By Ryan Paice and Robert Anderson
Islander Reporters
The 2024 election season is right around the corner for the cities on Anna Maria Island.
The window to qualify with the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office to run for an office with the city of Anna Maria will open at noon Monday, June 3, and close at noon Friday, June 14.
The qualification periods for the cities of Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach are a week shorter, both beginning at noon Monday, June 10, and ending at noon Friday, June 14.
While people seeking elected office are allowed to declare their intent to run by filing forms with the SEO, they must submit qualifying forms and fees before the end of their municipality’s qualifying period to be on the ballot.
If they fail to qualify with the SEO in time, they cannot run in the Nov. 5 general election.
All offices in the island cities are for two-year terms.
The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 5 general election is Monday, Oct. 7.
Anna Maria
With the city’s qualification period in sight, Mayor Dan Murphy announced May 23 that he would allow his term to expire and not run for reelection.
Murphy was first elected mayor in 2014 and was reelected without opposition in 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022.
He said that it had been a “fun 10 years.”
Two commission seats will be up for grabs alongside Murphy’s, seats currently held by Gary McMullen and Mark Short.
McMullen was appointed by commissioners in January to succeed Deanie Sebring, who resigned and moved from the city last October. He was named to Sebring’s term, which will expire in December.
Short was appointed to the commission in September 2019 to complete the remainder of Brian Seymour’s term, then reelected without contest in 2020 and 2022.
However, Short filed forms May 24 declaring his intent to run for the open mayoral seat rather than his commission post.
As of May 24, Short was the only person to file forms with the SEO to run for election in Anna Maria, according to votemanatee.com.
The Anna Maria mayor earns a $19,600 annual salary.
Commissioners receive a $4,800 annual salary.
Bradenton Beach
In the electoral landscape of Bradenton Beach, Commissioner Ralph Cole, who also serves as vice mayor, finds himself exempt from the traditional term limits imposed by the city charter, courtesy of recent ward boundary modifications.
City attorney Ricinda Perry told The Islander May 23 that ward changes implemented by the commission in February granted Cole an additional year in his position, a deviation from the usual election cycle.
Cole and Ward 2 Commissioner Marilyn Maro were both sworn into their seats in 2022.
The decision to modify ward boundaries was recommended by the SEO and sanctioned by commissioners during a Feb. 1 meeting.
The proposed adjustments entail a reconfiguration of boundaries for Wards 1 and 2, while also flipping the numerical designations for Wards 3 and 4.
Cole, who previously served Ward 3, flipped numbers with Commissioner Jan Vosburgh. Cole now represents Ward 4, while Vosburgh serves Ward 3.
Perry said that while Cole’s term will extend by one year, Vosburgh’s will not shorten.
Maro’s term, meanwhile, is up this year.
It is unknown whether she will run again.
The Islander reached out May 23 to Maro, who did not respond by May 27.
Maro has been absent from all but 11 commission meetings since 2023.
She was originally appointed by the commission to fill a vacancy in 2016 and was reelected in 2018. She ran without opposition in 2020 and 2022.
Bradenton Beach commissioners receive an annual salary of $4,800.
No one had filed with the SEO to declare candidacy for Maro’s seat as of May 24.
Holmes Beach
There already is a race in Holmes Beach among two declared candidates.
The city’s mayoral post, currently held by Judy Titsworth, and two city commission seats, held by Dan Diggins and Greg Kerchner, will be up for grabs this November.
Titsworth, the granddaughter of the city’s namesake John Holmes Sr., served 2012-18 on the city commission before winning the mayor’s seat in 2018. Titsworth was reelected to the mayor’s office in 2020 and 2022 without opposition.
Titsworth has told The Islander that she will run for reelection.
And she has a challenger.
Michael “Mike” Roth, a political newcomer to the city, filed forms with the SEO in January that declared his intent to run for the mayor’s office.
On the other hand, there is no competition yet for the commission seats.
While Diggins has told The Islander that he plans to run for reelection in November, Kerchner announced he will not seek reelection.
Roth was the only person to file forms as of May 24 at the SEO to run for office in Holmes Beach.
Mayors earn a $28,160 annual salary in Holmes Beach.
Holmes Beach commissioners receive an $8,080 annual salary.