One Commission contest, three school board races contested in Clay County

Florida’s candidate qualifying period closed at noon on June 12, meaning the ballot is set for Clay County’s local elections.

Incumbent District 2 County Commissioner Alex Compere is not seeking re-election, and two candidates are vying to replace her — Republican Lolita Smoak and Democrat Leroy Edwards.

Smoak immigrated to the U.S. from Ecuador when she was 4. An engineer, she claims her budget management and consulting background will help her make sure tax dollars are used efficiently and tackle “growth challenges” facing the county.

Edwards is a UPS supervisor who unsuccessfully ran for County Commission in 2022. His campaign platform highlights smart growth, supporting law enforcement and improving schools, roads and parks as key priorities.

The two candidates report similar fundraising, with Smoak raising $14,200. Edwards donated $12,000 to his campaign and received $250 from Jacksonville lawyer Michael Kirwan, who is running for the 4th Congressional District as a Democrat.

In the County Commission District 4 race, incumbent Betsy Condon will win unopposed after two NPA candidates failed to qualify. Condon was first elected to the BOCC in 2020 and previously served six years on the Clay County School Board.

All three incumbent school board members have drawn challengers this year, with the best-funded challenger being Michael Rathjen, who is running to unseat Michele Hanson in District 3.

Rathjen lives in Keystone Heights and serves as Vice President of School Programs at VyStar. He claims his banking experience and lower-middle-class upbringing will make him a good steward of tax dollars.

Through June 12, Rathjen had raised nearly $36,000, less than $500 of which was self-funded.

His opponent, Hanson, lives in Middleburg and taught in Clay County District Schools for 19 years. She was first elected in 2022 after unseating Board Member Tina Bullock.

Hanson highlights her efforts to turn over school safety responsibilities to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and her push to develop a library media policy that removed nearly 500 titles from school circulation that were deemed inappropriate. She reports $10,700 in fundraising through the end of May.

In District 1, Lara Libretto is challenging incumbent school board member Erin Skipper, who also first won election in 2022 by ousting a sitting board member.

School board races are officially nonpartisan in Florida, but Skipper currently serves as Clay County Republican Executive Committeewoman. She is a vocal proponent of school choice.

Libretto, an administrator with Clay County District Schools, has made academic achievement, school safety and transparency the three prongs of her platform.

Skipper has raised $33,600, including $1,000 associated with a political committee affiliated with Republican Rep. Judson Sapp. She has a significant advantage over Libretto, who has raised $4,700.

Rounding out the school board races, District 5 is a three-way race between three-term incumbent Ashley Gilhousen and challengers Gerald Beasley and Veronica Powell-Faison.

In her last reelection campaign, Gilhousen signed on to a pledge supporting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ education agenda, which included supporting increasing teacher pay and opposing COVID lockdowns and Critical Race Theory.

Beasley ran against Gilhousen in 2022 and was defeated by a 39-point margin.

Powell-Faison lists her occupation as homemaker and has raised $2,300 primarily from individual donors. Gilhousen and Beasley have each loaned themselves $10,000.

School Board Districts 1 and 4 will be decided in the Aug. 18 Primary Election because there are only two candidates. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the District 5 race, the top two vote-getters will advance to the November General Election.