Mark Smith wins Sarasota County Commission District 2 race; Joe Neunder takes District 4 seat

Republicans will maintain control of all five seats on the Sarasota County Commission, despite an extremely competitive race for one of those seats.

Republican Mark Smith edged Democrat Fredd Atkins in the race for District 2. Smith had 50.5% of the vote, while had Atkins 49.5%. The unofficial vote count was 19,125 for Smith and 18,724 for Atkins.

Meanwhile, Republican Joe Neunder defeated Democrat Daniel Kuether in the District 4 race. Neunder had 59.4% of the vote, while Kuether had 40.6%.

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"I feel good," Smith said about the win. "I've got a lot of folks to convince that I was the right choice."

He said he plans on convincing them through "results."

"I've been given the chance, and so I've gotta produce," he noted. "If I don't, then in four years, I'll be out."

District 2 race

Smith is an architect and Siesta Key business leader. He is the chair-elect of the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is chairman of Save our Siesta Sand 2, an organization that opposed the dredging of Siesta Key’s Big Pass.

As of Nov. 3, his campaign had received a total of $207,575 in monetary contributions.

Atkins was the city of Sarasota’s first African American mayor and city commissioner. He had lost three previous runs for the County Commission. This time, his campaign had raised $106,376.10, as of Nov. 3. Atkins didn't provide comment when reached by a Herald-Tribune reporter.

In a Wednesday morning interview, Smith said there are many issues that concern his district's neighborhoods, especially those in the city of Sarasota.

"I believe that I can make a real positive difference and convince the other county commissioners that we need to address those issues," he said. One of the issues that Smith wants to draw attention to is pollution in north Sarasota coming from industrial facilities.

The Atkins-Smith race was expected to be a competitive one because the district has a fairly even partisan breakdown. There were only 1,392 more registered Democrats than Republicans in the district as of Oct. 31. District 2 includes most of the city of Sarasota and some surrounding areas as well as the part of Longboat Key in Sarasota County and some of Siesta Key.

This is the first year that the District 2 election has been held under single-member district voting, which is when commissioners are elected solely by the residents of their district. Previously, commissioners were elected by voters countywide. The single-member districts system was approved by voters in a 2018 referendum and upheld in a vote last March.

Democrats had a better shot at winning the district this year than previously because District 2 has a higher percentage of Democrats than the county as a whole. A Democrat hasn't held a seat on the County Commission in over 50 years, and the party wasn't able to put an end to that drought this year.

District 4 race

The County Commission District 4 race involved a former Venice City Council member and a local Democratic leader. Their district stretches from south Sarasota to the Laurel-Nokomis area.

Neunder held Seat 6 on the Venice City Council from November 2019 until June. He has served on the Sarasota County Planning Commission and runs his own chiropractic practice, Sarasota Spinal Mechanics. Neunder has emphasized that he wants to keep taxes low and protect Sarasota’s environment.

"I'm looking forward to getting sworn in and getting right to work," he said.

As a commissioner, Neunder said he plans to have conversations about affordable housing with different stakeholders. He also wants to look into whether it's feasible to open Midnight Pass, a channel that has been closed for many years.

"And then I will always continue to support the safety and the law enforcement and the EMS and the fire guys to make sure that our community's always very safe and sound," he said.

His opponent, Kuether, is a web designer who has served as vice chair of the Sarasota County Democratic Party. Kuether has been critical of current County Commission’s approach to development, including their approval of the Lakewood Ranch Southeast plan. 

District 4 has more Republicans than Democrats, so for Kuether to win, he needed to receive support from Republicans or from many of the voters without a party affiliation. Kuether said his campaign focused on local issues to try to get Republicans to cross the party line. While some voters did do this, not as many did as Kuether needed.

He said he plans to continue to be very involved in the local Democratic Party.

"We need more young people to run for office," he said, "so I will be happy to help anybody that is interested in putting their foot into another race."

Anne Snabes covers city and county government for the Herald-Tribune. You can contact her at asnabes@gannett.com or (941) 228-3321 and follow her on Twitter at @a_snabes.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota County Commission District 2 and 4 election results