Ohlrich, Alpert, Battie Take Lead: Sarasota Election Results

Updated: Tuesday, 11:05 p.m.

SARASOTA, FL — Sarasota City Commission incumbents Liz Alpert and Kyle Battie had the lead over their opponents in Tuesday’s election, while Erik Arroyo trailed his challenger, Kathy Kelley Ohlrich, according to unofficial results from the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections office.

All precincts are reporting results as of 8:42 p.m.

In District 1, Battie won 55.67 percent of the votes while his challenger, Sequoia Felton, earned 44.33 percent, the unofficial results show.

In District 2, Alpert took home 53.18 percent of the votes, while opponent Ron Kashden earned 46.82 percent, the unofficial results said.

In District 3, challenger Kathy Kelley Ohlrich has the lead with 52.5 percent of the votes, while Arroyo earned 47.5 percent, unofficial results show.

The swearing-in ceremony for Alpert, Battie and Ohlrich will take place Friday, city officials said in a news release.

Most Florida polling places, including those in Hillsborough, closed at 7 p.m. EST on Tuesday, while some counties in the Panhandle are open until 8 p.m. EST because they are in the Central time zone.

For full coverage of the election in Florida, go here.

The following city commission races were on the ballot Tuesday:

District 1

• Kyle Battie
• Sequoia Denise Felton

District 2

• Liz Alpert
• Ronald B. Kashden

District 3

• Erik Arroyo
• Katherine Kelley Ohlrich

In District 1, incumbent Kyle Battie earned just over 800 votes ahead of challengers Sequoia Felton (about 725 votes) and Melissa Furman (more than 350 votes).

As the top two vote-getters, Battie and Felton automatically advanced to the general election run-off in District 1.

Battie, who was first elected in 2020 and whose campaign website is under construction, told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune after the primary, "I'm humbled and appreciative of the district and the people in our district for pulling me through. (I'm going to) work 10 times harder than I did in the primary."

He told WSLR that he had faith voters would “keep me on the job since I am best suited for this position.”

Felton told the League of Women Voters in a questionnaire she shared with Patch, “I'm running because I care about the people, the community and the next generation. I'm most concerned with the over development that is taking away our green spaces and causing more flooding.”

She added, “I feel that developers have too much influence. When money talks, the current commission listens. I'm running to make sure everyone in the city of Sarasota has a voice in how the city grows. We need to make sure to grow in ways that make sense for our economy, geography and the needs of our workforce.”

Alpert and Arroyo, incumbents in Districts 2 and 3, respectively, faced challengers Tuesday.

“The three biggest issues currently facing the city are managing the unprecedented
growth, transportation and mobility improvements to ease traffic, and protecting our water
Quality,” Alpert told Patch.

She added, “Our initiative to reimagine our downtown master plan to manage the growth as well as our commercial corridor initiative will go a long way toward easing the concerns about
overdevelopment and will reshape our major corridors over time to make them more beautiful
and walkable. It will also help provide the atmosphere that will support more mass transit to
ease our traffic congestion.

"To protect our water quality, we are creating watersheds such as the Bobby Jones Nature Park and The Bay, both of which filter hundreds of gallons of runoff before it goes into our bay. We also approved a $300 million wastewater project a few years ago that is being implemented over a total of 11 years. We are replacing our aging pipes and making improvements to our water treatment plants.”

For her challenger, Kashden, a retired CPA, his top three priorities for Sarasota are “turning down the volume, both in terms of noise and rhetoric,” “improv(ing) bread and butter livability issues,” like pedestrian safety and road repairs,” and “enforc(ing) our existing ordinances and zoning code,” he told Patch.

“Too often the commission approves one-off changes for influential developers rather than protecting the rights of the existing property owners,” Kashden added.

Arroyo told Patch, “I’m running for re-election to protect Sarasota’s future. As someone who is a local business owner, a local high school graduate, and raising a family locally, I understand the importance of public safety (crime presently being at historic lows across the board); addressing homelessness (presently at a record low); affordable housing; and maintaining our water quality and infrastructure (presently we have spent approximately $100 million out of $300 million in water infrastructure improvements). Families deserve a voice on the city commission as everyone struggles with increases in cost of living and increased demand for our city. We have done some amazing things in the last four years and there is still work to be done.”

His top three areas of focus for the city are “continuing to improve our traffic, water quality, and infrastructure,” “continuing to implement smart growth policies and (to) incentivize affordable housing,” and “addressing all cost of living issues.”

His challenger, Ohlrich, told Patch, “I'm running to unseat Erik Arroyo, our current District 3 commissioner. I have plenty of training for this office. I was an elected council person in Ohio. I chaired the committee that wrote the Comprehensive Plan for that community in Ohio. In Sarasota I've been president of my homeowners association, chair of the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations, and a member and chair of Sarasota's Planning Board. I pledge to represent all citizens of our city, not just donors and friends. I pledge to cast votes for the greater good. I have pledged to not accept donations from corporations or persons who are likely to have business with the city of Sarasota.”

Her top three issues for the city are “over-development with its impact on tree canopy, infrastructure, and water run-off,” “lack of affordable housing and the related increase in short-term vacation rentals with lack of regulation and resulting decrease in long-term rentals, and “ongoing attempts to commercialize our parks.”