Photo courtesy of the City of St. Petersburg
Although the presidential election was the focus on Nov. 5, Pinellas County voters saw community issues on their ballots as well. This included everything from Congressional elections to retaining judges. Here is how Pinellas County voted in the 2024 general election.
Pinellas County 2024 Congressional Representative Election Results
Pinellas County voted to re-elect Republican incumbent Anna Paulina Luna as the District 13 Congressional representative with 225,489 votes. She beat Democrat Whitney Fox who received 185,756 votes. Congresswoman Luna will serve a two-year term as representative.
In District 14, Democrat incumbent Kathy Castor received 61,159 votes to beat Republican Robert “Rocky” Rochford’s 34,002 votes. Christopher Bradley ran under no party affiliation, and received 818 votes. Libertarian Nathaniel T. Snyder got 754 votes.
Pinellas County 2024 State Congress Election Results
Voters saw a State Senator election, as well as six State Representative elections.
For the District 21 state senator, Republican incumbent Ed Hooper got 103,062 votes to Democrat Doris H. Carroll’s 69,124 votes.
In the District 57 state representative race, Republican incumbent Adam Anderson received 61,646 votes, beating Democrat Kelly Johnson’s 40,477 votes, and non-affiliated Robert Arthur Larvae’s 2,671 votes.
In District 58, incumbent Republican Kimberly Berfield beat Democrat Bryan Beckman with 52,062 votes to Beckman’s 38,242.
For the District 59 state representative, incumbent Republican Berny Jacques received 50,489 votes to beat Democrat Dawn Douglas’ 35,558 votes.
In District 60, Democrat incumbent Lindsay Cross received 47,665 votes. Her opponent, Republican Ed Montanari got 41,180 votes.
The District 61 race saw Republican incumbent Linda Chaney beat Democrat Nathan Bruemmer with 53,568 votes to Bruemmer’s 41,689 votes.
In District 62, Democrat incumbent Michele K. Rayner received 27,135 votes, beating Republican challenger Nathan Amador with 7,462 votes.
Pinellas County 2024 Board of County Commissioners Election Results
The Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners had two seats up for election.
In the District 1 race, Republican Chris Scherer got 262,577 votes, beating Democrat Joanne “Cookie” Kennedy’s 233,011 votes. Sitting Commissioner Janet Long did not run for re-election.
The District 3 race saw Republican Vince Nowicki earn 253,250 votes to beat Democrat incumbent Charlie Justice’s 240,272 votes.
Pinellas County 2024 Judge Election Results
Residents voted to retain every Pinellas County Judge up for retention. This includes Renatha Francis, Meredith Sasso, Anthony K. Black, Edward C. LaRose, and Susan H. Rothstein-Youakim.
In the Circuit Judge election in the 6th Circuit Group 14, Nick Fiorentino received 215,941 votes to beat Jenn Dubbeld’s 202,735 votes.
The Gabber Newspaper? We Go There
In 1968, our founder, George Brann, started The Gabber Newspaper, then called the Gulfport Gabber, to hold Gulfport City Council accountable. Read more of our city council coverage, and learn about our policies on reporting, fact-checking, and funding.
Photo courtesy of Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections
Pinellas County 2024 Charter Amendments
Voters passed all seven Pinellas County Charter amendments on the 2024 ballot.
Charter Amendment 1
This amendment sets term limits for County Commissioners. This amendment makes it so that County Commissioners cannot serve for longer than 12 consecutive years. If they want to continue to serve, they have to take a four-year break before running again. Sitting commissioners are not affected until their seat is up for election next. This amendment received 422,277 votes for yes, and 48,969 votes for no.
Charter Amendment 2
Amendment 2 provides guidelines for citizens wishing to petition for a charter amendment. The new guidelines are:
- Residents can gather signatures between Sept. 1 and April 30 in the year prior to the November general election.
- Petition signature collection forms can be reviewed and approved starting Aug. 1 in the year before an election.
- Petition sponsors must submit signed petitions to the Supervisor of Elections within 10 days after the end of each month.
- The Supervisor of Elections has a rolling 30-day deadline to verify and certify signatures.
- The petition sponsor must submit ballot translations for legally required languages.
- The petition sponsor must register as a political committee.
The amendment passed with 322,468 votes for yes, and 121,786 for no.
Charter Amendment 3
Amendment 3 coincides with amendment 2. Previously, a petition needed signatures from 8% of registered voters in the County to propose an amendment. The amendment lowered this to 5%. 240,587 voters voted yes, while 220,429 chose no.
Charter Amendment 4
Amendment 4 changes how the County Attorney is appointed and terminated. Prior to the amendment, the Board of County Commissioners had the sole power to terminate the County Attorney regardless of the opinions of other County officers. Currently, the County has a 12-member County Attorney Oversight Committee built from County Commissioners, the Clerk of the Circuit Court, Comptroller, Property Appraiser, Sheriff, Supervisor of Elections, and Tax Collector.
The amendment requires an 8-vote supermajority, or a 7-vote majority across two committee meetings to remove a County Attorney. An 8-vote supermajority is required to appoint an attorney. The amendment received 307,371 votes for yes, and 138,808 for no.
The Gabber Newspaper’s Election Coverage
As a newspaper, it is not our job to have an opinion about the campaigns and candidates. Our job is to report what happens, what key players say and do, and any legal activity concerning the campaign. This includes reporting on campaign finance, basic investigation into the candidates (and, as warranted, their families), and any unusual activity involving the campaigns. Read The Gabber Newspaper‘s full statement on our elections ethics.
Amendment 5
According to Florida Law, County Charter amendments can be placed on all ballots, including elections outside of the November general election. The County believes that if amendments are put on municipal or primary ballots, it may result in lower voter turnout according to the amendment’s text.
This amendment requires charter amendments to be decided through November General elections to provide the most review possible. Amendment 5 received 309,724 votes for yes, and 133,485 votes for no.
Amendment 6
This amendment changes how advertising future proposed amendments is done. Prior to the amendment, proposed amendments must be published once a week for four consecutive weeks in a newspaper in Pinellas County. The first publication must be at least 45 days prior to the election. This amendment makes it so that, similar to other public notices, the County must only publish two notifications, with the first being at least 30 days prior to the election.
Amendment 6 received 293,979 votes for yes, and 136,121 votes for no.
Amendment 7
The final County Charter amendment on the ballot looked at cleaning up language throughout the charter. The amendment removed gendered language, instead referring to positions by their title. It also removes and updates the names of organizations that are no longer a part of the charter.
The amendment passed with 341,937 votes for yes, and 106,321 votes for no.
Want More Election News?
The Gabber Newspaper covers elections on the South Pinellas beaches, Gulfport, and South Pasadena. Want to make an informed decision at the polls? Subscribe to The Weekly and The Beach Barnacle, our two weekly newsletters. And make thegabber.com your homepage to stay up-to-date on all the news in Gulfport, South Pinellas, and the beaches.
