Titusville mayor Dan Diesel joins crowded race for Brevard County Commission District 1 seat

Titusville mayor Dan Diesel filed Monday to run for the Brevard Board of County Commissioners, joining a crowded race and setting the stage for a four-way Republican primary this summer. Incumbent District 1 commissioner Rita Pritchett, a Republican, will not be eligible for reelection this year due to term limits, opening the field for a race that now has six candidates, including four Republicans.

Pritchett, looking to remain in county government, filed to run this year for Brevard County Tax Collector against incumbent Lisa Cullen Diesel will face off against his former colleague on the Titusville City Council, Republican Robert Jordan, former Moms for Liberty member Katie Delaney; and Mims activist Dwight Siegler, who has previously run for the seat as a Democrat, in the Aug. 20 primary election.

Former Keep Brevard Beautiful executive director Bryan Bobbitt has also filed to run for North Brevard's District 1 seat as a Democrat while libertarian activist and former city council candidate Nathan Slusher has filed to run on the libertarian ticket. Diesel has served on the Titusville City Council since 2016 when he won a four-way race to succeed former Titusville Mayor Walt Johnson's open Seat 3 when Johnson ran for mayor.

Diesel served for the remaining two years of Johnson's four-year term before winning the seat again two years after that. Two years later again, Dan Diesel was elected Mayor in 2020 when he ran the seat unopposed.

The current salary of county commissioners is $60,272.98.

County Commission Districts 3 and 5 will also hold elections this year.

County Commission races are staggered, and Districts 2 and 4 held their races in 2022 for four-year terms.

Tyler Vazquez is the Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Titusville mayor enters race for Brevard County Commission District 1