Council races head to runoffs in November
Gunter fails to clear primary
Cape Coral voters winnowed the field in Tuesday’s primary but are looking at three Cape Coral City Council run-offs in November along with the head-to-head race for District 4.
Mayor’s race
Mayor John Gunter failed to clear the primary Tuesday, setting the stage for a runoff between two political newcomers.
Top vote getters Rick Erickson, 63, retired U.S. Army Components, U.S. Postal Service, and founder at SaveOurVet.org and Norseman Ops., LLC, and Lisa Cohen-Adkinson, 46, broker-owner of Valor Property Management and Valor Real Estate Services, Inc., in the six-way mayoral race will advance to the Nov. 3 General Election. They received 11,663 votes, or 32.22%, and 8,907 votes, or 24.61% respectively.
Gunter, Gulf Coast Premier Homes, Inc. president, received 5,428 votes, or 15%; Kara Rogers, 39, attorney and founding partner of Powers & Rogers, PLLC, received 5,092 votes, or 14.07%; Dan Sheppard, 63, is the owner/operator of Palm Source Pine Island LLC, Sheppard Landscape, Inc, and Island Time Village, received 2,913 votes, or 8.05% and Richard Leon, 39, Cape Coral Kiwanis Foundation Operations Manager, received 2,193 votes, or 8.05%. votes.
District 1
Top vote getters Tom Shadrach, 67, who is retired from program management with The Boeing Company and Dave Newton, 54, who is a United States Air Force veteran and retired law enforcement officer in the four-way District 1 race will advance to the Nov. 3 General Election. They received 11,786 votes, or 35.54%, and 9,811, or 29.54% respectively.
Sean Hartman, 35, who works in customer service at Lee Health, received 6,792 votes, or 20.48% and Thomas J. Senatore, 67, who is retired, but still acting as broker of record and owner for Bella Basa Services LLC, received 4,774 votes or 14.40%.
The incumbent, Councilmember Bill Steinke, did not seek re-election.
District 6
Top vote getters Liza King, 51, who is a chief deputy court administrator for the State of Florida, and Annette Warren, 48, who is a merchant consultant for Priority Business Solutions, in the five-way race for District 6 will advance to the Nov. 3 General Election. They received 9,570 votes, or 28.79%, and 8,817 votes, or 26.52% respectively.
Joe Angrisano, 73, who formerly worked for Herb Chamber Companies and LocatePlus as the digital marketing, social media marketing, and reputation manager, received 6,008 votes, or 18.07%; Ray Mule, 64, who is retired, received 5,520 votes, or 16.60%; Jeffrey Huddleston, 61, who is self-employed working for Uber and part-time pizza delivery, received 3,329 votes or 10.01% votes.
Incumbent Keith Long did not seek re-election.
These are non-partisan, at-large races meaning all Cape Coral voters were able to cast a ballot in the General Election in each race.
The Nov. 3 General Election will also feature the District 4 contest between incumbent Jennifer Nelson-Lastra and James Vargas.
As there were only two candidates seeking the District 4 seat, this race was not on the primary ballot.
To reach Meghan Bradbury, please email news@breezenewspapers.com