Photo: Bloomberg Creative Photos
There are three races on the Martin County Commission this election, including the Republican Primary for an open seat being vacated by Harold Jenkins in District 3. In Martin, commission races are countywide and in this case, ALL registered voters in Martin County can cast a ballot for District 3 since there are no Democrats or third-party affiliated candidates running for the seat.
The first of three candidates is Blake Capps, who owns a roofing company in Hobe Sound.
"I think we can really benefit from having some private enterprise business people in county government, rather than people who have basically been working for the government in various capacities."
Capps lists among his priorities upholding the county's Comprehensive Growth Management Plan, which is the long-term plan for the county's future.
Frank D'Ambra III has worked in the retirement and financial services industry and as a founding investor and COO in a local medical device start-up.
He also was a Tequesta Village Council member before moving to Martin County. Like Capps, he has concerns about the potential for too much development.
"People are, when they look at what's happened in the three counties to the south...Palm Beach, Broward and (Miami) Dade, or even when they look to the north at St. Lucie, they're all saying we don't want that to happen to us. We want to maintain this lower-density, rural agricultural lifestyle that we have here."
Susan Gibbs Thomas is the afterschool program manager at the local Warfield Elementary School and she's the current Mayor of Indiantown. But Thomas wants to be on the County Commission to help uphold the comprehensive plan and prevent future tax increases. And she says she can get it done.
"I have local experience, leadership experience. So I've had the opportunity to build relationships with residents, businesses and leadership across the county and across the state of Florida."
Thomas also wants to ensure that her hometown of Indiantown is properly represented by the county, something she says was not always the case.
The candidates also share how they feel about an upcoming Brightline station in Stuart.
This race WILL be decided August 20th, as it only takes a simple majority to win.