It’s not just Biden vs. Trump. Here is your 2020 election guide for Florida Keys races
In addition to helping decide the presidential election, Florida Keys voters on Nov. 3 will select a top prosecutor, settle three County Commission races and chip in votes for two state lawmaker seats and one congressional post.
In Key West, voters in City Commission District 6 will decide a runoff between a 15-year incumbent and a political newcomer.
Citywide, voters will have a chance to decide the island’s future dealings with the cruise ship industry.
Islamorada, Key Colony Beach and Key Largo also have races to settle.
Here is a look at who’s running and what’s on the Keys ballot:
Monroe County
Three seats on the County Commission, two in the Lower Keys and one in the Upper Keys, are on the Nov. 3 ballot.
County Mayor Heather Carruthers, a Key West Democrat who represents District 3, is facing Republican Eddie Martinez.
Carruthers, a Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Knight and Gardner Realty in Key West, previously owned a Key West guesthouse and has lived in the Keys for 20 years. First elected in 2008, she is in her third four-year term on the County Commission.
Martinez, who is originally from Hialeah, is a professional surveyor and mapper who lives in Key West. He has said he will bring positive change to the commission.
District 1 Commissioner Craig Cates, of Key West, who was appointed to the post by the governor, is running against Democrat Annalise Mannix.
Cates a native Key Wester, owned an auto parts shop in Key West for many years. He was elected five times as Key West mayor, holding the post for nine years.
Mannix is an engineer by trade and has lived in the Keys for 30 years. She spent more than 20 years with the city of Key West in various jobs, including building Inspector and director of engineering.
The District 5 post held by longtime Commissioner Sylvia Murphy is up for grabs. Islamorada Mayor Mike Forster is up against Jose Peixoto, of Key Largo, who is running with no party affiliation.
Forster, who is a longtime Village of Islamorada council member, owns the popular Upper Keys restaurant Mangrove Mike’s Cafe.
Peixoto is a local business owner who has run unsuccessfully for several offices in the past 10 years, including Florida Keys Mosquito Control Board and state representative.
State Attorney Dennis Ward, a Republican, is facing Key West attorney Donald Barrett, a Democrat. Ward won a four-year term in 2016. He had the job from 2008 to 2012, when he was ousted by Catherine Vogel in a Democratic primary race. Ward beat Vogel in 2016.
Key West considers limiting cruising and selects a commissioner
District 6 Commissioner Clayton Lopez is in a runoff with first-time political candidate Ryan Barnett, a chiropractor.
Lopez, 67, who is retired from the Florida Department of Health in Monroe County, cites his 15 years in office as the best experience for the post while Barnett, 36, says he would bring new energy and ideas to the office.
In the August primary, Lopez took 47 percent of the vote while Barnett collected 34.5 percent. John Wilson Smith, who later endorsed Barnett, took 18 percent.
Three referendums that would limit the number of cruise ship passengers allowed into Key West are on the ballot.
The Key West Committee for Safer Cleaner Ships says the ships spread COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, harm the environment and bring tourists that don’t spend as much as those who rent rooms for the night.
Opponents say the limitations would hurt the island’s economy at a time when people are already suffering from the impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The ballot items, which are binding and would change the city’s charter, are titled:
- Limiting persons disembarking from cruise ships to a total of 1,500 persons per day.
- Prohibiting cruise ships with a capacity of 1,300 or more persons from disembarking.
- To give priority to cruise lines with the best environmental and health records.
Islamorada
All five seats on the Islamorada Village Council are up for election, but one is not contested.
That’s because Seat 4 Councilman Ken Davis died on Sept. 12, leaving his opponent for reelection, Henry Rosenthal, his successor. Rosenthal has been active in the Upper Keys business community for decades, including once owning the famous Green Turtle Inn restaurant. He is also a locally well-known magician, performing under the name, “Bastille.”
Davis was the only incumbent in the race.
Seat 1 is between Frank Lavin, an interior designer and real estate agent, and Peter Bacheler, a commercial photographer who owns a business helping people with the building and permitting process. He is the current chair of the village’s Land Planning Agency, a citizen board that makes development recommendations to the council.
Seat 2 is a contest between two people who previously served on the council. Cheryl Meads stepped down from the dais in January with another 11 months to go in her two-year term after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed her to the board of the South Florida Water Management District.
The former GlaxoSmithKline quality control expert and now property redeveloper faces Mark Gregg, who served as a councilman from 2000 to 2004. Gregg is a real estate attorney.
Jenny Bell-Thomson and Joseph “Buddy” Pinder are competing for Seat 3. Bell-Thomson is a 26-year veteran of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, who ended her career with the rank of captain. After retiring earlier this decade, she spent eight years working for both Mariners and Fishermen’s hospitals.
Pinder is a sixth-generation Islamorada resident who has owned and managed several local businesses before retiring.
Seat 5 is a race between Larry Zettwoch and David Webb, two U.S. Air Force pilots who went on to 30-plus-year careers in commercial flying before retiring. Zettwoch has been a volunteer firefighter with Islamorada Fire Rescue since 2012, according to his campaign website.
In addition to his military experience, Webb flew for FedEx and was once the president of the company’s pilot’s union.
Key Largo
The race for Seat 5 on the Key Largo Fire Rescue and Emergency Medical Services District board is between incumbent Daniel Powers, a retired firefighter with Monroe County Fire Rescue, and Ronald Spodnik, a retired police officer from New York.
Key Colony Beach
Key Colony Beach voters will choose up to three candidates for city commission. They are incumbents Ron Sutton, Patti Trefry and Kimmeron Lisle along with Thomas Lee Harding.
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