Ahearn-Koch, Entler, Harshman to square off on Nov. 3 in City Commission election
Incumbent Sarasota County Commissioner Joe Neunder, a Venice chiropractor, lost the District 4 Republican primary race to former Sarasota Police Department sergeant Jim DeNiro, the unofficial Aug. 18 election results showed.
The preliminary tally that the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office reported was 6,681 votes for DeNiro; 5,881, for Neunder.
In the Nov. 3 General Election, DeNiro will face Democrat Julie London, an elder advocate and former educator.
On Aug. 19, London pointed out on her campaign Facebook page that the District 4 Republican Primary was “the tightest race in Sarasota … with Jim DeNiro barely edging out a win over incumbent Joe Neunder in the neighborhood of 800 votes.”
The other County Commission incumbent, Republican Mark Smith, a long-time Siesta Key architect, won the District 2 race and the seat, as he faces no Democratic opposition. Smith defeated Sarasota attorney Kristina Sargent.
Smith won 8,596 of the votes, as shown in the preliminary report, with Sargent’s total put at 7,504.
District 2 encompasses most of the city of Sarasota, along with St. Lido and Armands keys, the portion of Longboat Key in Sarasota County, and the northern part of Siesta Key.
District 4 includes the southern part of Siesta Key, with the district’s northern mainland boundary starting at Bee Ridge Road and descending generally to south of State Road 72/Clark Road, with Laurel Road as its primary southern boundary.
Neunder’s defeat comes just a few weeks after Michael Barfield, executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, began releasing articles about an anonymous Wyoming corporation that, as Barfield put it in the first article, was proving to be the “most aggressive new voice in Sarasota County’s elections.” Called Local Government Accountability Inc. (LGAI), the corporation’s websites “attack[ed] … Neunder and Smith,” ran “persuasion-style voter surveys and present[ed] Republican challengers Jim DeNiro and Kristina Sargent as the reform alternatives,” the article said.
Barfield had yet to uncover who was behind LGAI as of the deadline for this issue of The Sarasota News Leader.
In one article, Barfield wrote that he had spent almost 90 minutes interviewing DeNiro, who had told Barfield at one point, “ ‘Michael, you can ask me any question.’ ” Yet, when Barfield asked why DeNiro had changed his name and when Barfield posed a question about where DeNiro was living on Jan. 1 of this year — in regard to allegations that DeNiro was not a District 4 resident for the required period before filing to seek the District 4 seat — DeNiro would not provide answers.
Neunder has been one of the chief advocates on the County Commission for preventing construction of Live Local Act developments in areas of the county with low residential density, including those with Open Use zoning.
Further, as chair in 2025, he held up a board decision on an agreement involving a road into the Hi Hat Ranch property, for future development purposes, after Barfield of the Florida Center for Government Accountability reported on the involvement of former county Commissioner Alan Maio in the forging of that agreement.
Neunder also has been a champion of keeping Midnight Pass open on south Siesta Key, after it was recreated during the 2024 hurricane system, initially by Helene and more stably thus far, by Milton. Additionally, he has supported the potential county purchase of the Gulf Gate Golf Course for a stormwater initiative, which would preserve the land from development, a goal of community residents.
During Smith’s first term on the board, following his 2022 election, he stood out as the solitary member voting “No” on numerous development applications, including Neal Communities’ plans to create a community on the former 3H Ranch in the eastern part of the county.
He also has made clear his opposition to high-rise hotels on Siesta Key, opposing the most recent attempt by Siesta businessman Dr. Gary Kompothecras to revive plans for a 7-story project on Old Stickney Point Road.
Moreover, Smith has remained adamant in voting against home construction on Siesta Key that would be seaward of the county’s Gulf Beach Setback Line. That boundary was established in 1979 to protect dunes and other habitat which, in turn, protect landward structures from storm surge and other flooding events.
A News Leader check on Aug. 19 on the campaign finance reports for the County Commission candidates found that Neunder was atop the group, with a total of $167,761.73. DeNiro had taken in $90,655, a chart showed.
Smith’s total was $141,110, with Sargent having brought in $44,745.
The last reports before the Primary covered the period of Aug. 14 through Aug. 21.
The figures do not include any political action committee (PAC) funding for the candidates.
The Sarasota City Commission at-large seats
In the Sarasota City Commission race for two at-large seats, the top three vote-getters — incumbent Jen Ahearn-Koch, Arlington Park resident and neighborhood advocate Flo Entler, and commercial Realtor John Harshman — will square off in the November General Election.
The preliminary results showed Ahearn-Koch with 34.33% of the 18,108 votes cast, while Entler won 29.17% of the votes, and Harshman captured 15.13%.
A city news release said that the two candidates receiving the majority of votes in the general election will be sworn into office on Friday, Nov. 6, to serve four-year terms.
Ahearn-Koch originally won a commission seat in 2017. She and Commissioner Liz Alpert — who first was elected in 2015 to the District 2 seat — are the longest-serving board members.
Mayor Debbie Trice, who won an at-large seat in 2022, declined to seek a second term.
Campaign finance documents provided on the city’s website showed that Ahearn-Koch took in a total of $66,087.50 through Aug. 13, the latest report available. She had spent $34,288.53.
Entler’s total through Aug. 13 was $47,162.50, her report said. She had spent $41,236.28.
Harshman had raised $63,975 through Aug. 13, his most recent campaign finance document noted. His expenditures added up to $52,117.67, it said.
A fourth candidate, Yevgeny Khodorkovsky, had raised only $226 through July 24, his campaign finance records showed, with none in the final two periods for reporting. He had spent $190 through July 24, with no other expenses after that date.
The fifth City Commission candidate, Rob Rominiecki, had raised a total of $51,030.03 through Aug. 13 and spent $38,580.75, his report said.
Precinct details
Among the precincts where Mark Smith captured his largest shows of support were 105, the Longwood Recreation Center (6050 Longwood Run Blvd. in Sarasota), where he won 59.63% of the votes; 209, (the First Presbyterian Church on Oak Steet in Sarasota), with 53.73% of the votes; 211 (St. Armands Key Lutheran Church), where he captured 57.41% of the votes; 403 (Siesta Key Chapel), with 67.5% of the votes; and 411 (St. Boniface Episcopal Church on Siesta), where he captured 69.23% of the total.
Smith prevailed in 16 of the 27 precincts where voters cast ballots in the District 2 race, based on a News Leader review of the data.
In the District 4 contest, DeNiro’s top precincts were 409 (Bee Ridge Presbyterian Church, located at 4826 McIntosh Road in Sarasota), where he won 56.73% of the votes; 419 (Twin Lakes Park, which stands at 6700 Clark Road), where he captured 60.86% of the votes; 425 (Covenant Life Presbyterian Church, located at 8490 McIntosh Road in Sarasota), where he won 55.83% of the votes; 427 (Our Savior Lutheran Church in Nokomis), where he captured 67.27% of the votes; and 507 (Bay Point Church in Nokomis), where he prevailed with 54.08% of the votes.
Neunder’s top precincts were 421 (St. Boniface Episcopal Church on Siesta Key), where he won 59.52% of the votes; and 437 (the Nokomis Community Center), where he captured 57.02% of the votes. He also won all six votes cast in Precinct 303, which is located at Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota.
Altogether, the preliminary results show, Neunder prevailed in only six of the 25 precincts where votes were cast in the District 4 race.
One other note evident in the Neunder-DeNiro race was that no one cast a ballot at Precinct 223, which is located at the Southside Baptist Church on Magnolia Street in Sarasota.
A larger turnout than in 2024
The preliminary results that Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Ron Turner and his staff posted just before midnight on Aug. 18 — with not all of the vote-by-mail ballots counted, as noted on the webpage — said that of the 328,751 voters registered to cast ballots, 109,317 — or 33.25% — of them did so.
In the 2024 Primary Election, 31.79% of the 326,826 registered voters at that time cast ballots, the Supervisor of Elections Office reported then. That was up slightly from the 32.29% figure for the August 2020 Primary.
In response to an Aug. 21 News Leader inquiry about whether any problems were encountered during the Aug. 18 Primary, Paul Donnelly, director of communications and voter outreach, wrote in an Aug. 19 email, “Overall, the election went very smoothly. There are always areas we can improve, but given the logistics involved, all went well.”
When the News Leader inquired about what seemed to be a longer wait for results in the District 4 County Commission race than in other contests, Donnelly explained that “one of the precincts, 423, was delayed in reporting and that may have delayed the final totals. But that was really the only delay I am aware of.”
Precinct 423 is located at Gulf Gate Library, which stands at 7112 Curtiss Ave. in Sarasota, near Palmer Ranch.
The preliminary results showed that 663 voters cast ballots at Precinct 423. Neunder prevailed with 50.98% of the votes.