Ronnie McNesby is out. Congratulations to David Morgan. For nearly four years he has tenaciously campaigned for the Republican nomination for Escambia County Sheriff. For months, we had been hearing that McNesby’s support was slipping at the grassroots level.
The bullying of his henchmen, like Rex Blackburn, was wearing thin. McNesby’s poor showing at all the debates and public forums eroded his support among the party faithful. The ever-growing violence in the community also played into it, as well as his huge budget.
The beach scooters and last-minute drug busts didn’t resurrect his image or win over voters. The big question is how did he spend his campaign war chest? or more aptly why didn’t he spend it? McNesby bought a lot of air time on WCOA, but sent out few mailers. Whoever ran his campaign messed up big time.
McNesby got 8,544 fewer votes than he did four years ago.
Results
Ron McNesby 10,343 (43.3%) – 2004 primary: 18,887
David Morgan 13,550 (56.7%) – 2004 primary: 7,884