Primaries matter
Mid-term elections often get short shrift.
This year may well be an anomaly.
That’s a good thing.
There are a number of key races from the federal level to the Cape Coral City Council
For registered Republicans, the Aug. 18 Primary offers a very candidate-heavy ballot:
Sen. Ashley Moody, appointed last January to fill the seat left vacant by Marco Rubio, faces a trio of challengers in the Republican primary.
The Republican primary for governor and lieutenant governor has 11 candidates lined up, including Byron Donalds, our District 19 congressman. Ten candidates are vying for his congressional seat.
For Republicans, the Aug. 18 primary also will determine their candidate for Florida’s chief financial officer and commissioner of agriculture.
Registered Democrats also will find a plethora of candidates on the primary ballot – Six candidates have lined up in the governor’s race on that side of the aisle with face-offs for U.S. senator, state chief financial officer, and commissioner of agriculture. There are three Democrats seeking their party’s nomination for Congress in District 19.
On the county level, all voters, regardless of party, can cast a ballot for judges as well as the at-large District 6 seat on the School Board of Lee County and the District 5 seat on the Lee County Board of Commissioners, a rare universal primary that offers a choice between incumbent Trish Petrosky and challenger Amanda Cochran.
Ms. Petrosky was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill the seat following the death of Commissioner Mike Greenwell. Ms. Cochran ran against Mr. Greenwell in 2024, securing a majority of votes within the district but losing to Greenwell who received the most votes countywide.
Voters within School Board Districts 1 and 4, both of which include portions of Cape Coral, also will weigh in. Jenn McDaigle is challenging incumbent Sam Fisher in District 1 and three candidates — Carl Baxter, Tony Beougher and Gisele “Gigi” Gentile — are challenging incumbent Debbie Jordan in District 4.
These are non-partisan seats but voters must live in the district to vote.
All voters countywide may cast a ballot in District 6, with India Palencia challenging incumbent Jada Langford-Fleming for the at-large seat.
Cape Coral voters will decide three proposed changes to the city charter (see our story on page 2) as well as vote for their candidate of choice for mayor and the council members to represent for Districts 1 and 6 respectively.
Running for mayor are incumbent John Gunter, Lisa Cohen-Adkinson, Rick Erickson, Richard Leon, Kara Rogers and Dan Sheppard.
Running for the District 1 seat are Sean Hartman, David Newton, Thomas J. Senatore, and Tom Shadrach. Councilmember Bill Steinke did not seek re-election.
Running for the District 6 seat are Joe Angrisano, Jeffrey Huddleston, Liza King, Ray Mule and Annette Warren. Councilmember Keith Long did not seek re-election.
These are non-partisan, at-large races meaning all Cape Coral voters may cast a ballot in each race.
The top two vote-getters in each race will advance to the Nov. 3 General Election which also will feature the District 4 contest between incumbent Jennifer Nelson-Lastra and James Vargas.
Cape voters have some pretty big decisions to make.
Those who serve at the local level — on Cape Coral City Council, on the Lee County Commission and School Board of Lee County — have a pretty big impact on our lives, specifically our day-to-day lives.
How much we pay in property taxes.
What capital improvement projects get priority.
How our children are educated.
The primary will decide these races, either outright on Aug. 18, or who will advance to the next round on Nov. 3.
We urge you to vote.
And we urge you to vote wisely.
If you are looking for more information on the most local of races — Cape Coral City Council — we invite you to check out this website where we have candidate bios as well as all of our Questions of the Week. Just click on Election 26.
Breeze editorial