The Iguana recommends:
US Senator: Angie Nixon
US Representative District 3: Seth Harp
Governor and Lieutenant Governor: David Jolly and Gwen Graham
Florida CFO: Annette Taddeo
Florida Agricultural Commissioner: Donald Prichard
Florida State Representative District 21: Antione Fields (or Malik Moore)
Alachua County Commission District 2: Donna Bradbrook (or Tina Certain)
Alachua County Judge 5: Eric Atria
Alachua County School Board District 1: Hunter Miller
Alachua County School Board District 3: Sarah Rockwell
Gainesville Mayor: Harvey Ward
Gainesville City Commission District 2: Nathan Crabbe
Gainesville City Commission District 3: Casey Willits
by Joe Courter
FIRST THING … VOTE! Some of these races will be winner takes it, no November decision, as they are Universal Primaries. And note depending on where you live (district 21 and city) some races may not be on your ballot.
Taking it from the top:
US Senator: Please support the underdog Angie Nixon against Alexander Vindman in the primary. This Senate race may be in reach if there is a Blue Wave, and Angie is a much stronger campaigner.
US REPRESENTATIVE District 3: Vote Seth Harp to be the Democrat against Kat Cammock. Seth is the best opponent Dems have had to beat Kat. This race will also have a 3rd party candidate in November. More in the next issue.
Governor: The strong team here is David Jolly and Gwen Graham … that is the strongest the state party offered up. It could really do well in November against the DeSantis replacement candidates.
FL CFO: Annette Taddeo by far the strongest candidate for a win in November.
FL Agriculture Commissioner: Donald Prichard.
FL State Representative District 21 to replace Yvonne Hayes Hinson: Multiple acceptable candidates here. My top three are Malik Moore, Xavier Monroe, and Antione Fields. Fields is more the progressive candidate with a strong labor union background, has been in Tallahassee trying to advocate for Labor, and whom I hope would get in and carry a progressive message. Moore most recently served as Chief of Staff to the chair of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus. He could hit the ground running.
County Commission District 2: Two strong candidates here and likewise a hard call. Tina Certain and Donna Bradbrook both have decades-long histories of service in Alachua County, Tina as an accountant with GRU, and then just completed terms on the School Board, and Donna as an active part of the Alachua County government in multiple roles. Both are very qualified, and Tina would have been my pick, but Donna came on the scene after retiring from County government employment and just brings too much experience of getting stuff done within the system, so I have to go with her.
County Judge 5: Continuing the trend, two really good options here with Eric Atria and Abroncee Martin. Eric is active in the community as a musician, as a lawyer with 21 years of public defense work, teaching at the Law School, as well as performing a lot of Pro bono work. Abroncee has been a long time strong presence in the Public Defenders office and has a lot of support from within the workers there. We win either way but I will go with Eric, he’s worked really hard for this.
School Board District 1: Hunter Miller against the DeSantis appointee Plavic. Hunter for sure.
School Board District 3: Sarah Rockwell has been doing a great job and should be re-elected.
Gainesville Mayor: Keep Harvey Ward, lots of community experience and good at doing what mayors do as a visible representative of our community.
Gainesville City Commission District 2: Nathan Crabbe will be a great fit, long time Gainesville Sun editor, great knowledge on our community and communication skills.
Gainesville City Commission District 3: Keep Casey Willits; he’s been doing a solid job and should be retained.
Also see page 14 for Central Labor Council endorsements.