County Single-Member Districts and Wild Spaces Approved, Grunder Wins in High Springs

ALACHUA COUNTY ‒ Election results are in for the 2022 General Election in Alachua County. Out of 180,902 eligible voters in Alachua County, 96,081 ballots, or 53.11 percent of the voters, cast ballots.

Countywide, voters approved the Single-Member District referendum 51.44 percent (45,690 votes) to 48.56 percent (43,125 votes). The measure replaces the current at-large election, where all Alachua County voters choose all five commissioners. Under Single-Member Districts, voters will vote for the one candidate who lives in the same district as the voter, rather than voting for all five candidates.

Of the 91,368 votes cast on the question of approving the one-cent Wild Spaces Public Places sales tax initiative, 52.18 percent (47,677 votes) were cast to approve as opposed to 47.82 percent (43,691 votes) cast to disapprove of the tax.

In High Springs, voters cast their ballots for City Commission Seat #3, currently held by incumbent Linda Jones. Of the 2,733 votes cast in this race, newcomer to the High Springs political scene Tristan Grunder won with 1,308 votes, or 47.86 percent of the votes cast, as opposed to Jones, who received 864 votes, or 31.61 percent of the votes. Eyvonne Andrews received 561 votes, or 20.53 percent of the votes cast.

Republican State Senator Keith Perry defeated Democrat challenger Rodney Long to win the District 9 Florida Senate seat with 65.5 percent (135,000) of the vote. Perry returns to the Senate representing Marion County and parts of Alachua and Levy counties.

Republican Chuck Clemons returns for his fourth and final term in the Florida House after representing District 21 for three terms. Clemons defeated Democrat Brandon Peters with 56.1 percent of the vote. Due to redistricting, Clemons will serve his final term in District 22, representing Gilchrist, Levy and part of western Alachua County. Clemons sponsored legislation in the 2022 session that placed the Alachua County Single-Member District referendum on the ballot.

Incumbent Democrat Yvonne Hayes Hinson defeated Hollye Merton with 60 percent of the vote to retain her state House seat. Hinson ran on a platform to increase funding for public schools, advocating for magnet schools, creating career pathways for students and increasing teacher salaries.

Republican Chuck Brannan retains his Florida House of Representatives District 10 seat as he was unchallenged in the Nov. 8 election. Brannan’s district lines were redrawn in the redistricting effort to include a larger area in Alachua County, stretching into the city of Alachua.

Republican Florida State Senator Jennifer Bradley also retains her seat as she was unchallenged as well. She represents Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Gilchrist, Union counties and part of Alachua County.

Although the governor’s race in Alachua County showed Democrat Charlie Crist as the winner with 57.12 percent (54,719 votes) as opposed to Republican Governor Ron DeSantis with 42.06 percent (40,289 votes), the overall state votes carried DeSantis back into the Governor’s mansion with 59.4 percent of the votes (4,608,398).

In the race for U.S. Senator, Alachua County voted to elect Val Demings with 57.87 percent (55,359 votes) to Marco Rubio at 40.97 percent (39,190 votes). Once again, state-wide voters upended that with a 57.7 percent of the votes cast for Rubio (4,469,218) who is returning for his third term in the U.S. Senate.

In the race for Congressional District 3, incumbent Congresswoman Kat Cammack retained her seat with 58.23 percent (55,377 votes) in Alachua County. State-wide results show Cammack receiving 62.5 percent of the votes (177,999) to Democrat challenger Danielle Hawk’s 36.3 percent (103,254) and Linda Brooks 1.2 percent (3,405).

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