Bradenton Election Guide

As we look ahead to November’s elections, Bradenton Patch is devoted to bring you the information you need about every race. Here's our start on the candidates and issues we'll be covering as November draws near. Bookmark this page for updates.

Elections 2012 promise to have some hot local races. Some of the top local races include the Bradenton Mayor's race (as usual), the Manatee County Sheriff's race, the race for Supervisor of Elections, which has drawn a lot of candidates and some high profile.

The Bradenton Mayor's Race:

The race for Mayor got immediately interesting when sitting City Councilwoman and native Bradentonian decided to run against three-term incumbent Mayor Wayne Poston. Poston, a former editor for the Bradenton Herald, has never had an easy or unopposed election.

After he won his fourth term as mayor by just 23 votes, Poston said it would be his last term. But in April he announced he planned to run again. To make the race even more interesting, the Democrats fielded a last-minute candidate in Richard C. O'Brein, who announced June 1 and qualified June 6 — a week before the deadline.

O'Brien is a professor at University of South Florida and the chairman of the Manatee County Demmocratic Party. He ran for a City Council seat against Patrick Roff in 2008.

Manatee County Sheriff:

Incumbent Sheriff W. Brad Steube is facing a challenger this year in fellow-Republican and former Homicide Detective Bill Waldron. Steube was appointed the interim sheriff in 2007 when Charlie Wells retired. He then ran unopposed the following year.

The August 14 primary will decide the race because no one else is running for sheriff.

Supervisor of Elections:

The Supervisor of Elections race has drawn the largest crowd of political contenders, including a state senator who is apparently looking to change his career.

It's no wonder that the Supervisor of Elections race is so popular. Bob Sweat, who was first elected in 1985, decided to retire this year. The job also pays nearly $113,000 a year, according to state records.

State Senator Mike Bennet has qualified to run in a field of candidates that includes former County Commissioner Jane W. von Hahman, a trustee for the State College of Florida Edward A Bailey, architect and planning commissioner Richard G Bedford, Democrat Charles N Williams, Jr, a pastor and a member of the Manatee County NAACP and finally write-in candidate Rodney 'Smokey' Smithley.