The Pensacola News Journal, County Clerk Pam Childers, Andrew McKay, Escambia Citizens Watch and the ethically-challenged couple, Doug Underhill and Jonathan Owens, failed to defeat incumbent District 5 Commissioner Steven Barry.
- No NPA candidate has ever won a partisan race in the modern history of Escambia County politics. Childers’ hand-picked Joshua Roberson only received 38% of the vote against Barry, despite the clerk making a robocall and waving at the polls. Kim Kline came in a distant third in her attempt to unseat Alex Andrade, falling short of 7% of the votes in Escambia and Santa Rosa.
The “Axis of Evil’s” defeat came less than three months after the cabal bragged about defeating District Commissioner Jeff Bergosh. However, the dynamics of the two commission races were significantly different. Bergosh sowed the seeds of his defeat when he convinced the board to redraw the district boundaries two years ago, moving Steve Stroberger out of District 2 and into District 1.
COUNTY COMMISSION DISTRICT 5
REP Steven Barry (REP) 61.78% – 21,663
NPA Joshua S. Roberson (NPA) 38.22% – 13,404
I interviewed Commissioner Barry on WCOA last night:
“These all have a life of their own, and I’m glad this one’s turned out this way, and I’m glad it’s over,” he said. “A resume of good work, good attitude, and a responsible nature bears out in this instance. I am very thankful to my friends and neighbors in District 5 for giving me another opportunity to serve.”
Barry joked about how those were so certain that Roberson would win. “Hey, we’re all football fans. The most popular kid in the stadium is the backup quarterback. I think that adage bears true. And when you do have to run on a resume and a report card of work, it’s different, especially over a period of time. It may be easy to pick some of those things apart, but I’m thankful for another opportunity with a substantial margin of thousands and thousands of votes. I appreciate that greatly.”
FLORIDA HOUSE DISTRICT 2
ESCAMBIA COUNTY
REP Alex Andrade (REP) 54.39% – 38,421
DEM Haley “Hale” Morrissette (DEM) 39.64% – 28,005
NPA Kim Kline (NPA) 5.97% – 4,214
SANTA ROSA COUNTY
Alex Andrade (REP) 67.55% – 15,916
Haley “Hale” Morrissette (DEM) 22.37% – 5,272
Kim Kline (NPA) 10.08% – 2,375
On WCOA, Rep. Andrade said:
“My focus this summer has been on trying to maintain a Republican majority in the Florida House and working with the Speaker to get other folks around the state who are in unsafe seats back,” he said. “And it looks like tonight that we’ve been pretty successful. I’m excited about that, and I’m appreciative of the voters. This is the sixth time I’ve been on the ballot, and I just appreciate the voters putting their faith in me for one more term to go try and do a good job for them. And I hope to make them proud in these final two years in office.”
The lawmaker praised his Democratic opponent, Haley “Hale” Morrisette, who garnered 36% of the vote: “Haley is an authentic, sincere person, and my hat’s off to her because she was a sincere, authentic candidate. It was a breath of fresh air campaigning with her.”