DeSantis' School Board endorsements prove mixed bag as 2 Volusia races head to runoffs

The makeup of a new Volusia County School Board will have to wait until November, as two of the three hotly contested seats moved to a runoff following Tuesday's primary election.

The nonpartisan School Board races were anything but, with Gov. Ron DeSantis weighing in on two of the races and holding a rally Sunday at Destination Daytona in Ormond Beach.

While it's difficult to evaluate how much DeSantis' blessing helped one candidate, incumbent board Vice Chair Jamie Haynes, another of his chosen, Fred Lowry, lost.

Incumbent board Chair Ruben Colón, who got 51.3% in District 5 against Lowry, will retain his seat.

Meanwhile, Haynes got 43% in her race for District 1 and will move to a runoff against longtime Volusia County Schools administrator Al Bouie, who got just over 25%.

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The other race, District 3, was tight, with Jessie Thompson (33.8%) and Justin Kennedy (33.6%) advancing. Kim Short, the target of a well-funded attack ad campaign, finished with 32.7%.

Volusia County School Board, District 1

Haynes, the board's current vice chair, has served on the board since winning her first term in 2018.

Haynes is a former teacher and administrator with Volusia County Schools, including writing and managing a $26 million Title I grant.

In a rematch of 2018, Haynes will face Bouie, as neither topped the 50% threshold to be an outright victor.

"I'm very pleased with the results," Haynes said. "I knew it would be tough to pull off 50% plus 1, but I'm not that far off from it. When you have five people, statistically speaking, (winning outright is) going to be tough to do."

Haynes said she wasn't sure how much the DeSantis rally on Sunday helped.

"I don't know that it had any role in what happened today," she said. "It was on the east side of the county and it was a limited number of people who could be there, and it was a Sunday."

Also running were: Ginny-Beth Joiner, a DeLand business owner and former teacher who got 15%; Jaclyn Carrell, a mom who said she was kicked out of a School Board meeting because she refused to wear a mask during the pandemic, who finished fourth with just over 10%; and Georgann Carnicella, a social-services professional who got 6%.

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Volusia County School Board, District 3

Thompson, of New Smyrna Beach, is the mother of two children, an author and has performed as a standup comic, in addition to serving as president of the PTA at Coronado Beach Elementary.

She will be running against Kennedy, a landscaping business owner and former Edgewater city council member.

The third-place finisher, Short, and Thompson are both Republicans who have been engaged in DeSantis' "year of the parent" campaign to support conservative school board candidates. But neither gained his endorsement, or the endorsement of the Volusia County Republican Party, which proved influential in other races.

Kennedy, a Democrat, has been endorsed by the outgoing District 3 School Board member, Linda Cuthbert.

"It was always going to be a close race," Kennedy said. "(Thompson), backed by $100,000-plus with her campaign and her PAC, it's hard to beat that."

But he said he will "retool" his campaign and seek a victory in November.

Thompson didn't respond to a text seeking a comment on Tuesday.

Short — who campaigned as an uber-volunteer, certified mentor, substitute teacher who had attended or listened to every board meeting for 10 years — faced a campaign alleging she bullied one opponent to drop out of the race while accosting an 11-year-old elementary school student.

Some voters expressed anger at an aggressive mailer campaign against Short conducted by School Boards Matter, a Tallahassee-based political committee chaired by lobbyist David Ramba. The PAC raised about $110,000, with $75,000 of it coming from Voters for Economic Growth, another PAC chaired by Ramba, whose clients include Florida Power & Light, the Florida Automobile Dealers Association and the City of Daytona Beach.

The School Boards Matter flyers called Short: "Unstable. Unfit. Bully." The same PAC mailed cards in support of Thompson.

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Volusia County School Board, District 5

Colón, a physician liaison at AdventHealth, campaigned on his record, citing increased graduation rates and the opening of a new Deltona Middle School as two of his top accomplishments.

Colón, who in his first year voted to remove Tom Russell as superintendent, replacing him with Scott Fritz, said his vote to push out Fritz this spring was necessary and will heal the district's atmosphere.

Where Colón emphasized his passion for getting involved and being at schools routinely, Lowry said he prefers a more dispassionate approach to avoid having "a hard time being objective." Lowry talked about the need for more parental involvement and discipline in schools.

Lowry, a two-term Volusia County councilman known for his low-key demeanor on the dais, is also a longtime Deltona-area pastor who faced calls for his resignation in 2021. Videos of some of his sermons had surfaced online, where he was heard advancing conspiracy theories about the trafficking of children, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.

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This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Ruben Colón wins re-election; 2 Volusia School Board races are runoffs