“Every vote counts,” voters are told every election, and it proved true once again in critical city commission races in Fernandina Beach.
Republicans outnumber Democrats in Nassau County by more than 3-1, but liberal candidates won three spots on the five-member commission, and the mayor’s office.
A key race was between candidate Genece Minshew and incumbent David Sturges. It went to a recount, which Minshew won by 19 votes.
Nassau County Citizens Defending Freedom blamed local newspapers, in part, for the defeat of the conservative candidates. The group also cited ethics complaints that proved to be without merit.
Jack Knocke, head of the conservative group, said the Minshew ticket was “comprised of radical, leftist, progressive candidates supporting LGBTQIA++, pride parades, pride festivals in our city park, reading of pride and transgender proclamations, supporting obscene books in our schools, supporting transgender surgeries for children, supporting boys in girls’ sports/bathrooms/locker rooms, promoting man-made climate change theories and opposing Christian anything in our schools.”
“Many city residents were duped with lies.”
In addition to Sturges’ defeat, Joyce Tuten beat incumbent Bradley Bean, and Timothy Poynter beat Chris Kelly. James Antun defeated the incumbent Ayscue by 2-1 in the mayor’s race.
Yet Nassau voted 76 percent for two conservatives, Donald Trump for president and Rick Scott for the Senate. They also voted against Amendments 3 and 4, which were favored by liberals.
The local race seems to be a strange outlier and maybe time will tell what caused this liberal victory in such a conservative community.
