Candidate Profile 2024: Tom Knight For Sarasota County Commission

SARASOTA, FL — Retired Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight is running for the Sarasota County Commission District 3 seat.

He’s up against incumbent Neil Rainford in the Aug. 20 Republican primary election for the race.

Thornton and Janique Tenney, who qualified as a write-in candidate, are also vying for the position. Both are running with no party affiliation, according to the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections.

Patch sent a questionnaire to all candidates in the District 3 race. Rainford and Tenney didn’t respond.

Find Knight’s responses below:

Name:

Tom Knight

Age:

61

Occupation:

Retired Sheriff

Political Party Affiliation:

Republican

Why are you running for office?

After serving as our county's sheriff for 12 years and being retired for two, I saw some serious problems … and believe I'm one of the few people who can get elected and return our county to its citizens.

What do you think are the top 3 issues the county is currently facing?

Rampant overdevelopment and failure to abide by our comprehensive plan (and all of the problems that come with that — lack of infrastructure, destroying natural resources, etc.) Control of elections and elected officials by developers and dark money (leading to overdevelopment.) Out-of-control spending and failure to serve the needs of taxpayers

Learn more about Knight at his campaign website, on his Facebook page or on Instagram.