Pinellas Elections Starting to Heat Up

Election Day 2014 is still a long way away, but that doesn’t mean competition for local seats isn’t starting to develop.

With seats up for grabs on both the Pinellas County Commission and Pinellas School Board, St. Petersburg residents can anticipate some changes following the 2014 elections.

Here’s a look at who’s filed for what races to date, according to the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Office:

County Commission, District 2 (At Large)

This at-large district seat is currently held by Norm Roche.

One candidate has filed to date:

• Ed Hooper, Republican

Hooper currently represents District 67, which includes much of Clearwater and Largo, in the Florida House, where he is up against term limits. The former Clearwater City Commissioner has raised $9,450 in contributions so far.

County Commission, District 4

Three candidates have filed for this seat, which covers Tarpon Springs, Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Safety Harbor and parts of unincorporated Clearwater and is currently held by Susan Latvala:

• Timothy Keffalas, Republican
• Jack McAdoo, Democrat
• Peter Nehr, Republican

Keffalas, who unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Tarpon Springs City Commission in March, has not reported any campaign contributions since filing for the county commission race May 15.

Palm Harbor resident McAdoo has raised $120 and reported $684 in in-kind contributions so far.

Nehr, who lost his seat in the state house to Carl Zimmermann in November, has raised $150 so far.

County Commission, District 6

John Morroni holds this seat, in a district that covers parts of Largo and St. Petersburg. Morroni, who has battled non-Hodgkins lymphona, has not announced if he'll run for re-election in 2014 due to health concerns but said he is leaning toward entering the race, Tampabay.com reports.

Two other candidates have filed for the race:

• Jack Harris, Libertarian
• Thomas Rask, Republican

Harris, whose background is in information technology and real estate, has reported a little less than $500 in monetary and in-kind contributions.

Rask lives in Seminole, where is majority owner and president of Logical Sites, Inc., an Internet publishing company. He has not reported any campaign contributions.

School Board, District 2 (At Large)

Terry Krassner has held this seat since 2010 in an at-large district covering much of northwestern Pinellas.

One candidate has filed for a 2014 run so far:

• Chris Tauchnitz, nonpartisan

Tauchnitz, a senior software engineer for VeriFone Inc., lives in Oldsmar and is married to a Pinellas County teacher. 

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[Clarification: The County Commission District 2 position is an at-large seat that covers all of Pinellas County, though candidates must reside in the area of northwest Pinellas. An earlier version of this story may have been unclear.]