We learn how much Escambia politics have changed when the election results are revealed tonight. We will see whose endorsements matter and which political consultant knows what they are doing.
Escambia County Commission, District 1
It’s an endorsement battle – County Clerk Pam Childers vs. Sheriff Chip Simmons.
The Childers surrogate, Steve Stroberger, has been running on the 401a retirement plan over which the clerk won a lawsuit. The irony is incumbent Commissioner Jeff Bergosh didn’t enroll in the 401a plan.
- The 401a attack didn’t defeat Robert Bender in the 2022 county commission race in District 4. Will it work now?
Escambia County Commission. District 4
It’s an endorsement battle between state lawmakers and their super PACS.
Team Walker Wilson: Rep. Alex Andrade, Build the Wall, Constituent Priorities.
Team Ashlee Hofberger: Rep. Michelle Salzman, Committee to Protect Florida.
Team Buck Mitchell: It’s a family and friends campaign with 20-30 people waving on street corners, endorsements from past mayors, and nothing but positive ads.
- Hofberger has used the Childers strategy and attacked the current commissioners, particularly Lumon May, while asking the voters to make history by being the “first women elected by the District 4 community in almost 40 years” – apparently ignoring School Board member Patty Hightower’s elections.
- Wilson has doubled down on his support for Donald Trump’s wall with a paid ad on NewsRadio that he actually paid with his campaign funds. For him, it’s all about locking down the Conservative voters in District 4 because we all know they want Trump and his illegal immigration to be county commission issues, right? (Didn’t Doug Underhill try this?)
Mitchell is running the type of District 4 campaign that got Grover Robinson elected to the county commission three times and Robert Bender twice. Will it work again in 2024?
-Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash