Kowal, Hall win Republican primaries for Collier County Commission elections

Rachel Heimann Mercader, Naples Daily News
·4 min read

Editor's note: This article has been corrected to include Mike Flaherty's proper title. Flaherty is former president of the Riviera Golf Estates Home Owners Association but is no longer on the HOA's board.

District 4 candidate Dan Kowal won a sweeping victory with 42% of the vote in Tuesday's Republican primary, while District 2 candidate Chris Hall won his race with 50.2% of the vote in his primary.

Kowal received 4,373 votes, defeating his top rival opponent, incumbent Penny Taylor, by 18.7 percentage points, advancing to the general election in November against a write-in candidate.

Dan Kowal
Dan Kowal

Hall with face Democrat Bebe Kanter in November.

Michele McLeod in District 4 took second place with 3,059 votes, or 29.4%, compared to Daija Hinojosa with 547 votes, or 5.3% of total votes.

McLeod and Kowal could not be reached for comment.

Previous coverage: 

Penny Taylor
Penny Taylor

Under Florida statute, a write-in candidate is not entitled to have his or her name printed on any ballot; however, space for the write-in candidate’s name to be written in must be provided on the general election ballot

Bill Oppenheimer is the write-in whose candidacy caused the District 4 primary to be closed to only Republican voters.

Here is how the candidate's monetary contributions shake out as of Aug 18:

  • Taylor: $139,119 raised; $121,613 spent

  • Kowal: $132,534 raised; $119,302 spent

  • Hinojosa: $38,732 raised; $30,062 spent

  • McLeod: $76,785 raised; $50,900 spent

  • Oppenheimer: $0 raised, $0 spent

Taylor's election party was a solemn event by 7:30 pm, when the Supervisor of Elections office posted its preliminary results.

Mike Flaherty, a resident of Riviera Golf Estates and former president of the neighborhood's homeowners association, was among the attendees.

"The guy's an empty suit, I still think that," Flaherty said, referring to Kowal.

More: Riviera Golf Estates golf course redevelopment draws hundreds in protest

Penny Taylor looks at election results with Elena Mola on Tuesday night, Aug. 23, 2022, in Naples.
Penny Taylor looks at election results with Elena Mola on Tuesday night, Aug. 23, 2022, in Naples.

Taylor told the Naples Daily News that she is "relieved" that the election is over.

"I've had a wonderful eight years, and it was clear to me that the current public mood was to change; they are unhappy with what's going on," she said. "As a politician, I was one of those changes."

Asked what she plans to do next, Taylor said she was not sure. "This is a new chapter in my life."

Hinojosa expressed skepticism about the results. "I don't understand, there is no way," Hinojosa said, adding that she thought she would win "100%".

"I am mystified," she said.

Daija Hinojosa
Daija Hinojosa

In District 2, Hall received 5,728 votes compared to Nancy Lewis, who received 3,220 votes, or 28.2%.

Reg Buxton received 1,818 or 15.9%, and Gerald Lefebvre received 672, or 5.9%.

Here is how District 2 candidates' monetary contributions work out as of Aug 18:

  • Buxton: $85,700 raised; $69,476 spent

  • Hall: $104,829 raised; $69,634 spent

  • Kanter: $20,000 raised; $5,774 spent

  • Lefebvre: $10,835 raised; $9,903 spent

  • Lewis: $94,009 raised; $85,101 spent

Lewis and Lefebvre could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

Buxton said he was shocked by the outcome but accepted it nonetheless. "A strong proportion of the community has spoken, and this is what they want," he said.

"This just proved to you that Alfie is in control of this county. And that's not good overall," Buxton added.

Reg Buxton
Reg Buxton

Alfie Oakes, who owns Oakes Farm, was at his business, Seed to Table, Tuesday night for an election party with various candidates he endorsed. Those candidates included Kowal, school board candidates Tim Moshier, Kelly Lichter, Jerry Rutherford, and Collier judge candidate Chris Brown.

Oakes told the Naples Daily News that the election represents the "Seed to Table sweep," referring to all candidates he and his PAC Citizens Awake Now endorsed, winning. Oakes was elected a Collier County Republican state committeeman in 2020, and is known for his strong conservative political views, often said at public forums and through social media.

Oakes participated in the "Save America March" in Washington, D.C., on the day of the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol and funded two busloads of local supporters to attend the pro-Trump rally.

He denied any involvement in the riot and blamed left-wing activists for the attack on the Capitol. He told the Naples Daily News after he returned from the rally that protesters were "supporting liberty and freedom," describing his trip as "amazing."

"I think that says I picked American First candidates. What that says to me is that that is what the people of Collier County want," Oakes told the Naples Daily News Tuesday night. "The mainstream media wants to say we're the weirdos, we're the right-wing wackos. That's not the case.

"We're the same as our Founding Fathers, we're the same as the people of the 1950s, (it's) the other people who have left the reservation."

See our latest election results: naplesnews.com/elections/results/local/

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Collier County Commission election 2022: Who won their district races?