Term limits lead to lively races for Brevard County Commission as politicians scramble

In a prime example of the political musical chairs sparked by term limits, among those seeking three open County Commission seats is

a state representative who is being term-limited out of that office, and who happened to have been a county commissioner decades ago before heading to the Florida House and then the Florida Senate and then back to the House again.

He will face off another former representative who himself was term-limited out of office a decade ago.

Meanwhile, two of the commissioners being term-limited out of office — one of whom joined the commission after being term-limited out of the Florida House — are seeking other countywide seats.

Current Commissioners Rita Pritchett of North Brevard's District 1 and John Tobia of South Brevard's District 3 will both give up their seats due to term limits after being first elected to their positions in 2016.

Jason Steele, whose District 5 also includes much of South Brevard, will also be departing the board at the end of the term. Steele was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to replace former Commissioner Kristine Zonka, who departed in 2023 to lead the Brevard County Department of Health.

Zonka would not have been eligible to run for reelection because of term limits.

Both Pritchett and Tobia are now running to lead two of the county's constitutional offices. Pritchett is seeking to unseat longtime incumbent Lisa Cullen as Brevard County tax collector, while Tobia is vying to lead the supervisor of elections office against current agency head Tim Bobanic.

Here's who's running for each of the three open districts this year:

District 1, North Brevard, including Titusville, Port St. John and Cocoa

District 1 will have the Brevard County Commission's most crowded race.

Four Republicans are seeking the seat — current Titusville Mayor Dan Diesel, former Titusville City Councilman Robert Jordan, Mims community activist Dwight Seigler and conservative activist Katie Delaney. They will face off in the Aug. 20 primary this year.

The Nov. 5 general election also includes former Keep Brevard Beautiful Executive Director Bryan Bobbitt running as the sole Democrat. Nathan Slusher, a Libertarian who has previously run unsuccessfully for Titusville City Council, has also qualified for the race.

Seigler previously ran for the District 1 seat as a Democrat in 2020, when he lost to Pritchett in a landslide that saw the Republican win with 67.7% of the vote.

District 3, Southeast Brevard, Including Melbourne, Palm Bay and south Beaches

District 3 will see a much smaller primary between two Republicans — current West Melbourne City Councilman John Dittmore and Kim Adkinson, who has served as Republican State Committeewoman.

The winner of that primary will face Democratic candidate Yvonne Minus, who currently serves on the Melbourne City Council.  Minus in 2014 became the first Black woman to sit on the city's governing body. She then went on to win two more elections, maintaining her office. She was ineligible to run again for City Council this year due to term limits.

District 5, Southwest Brevard, including Palm Bay, West Melbourne and Melbourne

In District 5, current Florida Rep. Thad Altman will be running against former Florida Rep. Ritch Workman in the Republican primary.

Altman is being term-limited from the House. Workman was term-limited out of the House in 2016.

Altman's run marks his return to county-level politics after three decades. The Republican politician from Melbourne served on the County Commission from 1984 to 1992 before serving in the Florida House, the Florida Senate and the Florida House again, where he currently represents District 32, which includes Rockledge, Melbourne, Indialantic and Indian Harbour Beach.

Besides being a former Florida representative, Workman is also Tobia's former director of community affairs.

The winner of the GOP primary will face Democrat Vinnie Taranto Jr., chair of the Save Our Indian River Lagoon Citizen Oversight Committee, in the November election.

The current salary of county commissioners is $60,272.98. County Commission terms are staggered, and Districts 2 and 4 will hold elections again in 2026.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard County Commission will see contested races in 2024 election cycle