When Palm Beach County Mayor Sara Baxter and former state Rep. Katherine Waldron faced off at a lunchtime candidates forum last month, sheriff’s deputies swarmed the country club where Wellington business leaders gathered to hear the County Commission opponents speak.
There was no expectation that there would be a dustup between the Republican incumbent and her Democratic challenger for the District 6 commission seat, which represents the western reaches of the county.
It was yet another sign of County Commission times.
Deputies have become ubiquitous at county events since Baxter, shortly after her 2022 election, demanded a security detail that was later expanded to all seven county commissioners. After last year’s $3.3 million expenditure that included startup costs, the security details cost county taxpayers roughly $2.5 million annually.
READ MORE: Residents wanted 'real information' on Project Tango. The land's fraught history explains why
Waldron, who also served on the Port of Palm Beach District Commission, readily acknowledged that she didn’t know why deputies in marked and unmarked cars turned up en masse at the Wanderers Club for the forum hosted by the Wellington Chamber of Commerce.
“Well, I don’t want to say they don’t need security because I don’t know. I mean, if they’re getting death threats, that’s not a pleasant thing,” she said during an interview with Stet News. “But it seemed like it was a bit overkill.”
“I hope when I get in there, I don’t ever need a police presence,” she said.
Divide over Israeli bonds
In recent months, much of the venom directed at commissioners has come from protesters who oppose the county’s $1 billion investment in Israeli bonds. The controversy went viral on social media last month when videos were posted of Baxter and Vice Mayor Joel Flores directing deputies to remove people who tried to bring up the subject or applauded those who did.
Waldron said by ejecting speakers, commissioners gave opponents just what they wanted — explosive video that made the commissioners look like tyrants. None of the commissioners objected to the ejections.
“I would’ve said, ‘Well, maybe we can let them speak, as long as they’re not going to be threatening and say hateful, violent things. Why can’t we let them speak?’” Waldron said. “I would have asked that question.”
Baxter declined requests from Stet News for an interview before the Nov. 3 election.
She has allowed Israeli bond opponents to speak at other county meetings, most recently on Oct. 6 when six speakers were ejected.
She drew the line at the commission’s Sept. 15 meeting to approve the county’s $9.9 billion annual budget. She said there was nothing in the financial plan that addressed the bonds and warned that anyone who talked about them would be removed from the meeting.
Baxter followed through with the threat. About a dozen were removed and at least one, Noura Saleh Erakat, a Palestinian-American activist, human rights attorney and Rutgers University professor, faces a misdemeanor charge of trespassing.
The issue has disrupted commission meetings for nearly a year with opponents accusing commissioners of bankrolling the genocide of the Palestinian people.
Waldron said the situation is unfortunate and questioned why more hasn’t been done to address it.
“So how do you defuse the situation? One is more transparency. One is more communication,” she said. “Maybe get some of the leaders on both sides, the vocal people, and have them sit down together so they can understand each side.”
For her part, Baxter has vehemently defended the investment. While the elected clerk and comptroller primarily makes investment decisions, Baxter has defended the bonds, saying they bring in $200 million annually that can be used for needed projects.
“I’m for anything that doesn’t tax people more and brings in revenue,” she said during a candidate forum in July.
The two candidates’ different approaches to the Israeli bonds controversy reflect their journeys to public office and their approach to issues.
Fighting for change
Baxter, a 42-year-old mother of three who worked as a retinal imaging technician and real estate agent, said she decided to run for the commission because she was “pissed off” at the bureaucratic hurdles she and her husband had to jump when starting an auto body shop.
“They almost put my husband and I out of business,” she told the audience at the Wellington forum. “I thought it was bad, but when I took office, I found out how bad it really was. I have been fighting and fighting and fighting for change.”
Waldron, a 66-year-old entrepreneur and former telecom executive, describes herself as a collaborator.
While she didn’t like being far outnumbered in the Republican-controlled Legislature, she said it taught her valuable lessons.
“In a way, I think I appreciate being in a superminority because I think you have to work harder. You have to figure things out, and you have to work across the aisle,” she said. “You get scrappier, and you figure out the process. Looking back on it now, I think it was a good experience because you had to work hard.”
Both considered running for other offices before settling on the District 6 commission seat.
In June, Baxter announced she was abandoning her County Commission reelection bid and would instead run for a newly drawn congressional seat. Four days later, saying President Donald Trump insisted he needed her on the commission, she jumped back into the commission race.
Insiders familiar with the political back-and-forth told Stet that Trump said he wouldn’t endorse Baxter in the congressional race, but would back her county reelection bid.
Waldron, who in 2024 lost her state House seat by 348 votes to former Wellington Mayor Anne Gerwig, briefly contemplated a return to the port commission. She said she switched to the commission race after hearing that Baxter was vulnerable.
Waldron attributes Baxter’s vulnerability to her failure to listen to district residents.
“People feel they aren’t being heard,” Waldron said. “I think people feel that she doesn’t care about what their concerns are.”
The battle over Project Tango, a 3.6-million-square-foot data center and warehouse, is a classic example of Baxter abandoning her constituents, Waldron said.
Baxter publicly opposed the center planned near Loxahatchee that inflamed residents of her district. By law, her comments disqualified her from voting on it.
“She put herself in a position where she had to recuse herself,” Waldron said. “So the very district where it was going to be put in, those people had no representation. I think that’s unfortunate.”
While the commission in July rejected the data center by a vote of 5-1, it is expected to come back, possibly in a smaller form.
Waldron said she has serious concerns about the viability, environmental impacts and other issues surrounding the center. All have to be explored fully, she said.
News coverage of Baxter
While critical of Baxter, Waldron hasn’t attacked her opponent for extracurricular activities that have grabbed headlines.
Baxter was criticized when she, in January, watched the college football national championship game at Hard Rock Stadium from a box owned by mega developer Stephen Ross. The Palm Beach billionaire owns the Miami Dolphins and has contributed $32,500 to Baxter’s near record-breaking $595,204 campaign war chest.
Baxter also took a late-night flight on a sheriff’s helicopter, as Stet News reported, a trip investigators labeled “a joy ride.” She said it was for security to determine how long it would take choppers to reach commissioners’ houses. No other commissioners made similar trips.
Stet News also reported in August that she spent $10,700 in campaign cash on overnight stays at The Breakers in Palm Beach and the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood.
Days before the August primary, a former staffer anonymously accused Baxter of encouraging her to do sexual favors for a major supporter and forcing her to do household chores, such as the commissioner’s laundry, cooking, and picking up her children from school. The allegations are being investigated by the sheriff’s office, county inspector general and ethics commission.
Waldron said she was stunned when Baxter accused her of being behind the allegations that Baxter detractors have labeled Pimpgate.
In an interview with WPTV-Channel 5, Baxter denied the former aide’s claims, saying they were nothing more than dirty politics.
“Katherine Waldron’s team knew about it in advance, they were bragging about putting it out there and seeing what will come,” she said. “I think, honestly, Katherine Waldron should be ashamed of herself for stooping to this in a political campaign.”
Waldron called Baxter’s allegations absurd. Both she and Baxter were involved in hard-fought primaries to get to the Nov. 3 election.
“I didn’t do it, and if I was going to do it, wouldn’t I do it right before the general?” Waldron said. “It was nonsensical.”
Despite the fodder Baxter has provided, Waldron said she wants to stick to the issues.
However, in a sign the race may get nasty, a statewide conservative political committee late last month sent mailers to district residents, claiming Waldron lives in West Palm Beach. Rudolph Tinker, one of Waldron’s opponents in the primary, made the same claim. He filed a lawsuit against Waldron after she won, saying she was ineligible to run because she didn’t live in the district. He dropped the suit on Sept. 15.
Waldron said she began renting an apartment in Wellington in 2022, when she won election to represent the area in the state House and recently moved into a new rental. She rents out her West Palm Beach home.
Amendment 3
Baxter is a huge supporter of Amendment 3, which would raise property tax exemptions and sharply reduce tax revenue for local governments.
“I’m fully for this amendment passing,” she said at the forum in July. “I do not think homesteaded taxpayers should be footing the burden of local services in government.”
Calling it a “flawed amendment,” Waldron said people may like the idea of paying lower taxes. But they may not be happy when they see public safety, libraries, parks, road improvements and other county services reduced. Property Appraiser Dorothy Jacks has estimated the county would lose $324 million annually in taxes.
While larger cities can rely on commercial and non-homesteaded property owners to pick up the slack, many don’t have that option. County Administrator Joe Abruzzo said that as many as eight municipalities would be unable to operate and would be folded into the county at a time when it would be struggling to maintain existing services.
Baxter said the amendment will encourage the county to cut waste. She proposes cutting $100 million of the $175 million the county spends each year on Palm Tran, the countywide bus service. While specialized service would be available to the elderly and disabled, she said it would be cheaper to give able-bodied people vouchers to take Uber rides.
Having lived in Washington, D.C., Waldron said she is a proponent of public transportation and would like the county to do more to encourage people to use it. She admitted she hasn’t looked closely at the long-struggling bus service.
“I don’t believe Uber vouchers are the solution,” she said. “My gut reaction is I don’t think we should do away with Palm Tran. I feel like there’s a certain population segment in our county that needs and relies on Palm Tran.”
Both said reducing traffic congestion and addressing the county’s high cost of living, including creating more affordable housing, are top priorities.
With mail-in voting underway and early voting to begin on Oct. 19, the campaign is entering its final weeks.
Waldron has raised $187,775, less than a third of the $595,204 Baxter has amassed, according to the latest state and county campaign finance reports.
Baxter’s donations include: $50,000 from Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest men and the owner of Lion Country Safari in her district; $26,500 from Broward County lobbyist Ron Book, who represented Related Ross in its recently completed convention center hotel deal with the county; and $20,000 from Bedner Farms, a large county farming operation.
Waldron has received $25,000 from a Democratic PAC; another $25,000 from Atlantic Pacific Communities, which focuses on building affordable housing; and $2,000 from Book, who she said she knew when she served in the Legislature. She contributed $20,000 of her own money
Waldron said she isn’t worried that Baxter is flush with cash.
“I’m not going to outraise her,” she said. “But I have a good ground game.”
In September, a Beacon Insights poll showed Waldron leading Baxter by 15 percentage points, with 52% of registered voters supporting Waldron and 37% supporting Baxter. The poll has a 5.25 percentage point margin of error.
The poll also found that 38% of those surveyed had unfavorable views about Baxter and only 24% viewed her positively.
“Money, as we’ve seen, doesn’t get you elected,” Waldron said.
Commissioners are elected to four-year terms. They are paid $127,320 annually. Only registered voters in District 6 may cast ballots in the race.
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
