Parrish, Hinton keep their seats

SEE COMPLETE ELECTION RESULTS BELOW

County Commissioner Joseph "Smokey" Parrish and School Board member David Hinton both were re-elected Tuesday, but the sizes of their victories were by no means the same.

By a nearly 2-1 margin, Parrish defeated challenger Charles Wilson to earn a second four-year term on the commission from Apalachicola’s District 4. In an open Democratic primary where Republicans also could vote, Parrish drew 437 votes to Wilson's 229, for a 65.6 to 34.4 percent margin.

Hinton's bid for another term on the school board proved far tougher in the Carrabelle area’s District 2, as he edged out Wilburn Ray Messer by 42 votes, winning 336-294 in the non-partisan match-up. Hinton’s margin was a narrower 53.3 to 46.7 percent edge.

“I wasn’t pleased that I didn’t get more support but I think people were looking for changes in general,” Hinton said. “I was pleased that I came out ahead.”

Hinton won 68-65 among early voters, and 114-45 among those who cast absentee ballots, but was topped 184-154 among voters who cast ballots at the polls Tuesday.

“I haven’t heard anybody talk about issues. I think it had to do more about popularity,” said Hinton, who was first elected in 2000, and won his first complete term in 2002.

“I appreciate everybody that voted for me,” said Hinton, who turns 75 on Friday. “I would have to say Mr. Messer ran a very clean race, and I thank him for a straightforward and clean race.”

In contrast, Parrish cruised to victory, winning by hefty margins among early and absentee voters, as well as those who went to the polls.

“I appreciate the vote of support and confidence to allow me to continue to provide leadership for the people of Franklin County," said Parrish, 48. "This tells me that people were satisfied with the job I'm doing for the county, by my doing what I thought was best for the people.

"My views aren't affected by rich and poor, black or white,” he said. “It's about right is right, and wrong and wrong, and I think the vote bears that out.”

Parrish said handling the continuing loss of funds to the county’s revenue stream, and protecting the seafood industry will be the two biggest challenges in the months ahead.

“Everything we have here hinges around our bay and our estuary,” he said. “The continued protection of that is high on my priority list.”

Parrish, who sat down Saturday at a small get-together at Boss Oyster with Congressman Allen Boyd, wasted no time in signaling he planned to back Boyd’s re-election in November for the Florida Panhandle's 2nd Congressional District.

On Tuesday, Boyd squeaked out a narrow 51.5 to 48.5 percent win over State Senator Al Lawson in the Democratic primary, .In the general election, the seven-term congressman will face Panama City funeral home owner Steve Southerland, who won a five-way Republican primary Tuesday.

“For the people of Franklin County, Allen Boyd has always answered the bell,” said Parrish, recounting Boyd’s active role in advocating for the bay in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint “Water Wars,” and for his support of the oyster industry in the face of mandates from the Food and Drug Administration.

“We have a very good ally in Franklin County,” said Parrish. “He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do.”

Lawson campaigned heavily in Franklin County, including a pre-election rally in Riverfront Park a week ago that saw former Property Appraiser John James, Apalachicola City Commissioner Jimmy Elliott and former County Commissioner Willard Vinson all speaking on Lawson’s behalf.

But at the polls Tuesday, the county preferred Boyd by a 1,044 to 848 vote margin, or 55.2 to 44.8 percent.

Republican and Democratic voters in the county turned out to the polls both at around 36 percent, but non-partisan voters were less interested, with only about 11 percent of them voting.

County Democrats, who make up more than 70 percent of the registered voters in the county, bucked the statewide trend in the race for U.S. Senate, handing Jeff Greene 51 percent of their votes while giving the eventual winner, Kendrick Meek, just 32 percent.

The Dems here preferred gubernatorial nominees over Brian Moore by 70 to 30 percent, and liked Dan Gelber, the eventual nominee for attorney general, by 56 percent over Dave Aronberg’s 44 percent. They gave Bill Montford, who is running for to replace Lawson as state senator from District 6, 68 percent of the vote to Curtis Richardson’s 32 percent.

Among Republicans, local voters handed Marco Rubio, the Senate nominee, 85 percent of their vote, and gave Southerland 42.7 percent of their votes in that five-way race. For governor, they preferred the eventual winner, Rick Scott, who got 52 percent of the vote, over Bill McCollum. For attorney general, they gave the eventual winner, Pam Bondi, the lowest percentage of their votes, 30.6, with higher totals going to both Jeff Kottkamp, with 35.6 percent, and Holly Benson, with 33.8 percent.

The following are the unofficial totals from the Aug. 24 primary,

provided courtesy of the Supervisor of Elections office. The names of

winners of the contest are in bold face.

UNITED STATES SENATOR - Democratic

Total Vote Cast: 1,791

Glenn A. Burkett          202      (11.27%)

Maurice A. Ferre          92        (5.136%)

Jeff Greene                   918      (51.25%)

Kendrick B. Meek     579      (32.32%)

REP IN CONGRESS DIST 2 - Democratic

Total Vote Cast: 1,899

Allen Boyd      1,048   (55.18%)

Al Lawson        851      (44.81%)

GOVERNOR AND LT. GOVERNOR - Democratic

Total Vote Cast: 1,668

Brian P. Moore            502      (30.09%)

Alex Sink                    1,166   (69.90%)

ATTORNEY GENERAL - Democratic

Total Vote Cast: 1,546

Dave Aronberg             683      (44.17%)

Dan Gelber                 863      (55.82%)

STATE SENATOR DIST 6 - Democratic

Total Vote Cast: 1,711

Bill Montford             1,168   (68.26%)

Curtis Richardson         543      (31.73%)

COUNTY COMMISSIONER DIST 4 - Democratic

Total Vote Cast: 668

Smokey Parrish          437      (65.41%)

Charles Wilson             231      (34.58%)

CIRCUIT JUDGE CIRC 2 GROUP 9 - Non-Partisan

Total Vote Cast: 2,254

Eddie Evans             403      (17.87%)

Karen Gievers           658      (29.19%) – Will be in Nov. 2 runoff

Barbara Hobbs          422      (18.72%) – Will be in Nov. 2 runoff

Bruce Leinback          314      (13.93%)

J. Layne Smith          457      (20.27%)

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER DIST 2 - Non-Partisan

Total Vote Cast: 636

David Hinton 340      (53.45%)

Wilburn Ray Messer     296      (46.54%)

UNITED STATES SENATOR- Republican

Total Vote Cast: 556

William Escoffery III     29        (5.215%)

William Billy Kogut       52        (9.352%)

Marco Rubio 475      (85.43%)

REP IN CONGRESS DIST 2 Republican

Total Vote Cast: 559

Eddie Hendry             57        (10.19%)

Ron McNeil                60        (10.73%)

Barbara F. Olschner    78        (13.95%)

David Scholl              125      (22.36%)

Steve Southerland      239      (42.75%)

GOVERNOR AND LT. GOVERNOR - Republican

Total Vote Cast: 564

Mike McCalister          77        (13.65%)

Bill McCollum 193      (34.21%)

Rick Scott                   294      (52.12%)

ATTORNEY GENERAL  - Republican

Total Vote Cast: 543

Holly Benson              183      (33.70%)

Pam Bondi                  166      (30.57%)

Jeff Kottkamp            194      (35.72%)