Election Day: A Little Chaos at the Ballot Box?

Happy Election Day!

Midterm elections do not come with a ton of fanfare like a presidential election does. In fact, the turnout in 2024 was 82.91%. The turnout in 2022 was 62.23% here in Citrus County.

Huge difference.

But that does not mean there are not important positions up for grabs. Florida will have a new governor for the first time in 8 years. There may be a new senator (not likely). There may be a new agriculture commissioner (not likely). There may be a new CFO (not likely). Maybe a new Attorney General (not likely).

Locally, there may be a new state representative (not likely).

In Citrus, we get a new house representative, regardless of who wins. With the recent redistricting, we no longer have Gus Bilirakis representing us. It will either be Laurel Lee or Robert People. Both would be new representatives for Citrus County.

We will also have a new person on the Citrus County Community Charitable Foundation between Phyllis Dixon and Heather Haendiges. Mosquito Control Board has both incumbents running as well as challenges who may upset them.

I do not expect to see many surprises in Citrus County votes. I fully expect Donalds, Moody, Lee, Simpson, Ingoglia and Grow to get the most votes here in Citrus. I think the world may end if one of them lose the Citrus County vote. Even with the nationwide shift left, that will not hurt deep red Citrus County.

However, I do expect things to be tight state wide in some races, particularly governor. Despite republicans having significantly more registered voters, they are not showing up as much as democrats. As of last night, the early vote turnout is showing that democrats are leading by 11% based on voter registrations and the percentage of their turnout.

Republicans generally show up on election day, so it will be interesting to watch those numbers. Are republicans going to trail in the turnout? We shall see.

But I do think the governor race will be closer than people think. National politics are playing a big part in many state races.

I always enjoy a bit of chaos and a bit of "nail biting". I tend to like the close races because it shows that every vote matters.

So we will see how all that unfolds.

Imagine the a democratic governor with a republican cabinet and state house/senate. That would make things interesting.

In all honesty, I prefer a bit of mixed government. I have always said one of my favorite presidents was George Washington. Not because he was the first President or maybe the most popular... but because of his political ideology. You see, he had Thomas Jefferson as his Secretary of State and Alexander Hamilton as his Secretary of Treasury.

Both men were polar opposites in terms of their political views. Both men likely were not fond of one another.

Imagine a world where Donald Trump and Barack Obama were in the same cabinet with someone like Joe Manchin... or someone far left with someone far right... and a moderate as president.

That is what this would have been.

See... I told you I like chaos.

But Washington wanted that. He did not want people to just agree with his policies and views. He did not want "yes" men, as we often see today. He wanted people who were strong willed and had differing opinions of the country. Sometimes he listened to one over the other. Sometimes he listened to neither. But he wanted those opposing views to help stress test policies and things of that nature.

So I tend to want to see a bit of that today in our politics... but I digress.

The main thing I am looking at today is Amendment 3. Does it reach the 60% threshold to pass? We will see.. I personally do not think it gets there, but who knows. In a world with high costs due to inflation and other factors, perhaps people are ready to save money where they can and vote for it.... or maybe they don't.

Locally, one race that I am watching is the City of Crystal River. We have the current council member, Mindi Hastings, running against a challenger in Jack Reynolds. It is clear that the "movers and shakers" of the city want to see Reynolds win. They have poured over $24k into his campaign. That buys A LOT of post cards, signs, etc in a city of 3,600 or so people. $6.60 or so per Crystal River resident.

That is a lot of money pouring into a campaign for a position that only pays $500 or so a month and rivals many County Commission races. Not to say that negatively or they are horrible people or anything of that nature. Just an observation.

Does the campaign backed by big money win this seat or does it lose yet another election, following the county commission races of Schlabach in 2024 and Bays in 2026 (although they won with Kinnard and Worthington respectively)?

Make sure you get out and vote. Polls are open 7am to 7pm.