Dave Eggers faces open Primary; Kathleen Peters, Brian Scott await General Election

The lineup is set for the Pinellas County Commission races in the 2026 Election cycle.

Two incumbents will go straight to the General Election without a Primary, while another will compete in an Open Primary.

This year, three County Commission seats are up for election, all in even-numbered districts.

Brian Scott will run against Democrat Tim Hughes in the November 3 General Election for the District 2 seat.

In District 6, Kathleen Peters will face Democrat David Glenn Jr. in the General.

In these races, neither the incumbent Republicans nor the Democratic challengers will have Primaries, since no other candidates filed for their party nominations by the Friday noon deadline.

Dave Eggers is being challenged by fellow Republican Anthony Ringelspaugh. Since no Democrat entered the race by Friday’s deadline, the GOP Primary will be open to all voters, and Eggers’ outcome will be decided on August 18.

All the incumbents are expected to keep their seats.

According to the latest campaign finance reports, Scott has raised over $101,000. Hughes just qualified for the race this week and has not reported any fundraising yet. Scott is elected countywide, where Republicans outnumber Democrats by almost 50,000 out of nearly 601,000 registered voters.

Although no Democrat is running against him, Eggers has an even larger voter registration advantage in District 4, which covers northern Pinellas County. Republicans outnumber Democrats there by nearly 30,000 out of just over 162,000 voters. GOP voters make up more than 44% of the electorate, while Democrats account for 26%.

Still, Eggers looks poised to win easy re-election. While Eggers hasn’t raised much for his re-election, just under $30,000, his opponent has only brought in $2,200. And Ringelspaugh hasn’t done much in the way of campaigning. His campaign website doesn’t list any endorsements, and his campaign Facebook page has only sporadic posts. Ringelspaugh posted a link two days ago for people to register to vote, but he didn’t include a message with it. He also posted a graphic two days ago, noting that he “will put Pinellas first,” listing “transparent decision-making,” “fiscal responsibility,” and “listening to residents and acting on real concerns” as campaign priorities. The post has just 28 likes and eight comments. Before this week, Ringelspaugh had not posted on his Facebook page since May 28, and before that, not since April 26.

The numbers suggest Peters is also likely to win re-election easily. She has raised over $116,000, while her opponent has just over $3,400. In District 6, which covers the middle of the county, Republicans outnumber Democrats by about 23,000, making up 43% of voters compared to 28% for Democrats.

Although Glenn faces a big disadvantage in voter registration and fundraising, he is actively campaigning with frequent Facebook posts and a professional campaign website.

The four other Pinellas County Commission seats, which are the odd-numbered districts, will be up for election in 2028.

Elsewhere on this year’s ballot, Edwin B. Jagger was elected to County Judge Group 3 without opposition when no one filed to challenge him. Nick Fiorentino and Zacharaia Wade will face off for County Judge Group 10. Robert Dittmer and John Carassas were both elected without opposition to County Judge Groups 14 and 15, respectively.

All but one of the School Board races this year will appear on the ballot. Incumbent Caprice Edmond was re-elected to her District 7 seat without opposition.

In District 2, incumbent Lisa Cane will run against Nancy Velardi. District 3 incumbent Dawn Peters will face two challengers, Curtis Campogni and Dawn Douglas. Two candidates are running to replace District 6 incumbent Stephanie Meyer, who is not seeking re-election. Nancy Bostok, a former School Board member and brief County Commission member, is the front-runner and will face Amanda Lord.