A dozen municipalities in Palm Beach County are holding elections Tuesday.
Ten of them — Boynton Beach, Jupiter, Lake Park, Lake Worth Beach, Lantana, Loxahatchee Groves, Pahokee, Palm Beach Gardens, Riviera Beach and Royal Palm Beach — have seats up for grabs.
Two others, Golf and Highland Beach, don’t have any candidates running. Instead, they’re asking voters to weigh in on important government matters.
Here’s what’s at stake.
Boynton Beach
Voters in the county’s third-most populous city have a chance to pick a new Mayor on Tuesday as the current officeholder, Ty Penserga, must leave due to term limits.
They’ll also pick between two candidates running for the District 3 seat on the City Commission.
Four candidates are running for Mayor: former Boynton Beach Community Agency Advisory Board Chair Golene Gordon, marketing executive Courtlandt McQuire, former City Commissioner David Merker and real estate broker Rebecca Shelton.
In the District 3 race, incumbent Commissioner Thomas Turkin, a 33-year-old Republican, faces a challenge from 25-year-old political operative Dominick Vargas, who carries an endorsement from the Florida Democratic Party.
Jupiter
Three three-year posts will be filled in Jupiter’s election, including the municipality’s top elected office.
Jim Kuretski, a 70-year-old whose service with Jupiter dates back to his first election to the Town Council in 2001, is seeking a second term as Mayor. Standing in his way is Council member Cameron May, a 37-year-old fellow Republican.
Three candidates are seeking the open District 1 seat: Realtor Phyllis Choy and accountant Andy Weston, both 76-year-old Republicans, and 62-year-old Democrat Teri Grooms, an administrative office specialist who has served on multiple community advisory panels.
For the District 2 seat, 41-year-old Republican incumbent Council member Malise Sundstrom hopes to deflect challenges from 72-year old Democrat Linda McDermott and 55-year-old Republican Willie Puz.
Lake Park
In the small town of Lake Park, population 8,984, all four incumbent Commissioners — Kimberly Glas-Castro, Michael Hensley, Mary Beth Taylor and Judith Thomas — are running for additional three-year terms.
Two other residents, John Linden and Michael O’Rourke, hope to supplant them.
Voters will cast ballots for their four preferred candidates. The four candidates who receive the most votes win.
Lake Worth Beach
Commissioners representing even-numbered districts at Lake Worth Beach City Hall are running to keep their jobs for three more years Tuesday.
In District 2, which covers the city’s northwest area, incumbent Commissioner Christopher McVoy, a 67-year-old soil scientist and author, faces a challenge from fellow Democrat Carla Blockson, 68, who chairs the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.
In District 4, which spans the city’s southeastern region, incumbent 41-year-old Commissioner Reinaldo Diaz, the founder of Lake Worth Waterkeeper, faces two opponents: 69-year-old Realtor Greg Richter and 47-year-old businessman Anthony Segrich.
Richter, like Diaz, is a Democrat. Segrich was a Republican until 2022 and is currently registered with no party affiliation.
Lantana
After Group 2 Council member Kem Mason coasted to re-election unopposed, a contest between Group 1 Council member Lynn Moorhouse and challenger Jesse Rivero is the only one on the Lantana ballot.
Moorhouse, an 81-year-old Republican, is a retired dentist and Navy veteran whose local service runs decades deep. He was a founding member of the Lantana Chamber of Commerce and served on the town’s Planning and Zoning Board for nearly a decade before winning his Council seat in 2004.
The incumbent’s two-plus decades in office is long enough, according to Rivero, 51-year-old firefighter who serves on the Lantana Master Plan Committee and is a registered member of the Florida Democratic Party.
Loxahatchee Groves
The small town of Loxahatchee Groves has one Council seat and one question on the ballot.
Three candidates are competing to replace Council member Robert Shorr in Seat 4. Shorr chose not to seek re-election.
The candidates include Paul Coleman, Steve Hoffman and Brian William Zdunowski.
Coleman, a 50-year-old Republican, has worked as a building inspector for Palm Beach County for the past seven years. He unsuccessfully challenged Shorr in 2022.
Hoffman, a 55-year-old no-party candidate, is a quail farmer. Zdunowski, a 45-year-old Republican, works for a medical software company.
The ballot question asks if Loxahatchee Groves should use Palm Beach County’s Canvassing Board as its canvassing board during municipal elections, which would save money.
Pahokee
In small Pahokee, Group 1 Commissioner Clara “Tasha” Murvin, who is currently serving as the city’s Vice Mayor, faces a challenge from James Scott.
Murvin, 58, beat one challenger three years ago without opposition. She’s now hoping for a repeat against Scott, a 63-year-old fellow Democrat.
Other posts that were up for election — Mayor and Group 2 Commissioner — automatically went to their respective incumbents, Keith Babb Jr. and Derrick Boldin, in November after no one filed to run against them.
Palm Beach Gardens
Two City Council seats will be decided Tuesday in 61,146-resident Palm Beach Gardens.
For the Group 2 seat, incumbent Council member Marcie Tinsley, 56, faces 51-year-old Scott Gilow.
For Group 4, 47-year-old firefighter John Kemp faces 66-year-old Chuck Millar.
All four candidates are Republicans.
The Group 4 race has involved some mudslinging, due to Millar’s legal issues predating 2019. He’s said he’s a changed man and hasn’t gotten into any trouble since.
Riviera Beach
Two incumbents on the Riviera Beach City Council are defending their seats against lone challengers, both of whom previously served on the Council until 2016.
In District 1, incumbent Tradrick McCoy, 41, faces 64-year-old Bruce Guyton.
In District 3, incumbent Shirley Lanier, 59, is working to repel Cedrick Thomas, 47.
Royal Palm Beach
Incumbent Royal Palm Beach Mayor Jeff Hmara, an 80-year-old Democrat, is trying to win election to the post his Village Council peers appointed him after the death of Fred Pinto in September.
Two Republicans — Vice Mayor Selena Samios, a 52-year-old marketing pro, and Justin Plaza, a 42-year-old tech entrepreneur — aim to stop him.
Also on the ballot: 35-year-old Republican international affairs consultant Steve Avila, 56-year-old Democratic media professional and nonprofit founder Donielle Pinto, the late Mayor’s widow, and Democratic 59-year-old grant writer Sylvia Sharps.
The three are competing for the Council’s Group 3 seat. Its appointed occupant, Adam Miller, ran unopposed for the Group 1 seat Samios is vacating.
Other incumbent Council members Richard Valuntas and Jan Rodusky of Group 2 and Group 4 also coasted back into office without opposition.
Golf
Voters in the 265-resident village of Golf have three ballot questions to answer:
— Shall the Village Charter be amended to allow for the Village Council to consist of three or five members?
— Shall the Village Charter be amended to provide that a vacancy shall be filled to the end of the term of office of such vacancy?
— Shall the Village Charter be amended so that if there are less than three members of the Council who are eligible to vote due to vacancy or lawful abstention that the remaining member or members may approve the matter by unanimous vote?
Highland Beach
Voters in Highland Beach have one ballot question. A “yes” vote would approve spending up to $3.5 million to pay for two public safety projects, one to rehabilitate an old fire station and its apparatus bays, the other to build a marine facility for boat docking and water rescue services.
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