Local races for sheriff, Florida House, city and county commission heat up

Local races are heating up in Gainesville and Alachua County as more and more candidates file to run for office.

Florida will hold its primary election on Aug. 20, 2024, with the general election occurring the following Nov. 5.  Here’s a breakdown of the candidates in some of the most contentious races for the 2024 election.

Alachua County Sheriff

Incumbent Alachua County Sheriff Emery Gainey was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in September, after Democrat Clovis Watson Jr. resigned and pulled out of the race for reelection. Gainey faces six challengers so far, and has raised $2,550 toward his campaign.

Leading the pack in terms of campaign contributions is Democrat Chad Scott who oversees patrol at the sheriff's office, among other functions. He is a former police chief for the city of Alachua, a place he worked for 13 years. Watson and his former undersheriff, Joel DeCoursey, held the position prior to Scott.

Campaign finance data shows Scott has raised nearly $21,000 toward his campaign. Top contributions include $1,000 from Watson, $1,000 from former Alachua City Manager Adam Boukari, $1,000 from James Sheppard, the principal of Newberry High School, and $500 from Chris Sims, a former spokesperson for the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.

So far, Gainey will face off with just one challenger in the Republican primary, a Gainesville police officer named Justin Thomas.

Democratic candidates include Tyronne R. Johnson Jr., a felon with over a dozen criminal charges, Peter King, a current ACSO sergeant, and Latrell Simmons, a former high ranking official with ACSO during former Sheriff Sadie Darnell's tenure and is currently a captain with the University of Florida Police Department. There is one independent candidate in the race, Pamela Marshall-Koons, a local nonprofit owner.

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Florida House of Representatives

In what is shaping up to be a competitive race, five candidates have applied to run for Florida Rep. Chuck Clemons’ seat as he has reached a term limit.

There are three Republicans in the race so far. Candidates include Raemi Eagle-Glenn, a former Alachua County commissioner and local attorney, Robert Woody, a committeeman for the local Republican party and longtime law enforcement official, and Chad Johnson, a former county commissioner for Levy County who was appointed by former Gov. Charlie Christ.

Eagle-Glenn’s campaign contributions currently total over $70,000. Woody trails her with nearly $45,000 raised, and Johnson’s contributions sit at $14,000.

There are two Democrats running for the seat: Amy Jane Trask and David Arreola. Arreola was the youngest person to ever be elected to Gainesville’s City Commission in 2017 and served two terms. He placed third in the last Gainesville mayoral race that eventually made Harvey Ward mayor. Clemons has since called for Ward’s resignation from office in an interview with the Sun.

Arreola and Trask have not reported any campaign contributions.

At this point there is no one running for Alachua County’s other two state representative seats currently belonging to Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson and Rep. Chuck Brannon other than the incumbents.

Sen. Keith Perry's District 9 seat in the state Senate is also up for grabs with the Gainesville Republican being term-limited in 2024. Only Republican Rep. Stan McClain, who represents District 27 in the House, has filed to run. He has raised over $68,000 for his campaign.

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Alachua County commission

A couple of sitting county commissioners have challengers to their seats already.

Mary Alford, county commissioner for District 1, has filed for reelection.

The former environmental engineer resigned from the commission in May 2022 after the Sun reported she lived outside her district due to personal reasons. Afterward, she managed to find a new home and qualified for her former seat in time for the election. She won reelection by 16,000 votes over incumbent Raemi Eagle-Glenn, who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the vacated seat.

Now, Alford faces just one opponent, Dejeon Cain.

Cain is a Gainesville native and a graduate of Gainesville High School. He previously worked as a parking enforcement officer for the University of Florida but now owns and operates a local security company, Fortitude Security. Cain ran to join the Gainesville City Commission last year and lost to Casey Willits.

Anna Prizzia, current chair of the county commission, will have to beat three challengers to be reelected to her District 3 seat. She has filed for reelection and will face Democrat Sage Max, a local paralegal, Republicans Brandon Kutner, a deputy sheriff at ACSO, and Jenn Garrett, a local artist.

Charles “Chuck” Chestnut IV is running for reelection in District 5. He currently faces no challengers.

Chestnut is the only candidate for county commission office that has reported any campaign contributions — $500 total.

Gainesville City Commission

Both At-large seats on the Gainesville City Commission are up for grabs as Reina Saco, current seat-A commissioner, and Cynthia Chestnut, current seat-B commissioner have not filed for reelection.

There is one person filed in each race so far including Fareed Michael Reshard Johnson, a registered Independent who was arrested for robbing a bank in 2013 for seat A, and Ocie Alston, a registered Independent for seat B. Neither have reported any campaign contributions.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Local races heat up as candidates file for election, reelection