Even as the ink is barely dry on the ballots cast for president, candidates for local municipal office are lining up for Election 2025.
The qualifying period for candidates to run ended Tuesday, Nov. 19, in seven central and northern Palm Beach County cities. The election is March 11.
In West Palm Beach, Juno Beach, Tequesta and Palm Beach Shores no challengers filed to run, so incumbents will return to office without going before voters.
The winners are:
West Palm Beach: Shalonda Warren and Joe Peduzzi.
Tequesta: Molly Young and Patrick Painter.
Palm Beach Shores: Roby DeReuil and Tracy Larcher.
In Jupiter, Riviera Beach and Lake Park, 25 candidates are running for 11 seats.
Jupiter will have a hotly contested campaign for control of the council in the wake of the town’s decision to start its own fire department, as Stet’s Laurie Mermet reports here.
In Lake Park, four at-large seats are open, with six candidates including four incumbents lined up. The only non-incumbents are Michael O’Rourke and John Linden. The incumbents seeking reelection are: Michael Hensley, Mary Beth Taylor, Judith Thomas and Kim Glas-Castro.
Riviera Beach voters will select a mayor and fill three city council seats, with 11 candidates signed up to run. Here’s a breakdown:
- Mayor: Incumbent Ronnie Felder faces Kendra Wester and Kendrick Wyly.
- District 1: Incumbent Tradrick McCoy has drawn challenges from Joseph Bedford Sr. and Bruce Guyton, who last served on the council in 2015.
- District 3: Incumbent Shirley Lanier has one challenger Cedrick Thomas, who served on the council in 2007.
- District 5: Douglas Lawson, who presides over the council, faces challenges from Madelene Irving-Mills and Fercella Davis-Panier, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2011 and initially filed to seek the District 3 seat.
Candidates have a week or two longer to sign up to run in Palm Beach Gardens, Lake Worth Beach and North Palm Beach, which all have two seats on the ballot; and Palm Beach and Jupiter Inlet Colony, which each have three seats.
Mangonia Park has a year off; no council member term ends in 2025.
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
