The South Lake Hob Nob 2018 was held on Monday evening, August 13 at the Clermont Arts and Recreation Center. The non-partisan event brought together local and state candidates whose names may appear on the 2018 ballot. The event, hosted by the South Lake Chamber of Commerce, offered attendees the opportunity to meet with candidates and cast their ballot in a straw poll.
A whopping 69% of those casting their ballots in the HobNob Straw Poll approved an additional three-quarter mill ad valorem tax for school safety and mental health services.
Straw polling is unreliable and can be misleading. It does not represent an accurate cross-section of the voters and there is no guarantee that the candidate receiving the most votes in a straw poll will be the winner on election day. However, straw polling does provide awareness which may lead to a person getting out and voting on election day.
Keeping this in mind, below are the front-runners in the 2018 Official HobNob Poll.
United States Senator
- Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente (REP)
- Rick Scott (REP) Received 65% of the votes
- Bill Nelson (DEM)
Representative in Congress District 6
- Fred Costello (REP) Received 29% of the votes
- Michael Waltz (REP)
- John Ward (REP)
- Stephen Sevigny (DEM)
- Nancy Soderberg (DEM)
- John Upchurch (DEM)
Representative in Congress District 11
- Daniel Webster (REP) Received 72% of the votes
- Dana Cottrell (DEM)
Representative in Congress District 15
- Neil Combee (REP)
- Sean Harper (REP)
- Danny Kushmer (REP)
- Ed Shoemaker (REP)
- Ross Spano (REP) Received 28% of the votes
- Kristen Carlson (DEM)
- Andrew P. Learned (DEM)
- Raymond “Ray Pena (DEM)
Governor
- Don Baldauf (REP)
- Ron DeSantis (REP)
- Timothy M Devine (REP)
- Bob Langford (REP)
- John Joseph Mercadante (REP)
- Bruce Nathan (REP)
- Adam H. Putnam (REP) Received 39% of the votes
- Bob White (REP)
- Andrew Gillum (DEM)
- Gwen Graham (DEM)
- Jeff Greene (DEM)
- Chris King (DEM)
- Philip Levine (DEM)
- Alex “Lundy” Lundmark (DEM)
- John Wetherbee (DEM)
- Darcy G. Richardson (REF)
- Ryan Christopher Foley (NPA)
- Kyle “KC” Gibson (NPA)
- Raphael Herman (NPA)
- Bruce Stanley (NPA)
Attorney General
- Ashley Moody (REP) Received 35% of the votes
- Frank White (REP)
- Sean Shaw (DEM)
- Ryan Torrens (DEM)
- Jeffrey Marc Sisking
Chief Financial Officer
- Jimmy Patronis (REP) Received 73% of the votes
- Jeremy Ring (DEM)
Commissioner of Agriculture
- Matt Caldwell (REP)
- Denise Grimsley (REP) Received 31% of the votes
- Mike McCalister (REP)
- Baxter Troutman (REP)
- Nicole “Nikki” Fried (DEM)
- Jeffrey Duane Porter (DEM)
- Roy David Walker (DEM)
State Senator District 12
- Dennis Baxley (REP) Received 70% of the votes
- Gary McKechnie (DEM)
State Senator District 22
- Kelli Stargel (REP) Received 76% of the votes
- Bob Doyel (DEM)
- Ricardo Rangel (DEM)
State Representative District 31
- Jennifer Sullivan (REP) Received 62% of the votes
- Debra A. Kaplan (DEM)
State Representative District 32
- Shannon Elswick (REP) Received 35% of the votes
- Anthony Sabatini (REP)
- Monica L. Wofford (REP)
- Cynthia Brown (DEM)
- Sheryl Needle Cohn (DEM)
State Representative District 33
- Brett Hage (REP) Received 71% of the votes
- Oren L. Miller (DEM)
Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller Universal Primary Contest
- Gary J Cooney (REP) Received 53% of the votes
- Jason D. Paynter (REP)
Board of County Commissioners District 2 Universal Primary Contest
- Sean M. Parks (REP) Received 78% of the votes
- Tad Schnaufer (REP)
Lake County Water Authority at-Large
- Vance L. Jochim (REP)
- Courtney Stokes (REP) Received 40% of the votes
- Jeremy Norton (DEM)
Lake County Water Authority District 2
- Joseph Trampis BonJorn (REP) Received 69% of the vote
- Alan Harris (DEM)
- Casey Griffin (NPA)
Lake County Water Authority District 3
- Carolyn Maimone (REP) Received 64% of the votes
- Susan Fetter (DEM)
- Nicholas Stack (NPA)
Lake County Water Authority District 4
- Butch Hendrick (REP) Received 66% of the votes
- Doug Bryant (DEM)
North Lake County Hospital District Board of Trustees (Northeast Territory, Seat 2)
- Barbara Price (REP) Received 64% of the votes
- Belita “B.” Grassel (DEM)
Circuit Judge, 5thJudicial Circuit Group 4
- Don Barbee Jr. Received 60% of the votes
- Edward C. Spaight
School Board Member District 1
- Perry Berkowitz
- Bill Mathias Received 75% of the votes
- Mike Sykes
School Board Member District 5
- Stephanie Luke Received 74% of the votes
- Peter E. Tarby
The primary election will be held on August 28 and the general election on November 6.
For information on voter registration, polling locations, absentee voting and other election questions, go to Lake County Votes
