Mullins, Hansen win County Commission Republican primaries; Branquinho and Tipton head to City Council seat runoff

Palm Coast Observer
News

By: Jonathan Simmons and Paige Wilson

County Commission candidate Joe Mullins beat two-term incumbent Nate McLaughlin in the Republican primary for District 4 the night of Aug. 28, and City Council candidates Eddie Branquinho and John Tipton will proceed to a November runoff election.

Brooke, Hailey, Garrett and Trevor Tucker watch the live election results on a laptop at Woody's BBQ. Tucker, the School Board District 4 incumbent, beat challenger Paul Anderson. Photo by Paige Wilson

“It’s been an incredible last four months and just nonstop knocking on doors — I mean, 13,000 doors, and over 7,000 of my own,” Mullins said at his celebration. “So, I’m just excited; I’m excited about the new direction Flagler is looking at heading now.”

Speaking later, on WNZF Radio after results came in, Mullins said, “I know there was a lot of whispering attacks, a lot of craziness circulating around, and it just — when you know who you are and you know what you can do, you stay focused on it. And just watching the president go through what he went through, and then seeing these same people who sit there and say they support him turn around and trying to attack me on my character — this is a great night and I’m just glad ... the community spoke and they rose above all this silliness.”

Mullins will face NPA candidate Jane Gentile-Youd in November.

Greg Hansen, the incumbent county commissioner in the District 2 Republican primary race, beat challenger Abby Romaine. Hansen will face NPA candidate Dennis McDonald in November.

Palm Coast City Council District 4 candidate John Tipton with his wife, Vanessa Tipton, at the African American Cultural Center. Tipton and Eddie Branquinho will head to a runoff. Photo by Paige Wilson

Incumbent School Board District 4 member Trevor Tucker beat challenger Paul Anderson, winning that race outright.

“I hope to keep the district moving forward towards an ‘A,’” Tucker said after election results came in. “And as long as we have the correct staff and the right training, everybody should work hard to get there.”

In the other School Board race, District 2, incumbent Janet McDonald came out in front in the three-way race with 40.87%, followed by John Fischer with 31.91% and Carl Jones with 27.21%. McDonald and Fischer, as the top two vote-getters in the race, will proceed to the November general election. Fischer had held the District 2 seat before McDonald won it in 2014.

Branquinho was in a three-way race for the Palm Coast City Council District 4 seat to replace current councilwoman Heidi Shipley, who is not running for re-election. Branquinho, a retired Newark Police Department officer, got 35.26% of the vote; John Tipton followed with 34.8%; and Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services consultant Corinne Hermle came in third with 29.94%. Branquinho’s lead against Tipton was 76 votes; Tipton had appeared to have a narrow lead over Branquinho until the final Palm Coast precinct reported in at about 8 p.m.

In the Circuit Judge, 7th Judicial Circuit, Group 15 race, Ryan Will won out against competitors Linda Gaustad and Sebrina Slack in both the Flagler County results and the districtwide results. Will and Gaustad will proceed to a November runoff.

Flagler County voters by far favored U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis — whose District 6 includes Flagler County — in the Republican gubernatorial primary, and Gwen Graham in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Statewide, DeSantis won the Republican primary, and Andrew Gillum, in an upset, won the Democratic primary.

In the U.S. Congress, District 6 race, Michael Waltz came out in front in the Republican primary in both the Flagler County and the statewide results, and Nancy Soderberg in the Democratic primary in both the Flagler County and the statewide results.

For state senator, Republican voters in Flagler County and the state as a whole chose current Florida Gov. Rick Scott over Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente.

Most of the Flagler County voters who cast their ballots in the primary voted before Election Day: 14,628 voters, or 17.94% of the 81,866 registered voters in the county, had cast their ballots as of the evening of Aug. 27; 7,381 by mail and 7,247 in early voting that ended Saturday, Aug. 25.

Turnout was high for a primary: With all 25 precincts reporting, voter turnout was at 29.9%. Supervisor of Elections Kaiti Lenhart had said on Friday, Aug. 24, that she would be pleased if turnout reached 25%.