said.

Candidate forums are expected to take place before the election. The Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce is holding a forum on Jan. 30.

Boca Raton

In Boca Raton, four people qualified to run for two seats C and D on the City Council.

The Seat C candidates are Yvette Drucker and Bernard Korn. Drucker is the incumbent, having served on the council since her election in 2021. Korn, her opponent, ran for mayor in 2018 and 2020 and lost to current mayor Scott Singer both times.

The Seat D candidates are Brian Stenberg and Andy Thomson. One of them will replace Monica Mayotte, the current Seat D holder. Stenberg ran for the same spot in 2021 and lost, while Thomson won Seat A on the council in 2018.

Stenberg, who currently serves on Palm County’s Planning Commission, said he has lived in Boca Raton for nearly 27 years with his family, and not using what he’s learned and experienced during that time to benefit his neighbors would be “a shame.”

“I figured that running for City Council and serving on the City Council would be an effective avenue for that,” he said.

Like Stenberg, Thomson’s roots in the city run “very, very deep,” Thomson said.

“When a community is in your blood, like it is for me here, the only way you really can realistically hope to keep it that way or make it a little bit better is by getting involved,” Thomson said. “That is what drove me to run.”

The Boca Raton mayor and council members are elected for three-year terms, and after serving two consecutive terms, members are no longer allowed to serve in office.

The mayor and council members seats designated A and B are elected one year, and the council members in the seats designated C and D are elected the following year.

When Drucker ran in 2021, life was still marred by the COVID-19 pandemic, so candidate forums of any kind were all virtual, she said, but this year will likely be different, offering more in-person opportunities for residents to get to know the candidates.

Highland Beach

All three qualified candidates who came forward in Highland Beach ran unopposed, securing automatic wins. They are:

  • Natasha C. Moore, the current mayor.

  • David Stern, the current vice mayor.

  • Judith Goldberg, a current commissioner.

The town’s qualifying period ended Nov. 28, and while no votes will be needed for those candidates, Highland Beach still will have an election: Voters will weigh in on three referendum questions, which will appear on the March 19 ballot.

The questions pertain to a sanitation-rehabilitation project, raising the current funding limitation to adjust for inflation and canvassing duties.

Other cities with March elections

The Palm Beach County’s Supervisor of Elections Office has been compiling an updated list of races in each city. As of this week, in addition to Delray Beach, Boca Raton and Highland Beach, these municipalities are set to have elections in March:

  • Belle Glade

  • Greenacres

  • Hypoluxo

  • Juno Beach

  • Jupiter Inlet Colony

  • Lake Park

  • Lake Worth Beach

  • Lantana

  • Loxahatchee Groves

  • North Palm Beach

  • Ocean Ridge

  • Pahokee

  • Palm Beach

  • Palm Beach Gardens

  • Riviera Beach

  • Royal Palm Beach

  • South Bay

  • Tequesta

  • Wellington

  • West Palm Beach