Islamorada voters elected three male incumbents and two female newcomers to the village council on Election Night. The new dais will take their seats during a Dec. 8 meeting at Founders Park Community Center.
A village election season that saw plenty of attack mailers, negative TV ads and investigations by the state attorney came to an end on Nov. 8.
Unofficial results showing incumbents Buddy Pinder, Mark Gregg and Henry Rosenthal as winners. Pinder secured 54.70% of the vote in the race for Seat 1 against longtime resident Sue Miller. She secured 45.30% of village votes.
“I worked very hard the whole time. I’m glad the people of Islamorada supported me. I knew it was going to be close with everything that was going on,” Pinder said.
In the race for Seat 2, Gregg edged out Mary Barley with 51.98% of the vote. Barley, longtime board member of The Everglades Foundation, secured 48.02% of the vote. Gregg, a semi-retired attorney, said he’s humbled to be on the winning side.
“There was a lot of negative campaigning and a lot of dark money spent in this election,” he said. “This victory shows tonight that if you want a seat on the village council, you have to earn it.”
SEAT 1
Buddy Pinder: 54.70%(1,869)
“I worked very hard the whole time. I’m glad the people of Islamorada supported me and they were. I knew it was going to be close with everything that was going on.” — Buddy Pinder
Sue Miller: 45.30% (1,548)
SEAT 2
Mark Gregg: 51.98% (1,749)
“I’m grateful and humbled to be on the winning side. There was a lot of negative campaigning and a lot of dark money spent in this election. This victory shows tonight that if you want a seat on the village council, you have to earn it.” — Mark Gregg
Mary Barley: 48.02% (1,616)
SEAT 3
Elizabeth Jolin: 51.64% (1,685)
“I am really looking forward to serving.” — Elizabeth Jolin
Peter Bacheler: 48.36% (1,578)
SEAT 4
Henry Rosenthal: 34.30% (1,145)
“I got nothing to say but a win is a win.” — Henry Rosenthal
Deb Gillis: 34.12% (1,139)
Angel Borden: 11.53% (385)
John Timura: 10.87% (363)
Casey Watkins: 9.17% (306)
SEAT 5
Sharon Mahoney: 43.75% (1,453)
“So very proud and so very happy I have a chance to make a difference to the town I love and grew up in.” — Sharon Mahoney
Tom Raffanello: 31.26% (1,038)
David Webb: 24.99% (830)
Village Charter amendment to increase council compensation from $1,000 to $2,000
YES – 24.11% (835)
NO – 75.89% (2,628)
