ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — In St. Johns County, two of the three incumbents for the St. Johns County Commission lost their re-election bids. Grassroots candidates Clay Murphy and Ann Taylor unseated Roy Alaimo and Henry Dean respectively.
Christian Whitehurst retained his county commission seat in District 1, beating out Anne-Marie Evans. It was a tight race. Whitehurst had 48.59% to Evans’ 46.50%. Weston Furgeson had 4.91% of the vote.
The District 5 race was also close. Taylor had with 47.91% against Dean’s 45.99%. John Higbee III pulled in 6.1%.
There was a wider gap in District 3. Murphy pulled in 46.74%, Roy Alaimo 40.95%, Heather Harley-Davidson had 6.94%, and Michael McDonald had 5.37%.
Political analyst John Daigle said, “With (Krista Keating) Joseph being on that council, and now with the two new members who (could) come aboard because of today’s results, the dynamics on that county commission board are likely to change drastically.”
Murphy is likely to win the general election. He faces a write-in candidate who has not campaigned.
Taylor faces Merrill Roland, a no-party affiliation candidate.