Indian River’s Center - Left “Republicans” Vote to Keep the Status Quo.
Absentee voters dominate election results in favor of establishment and center left candidates.
Conventional wisdom says concerning Indian River County, “it’s a red county.” Looking at the voter registration numbers would lead the average observer to that conclusion. The county votes that way too on national elections. In 2020, 79% voter turnout with sweeping Republican dominance. The 2022 general election featuring the Governor’s race saw 65% turnout and the same results.
However, if you watched the returns on Tuesday night for the local primary races, you soon came to realize the Republican majority isn’t about principled republicanism. It trends to the middle of the road. Those who were elected by the majority votes of Republican registrants, were a leftist school board candidate, Dr. Peggy Jones; David Dyer who claimed he was for DeSantis then endorsed Dr. Jones; a center left republican, Susan Adams, who was for masks and favors affordable housing projects with the involvement of NGO’s; Joe Earman who believes in subsidizing non-profits at about $3.4 million annually in his oversight of the Children’s Services Advisory Committee; and a tax and spend Sheriff who owns the 3 highest budget increases since 2007.
There are exceptions. Carole Jean Jordan’s easy re-election for Tax Collector is a great example. A constitutional office, she will tell you that it’s more of an administrative position. Pardon the pun, but county residents are forever indebted to the Tax Collector for her integral service. Ms. Jordan’s leadership has produced over $40 million in savings for Indian River taxpayers. She is the longest serving republican member of the executive committee and is a former chair of The Republican Party of Florida.
But for the most part, this election was over after the absentees were counted. Most conservatives who entered this 2024 election season at the local level found themselves needing to overcome a 5,000 vote deficit from the beginning. And, those 5,000 votes were not Democrats. They only accounted for 5,820 absentee ballot returns. Republicans returned 9,331.
In the school board races, this pattern is most glaring. Dr. Peggy Jones received 11,418 mail-in ballots vs challenger, Rob MacCallum receiving 5,241 for a difference of almost 6200 votes. How much of that Republican mail-in went to her?
In District 5, Kevin McDonald lost the mail-in votes by over 5,000. David Dyer received 10,812 over Mr. McDonald’s 5,716. Unique to these races was the endorsement of Mr. MacCallum and Mr. McDonald by Governor DeSantis. Their team flooded the zone on social media and mailboxes. However, the help was too late. Absentees were sent out on July 11, and the endorsements did not come until around two weeks later. In a time when 50% of your votes in an election are cast by mail, campaigns are strategizing for a long voting season. If support isn’t timely, it will not matter.
In the Sheriff’s race, low turnout is normal making it a base election. It was a closed primary. Sheriff Flowers received 9,667 votes which is 8% of the registered voters. There were 26,390 votes cast in the contest up from the 2020 race with 23,429. Deborah Cooney made herself a write-in for that race too. Fellsmere Police Chief, Keith Touchberry said, “It was an incredibly poor showing at the polls for what is arguably the most important elected position in the county.”
Chief Touchberry placed second with 8,423 votes. In this base election what does a Sheriff Flowers win show? News reports revealed a little over 1,200 former democrat and independent voters became republicans according to the Supervisor of Elections. In the mail-in ballot chase, Sheriff Flowers received 3,789 to Chief Touchberry’s 2,532 for a difference of over 1,200. Game over.
His win also shows he didn’t even get close to the losers in the school board race. Mr. McDonald had 16,381 votes. It makes you think about the apathetic nature surrounding local primaries. Moms for Liberty chair, Jennifer Pippin commented, “The primary elections in Indian River County were an example of the majority of conservative republicans not showing up to the polls. The mail-in ballots and the RINO (Republican In Name Only) representation dominated the majority of the vote.”
For a Republican party that has more registrations than Democrats and NPA’s combined, how do their endorsed candidates loose so bigly, particularly in a school board race? In Indian River County, if you are a left leaning candidate, register republican. It is probably the best way to obtain victory. One of the most notorious candidates who took advantage of hiding out in party obscurity was Dr. Peggy Jones in 2020. Registered as a republican, Dr. Jones politically behaved like a lifelong Democrat donating over 450 times to Democrat presidential candidates (Obama, Hillary, Biden) and the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee. She defeated conservative, Laura Zorc.
After her election in 2020, Dr. Jones switched her registration to NPA (non-party affiliation) as some sort of overture to the presumed orthodoxy of non-partisanship. Her positions for the next 4 years were progressive left. In a supposed red-county, Rob MacCallum felt he would be the best candidate to challenge Dr. Jones. “As a first time candidate going against a ‘Mount Rushmore’ incumbent with 40 plus years of experience in the school system, 43% was a decent result.”
Still, the support from the local Republican leadership was not there. Mr. MacCallum and his wife knocked over 7,000 doors for their campaign. He added, “As far as the party goes, we had great participation from some individuals that I met at different events and club meetings I attended, but the party as a whole was disappointing with the support and effort. The focus was solely on national elections, and I get that, but we need to focus on our local candidates to make sure we are getting the right people elected.”
The local party endorsed Mr. MacCallum and Mr. McDonald for school board. However, the leadership did not organize mail campaigns or any other backing like traditional phone banking. Ms. Pippin said, “DeSantis provided much support to local candidates, endorsing 3 of them in Indian River. To my knowledge, the REC didn’t do enough as an organization to help get candidates elected in the primaries. The waters were muddied with RINO’s and party switchers.”
If you really want to know the state of the Republican party in Indian River County, look no further than the state committeewoman race. The re-election of incumbent, Elly Manov, for a 5th term over Lamarre Notargiacomo (No-tar-jaque-o-mo) was an eye-opener. Ms. Manov is 91 years old. Ms. Notargiacomo filed her candidacy in November of 2023. She filed with the backing of Ms. Manov. A few months later, the elderly incumbent announced she was stepping down and gave Ms. Notargiacomo a lengthy endorsement as the person who should represent Indian River County. However, for unknown reasons, Ms. Manov filed right before the qualifying deadline and on the local Election Day, without spending a dime, won.
It is a very telling state of affairs.
But now, it is time to look ahead to the general election. Amendments to the Florida Constitution are on the ballot. Progressives want to legalize pot and the most extreme abortion agenda imaginable with Amendment 4. Furthermore, the Sheriff still needs a victory over Deborah Cooney to assume office. And, if that were not enough, on November 5th, to quote Hulk Hogan, “Trump-a-mania” will consume Indian River County.
Expect the traditional red wave at the polls.
If local America First republicans vote at half the numbers of this general election in any primary, many of the next generation candidates like Mr. MacCallum would be talking about his victory. Having two kids entering public schools, he is hopeful for the future. “It has been an enjoyable experience getting to know the community on a deeper, more impactful level and seeing firsthand the potential this county truly has. As a parent, business owner, and an active member of our community, I look forward to helping our school system progress and serving in the future.”
*UPDATE: At the time of writing, Elly Manov hadn’t reported any contributions, including “in-kind contributions.” Her latest candidate report after the election shows in-kind contributions from the candidate, Elly Manov, for signs and text messaging. Ms. Manov is retired and is not known to own or run these businesses.
Unfortunately, we the people are too accepting of vote-by-mail balloting, which is wreaking havoc on local and national elections, especially during the primaries. We must change our election laws so that only those with limited mobility (and of sound mind) and military members can vote by mail. That said, years ago, I heard an election security specialist state that only 5% of military ballots actually get counted. Until we the people get serious about election security, change will not happen.
I'd be surprised if even 5% of deployed military ballots get counted. Some years ago, while my career Navy son was deployed overseas, his ship didn't receive their VBM ballots until the day after the election. They were assured their votes would still count, but a reasonably astute person would have doubts about that.