A newcomer appears headed to the Pasco County School Board in a race separated by a handful of votes.
Florida Virtual School teacher Jessica Wright, 34, who has two children in the district, was on track to narrowly defeat incumbent Alison Crumbley’s reelection bid. With one precinct outstanding, Wright held a slim lead just outside the requirement for a recount.
“I’m honestly so thankful the community is ready for change and they trust me for that change,” said Wright, who has advocated for eliminating portable classrooms and reducing class sizes, among other issues.
In other races on the ballot, former state Sen. John Legg, 49, cruised to a win over Michelle Mandarin, 35, in the Republican primary to replace retiring schools superintendent Kurt Browning. He next faces high school principal Chris Dunning in the general election.
“We’re grateful for such strong support of our back to basics education plan,” Legg said. “We look forward to taking this message into November to the rest of the county.”
Four County Commission races also were set for the November ballot.
The school board election had been expected to be a low-key campaign, featuring two candidates who agreed on many issues. Things heated up, though, after Wright began sending text messages to registered voters blasting Crumbley and the rest of the board for failure to lead on several issues including her own lawsuit against the district.
Crumbley’s supporters began pushing back, blasting Wright as a liberal Democrat who only recently switched her registration to no-party affiliation. Wright briefly helped run the 2022 campaign of failed board candidate James Washington, who championed LGBTQ+ issues among other topics, and also served for a while as a director of the anti-censorship group Florida Freedom to Read Project.
Crumbley, 66, meanwhile netted the endorsem*nt of Gov. Ron DeSantis and other high profile political leaders.
In the superintendent race, Legg, a former state lawmaker who co-founded and runs Pasco’s oldest charter school, was widely expected to win the primary. He had nearly $200,000 in his campaign account and the backing of the party establishment, including Sheriff Chris Nocco and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.
Because of the party’s dominance in Pasco, he’s also considered the front-runner in the race to replace Browning, who has held the post for the past 12 years. Browning has not endorsed anyone, although some residents have questioned the timing of his 2022 retirement announcement and Legg’s entry into the race the same day.
No Pasco County Commission race was settled with the primary vote. Voters in the primary did narrow the choices, however, in two of the races.
In the District 4 race, the November winner will fill a two-year term, completing the term of Gary Bradford, who died in April. Three candidates sought the seat on the Republican side and Lisa Yeager, 50, was the winner.
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Explore all your optionsYeager, wife of State Rep. Brad Yeager and sister to former House Speaker Chris Sprowls, has been filling in on the commission since April when Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed her to the job. Yeager, owner of Unreal Marine, raised more than $150,000 for her campaign, far outstripping her opponents, fellow Republicans Christina Fitzpatrick, 40, and Gabriel Papadopoulos, 62.
Yeager will face Democrat Daniel Ackroyd-Isales on the November ballot.
Yeager was director of the Teen Parent Program for Pasco County Schools for ten years and served as the Foundation Advancement Coordinator at Pasco-Hernando State College.
Pasco County’s District 5 commissioner, Jack Mariano, 64, easily bested his challenger fellow Republican Gina Finocchiaro, 66, which means he will face no-party candidate Thomas Celotto in November. Mariano is now seeking his sixth term.
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