More than half of the candidates endorsed by the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council (PBCHRC) received a majority of votes in their respective races in the primary election.
Though six candidates endorsed by PBCHRC received the most votes, two candidates will enter runoff elections in November to determine a winner. For non-partisan races, a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote to secure a win. This means only four of the 10 positions the council endorsed technically won outright on Aug. 20.
Three of those four candidates received more than 60% of the vote, including bids for positions like U.S. senator (Debbie Mucarsel-Powell), county sheriff (Ric Bradshaw) and county commissioner, District 7 (Bobby Powell Jr.).
PBCHRC is a non-partisan political organization with a mission to “ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression,” its website reads, and has been “responsible for the implementation of more than 160 laws and policies providing equal protections … for the LGBTQ community.”
The council doesn’t endorse candidates in every race.
“We’re happy with the results of the election,” said Rand Hoch, president and founder of PBCHRC. “Most of our endorses made the runoff, so it comes down to November to see what happens.”
Primary elections give voters an opportunity to choose who from their political party, and for some non-partisan positions, they want to represent them on November’s ballot.
Lourdes Casanova, who ran for county court judge, Group 2, was in the spotlight earlier this month after a Christian organization retracted its support upon learning about PBCHRC’s endorsement of her. Casanova received a majority of the votes in the race despite the org.’s decision. However, since she didn’t receive more than 50% of the vote, she will enter a runoff election against Jean Middleton in November.
Mucarsel-Powell, who beat out the second-place democratic opponent by over 500,000 votes, will now face off against Republican Florida Senator Rick Scott, who is seeking a second term. Scott beat out the second-place GOP candidate by over 1 million votes.
PBCHRC endorsed both democratic candidates running for county public defender. Daniel Eisinger ended up taking the victory over Adam Frankel with 55.8% of the 166,303 votes.
School board results were a mixed bag regarding the council’s endorsements.
The school board, District 1 race saw PBCHRC-endorsed contender Francesca Wernisch place last in the three-person battle with 22.1% of the 33,268 votes, meaning she won’t head to November’s runoff between the top two candidates.
However, the school board District 5 candidate endorsed by the council, Mindy Koch, narrowly beat her second-place opponent Gloria Branch by 120 votes. Koch failed to receive more than 50% of the vote in this non-partisan race, however, so she and Branch will compete in a runoff for the seat.
State representative District 89, PBCHRC-endorsed candidate Destinie Baker Sutton lost to Debra Tendrich by just over 1,000 votes.
The Palm Beach County state attorney race saw Alexcia Cox winning with over 60% of the 94,679 votes, compared to PBCHRC-endorsed candidate Gregg Lerman’s 18.4%.
If you missed out on voting in this election, there’s still time to read up on the winners’ platforms to make an educated vote in November.
See below for a full list of PBC primary election winners:
Democrat: PBC State Attorney – Alexcia Cox
Republican: PBC State Attorney – Sam Stern
Democrat: PBC Sheriff – Ric Bradshaw
Republican: PBC Sheriff – Michael Gauger
Democrat: County Commissioner (District 7) – Bobby Powell
PBC Public Defender – Daniel Eisinger
Democrat: Port of Palm Beach Commissioner, Group 2 – Varisa Dass
County Court Judge, Group 2 – Lourdes Casanova
School Board, District 1 – Matthew Lane
School Board, District 5 – Mindy Koch
Indian Trail Improvement District, Seat 2 – Richard Vassalotti
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