Incumbents Brown, Coachman Lead Bradenton City Council Elections: SOE

BRADENTON, FL — Two incumbents outpaced their opponents in Bradenton City Council races on Election Day, according to unofficial results from the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections office.

In the mayoral race, Gene Brown won 59.08 percent of the vote, while Bill Sanders took home 40.92 percent, unofficial results said.

Brown, vice president and chief of operations of Brown & Sons Funeral Homes & Crematory, has served as mayor since January 2021.

Before running for mayor, Sanders previously held the Ward 4 seat from 2018 to 2022, when he lost to challenger Lisa Gonzalez Moore.

During the summer of 2022, a third-party investigation by a law firm into allegations that Sanders created a hostile work environment for city employees were found to be “substantiated," Patch previously reported.

“While he is not a city employee subject to dismissal, if he were a city employee, there is no doubt his employment would be terminated for his egregious, repeated violations of this policy,” the investigator wrote.

He also settled a defamation lawsuit with a former councilor, paying former councilor Bemis Smith $175,000 for allegations made leading up to the 2018 election.

In Ward 5, Pamela Coachman earned 67.05 percent of the vote, while Iris Thomas Garcia earned 32.95 percent, unofficial results show.