Pinellas County voters can cast ballots in the Aug. 18 primary for county commission, school board and judge, regardless of party affiliation.

State of play: Early voting starts next week, and 37,000 voters have already cast ballots by mail.

• You can check your registration status, polling location and sample ballot here.
• Races for St. Petersburg mayor and City Council, Clearwater City Council, and Oldsmar City Council are also nonpartisan for residents of those cities.

Worthy of your time: The Tampa Bay Times published a comprehensive candidate guide where you can find more in-depth answers and info.

County Commission District 4

The race drew only Republicans, so all district voters can participate. The district covers Tarpon Springs and East Lake south to Dunedin and Safety Harbor.

Zoom in: Incumbent commissioner and current chair Dave Eggers drew one challenger: retired business owner Anthony Ringelspaugh.

• Eggers told the Times he wants to keep investing in county infrastructure and public safety while recruiting tech companies that create high-paying jobs.
• Ringelspaugh didn't respond to the Times, but he says on his campaign website he'd prioritize drainage and sewage improvements while taking a tougher look at new development.

School Board

Districts 2 and 3 are at-large, meaning that all county voters can cast ballots.

• District 6 is for voters in Seminole, Pinellas Park, St. Pete's Gandy area, and the beaches from Redington Shores south.

District 2: Incumbent Lisa Cane, who runs the nonprofit Tampa Bay Performing Arts Academy, drew last-minute challenger Nancy Velardi, a retired teacher and former teachers union president.

• Cane told WUSF her biggest challenge has been navigating federal and state mandates, although she signed a pledge in 2022 to carry out Gov. Ron DeSantis' education priorities.
• Velardi told the Times she didn't want to see Cane go unchallenged and noted that she opposes DeSantis' education agenda.

District 3: Consultant and speaker Curtis Campogni, a first-time candidate, and veteran teacher Dawn Douglas, who has unsuccessfully run for state House four times as a Democrat, are challenging incumbent Dawn Peters.

• Peters was first elected in 2022 on a campaign that prioritized the GOP-backed parental rights movement, although the Times noted she's since moderated her approach.

District 6: Project manager Amanda Lord faces former School Board member and county commissioner Nancy Bostock for the open seat being vacated by incumbent Stephanie Meyer.

• Bostock lost her commission seat in 2012 after supporting the removal of fluoride from drinking water, per the Times. Lord, a former St. Petersburg College professor and PTA president, bills herself as a "fresh voice."

👇 Keep reading

All Pinellas voters can participate in judicial races.

• Pasco County residents can also vote in the circuit judge contests because both counties are part of the same judicial circuit.
• Circuit judges oversee felony, big-money civil lawsuits and other types of cases, including divorce, guardianship and juvenile delinquency.
• County judges handle misdemeanors and small-claims civil cases.

Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Group 39: With Judge Daniel Diskey not seeking reelection, his son, Stefen Diskey, is running against Elizabeth Constantine to fill the seat.

• Both candidates are prosecutors. Diskey is based in Pasco while Constantine is in Pinellas, although they both told St. Pete Catalyst it shouldn't be seen as a Pinellas vs. Pasco competition.

Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Group 44: In one of the more buzzy judge races of late, private attorney Oxalis Garcia is opposing incumbent family law Judge Elizabeth "Liz" Jack.

• Among Garcia's supporters are critics of Jack's decisions in their cases, the Times reported. Garcia has drawn her own critics for signing on to represent some of her supporters after she entered the race.

Pinellas County Judge Group 10: Nick Fiorentino is seeking the judiciary for a third time after barely losing to a competitor in 2024. Running against him is first-time candidate Zachariah Wade.

• Fiorentino runs a family law practice and works as an attorney for the local police union, per St. Pete Catalyst. Wade is a criminal defense attorney and ex-prosecutor.

Tell a friend

🚔 Public safety groups have come out against Florida's property tax cut amendment that will appear on the November ballot. (News Service of Florida)

⚽️ The Tampa Bay Rowdies will host free back-to-school clinics for kids today and tomorrow with giveaways and free food. (Press release)

🚫 Lakeland became the latest city to ban data centers for a year. The moratorium applies to a proposed 600,000-square-foot center planned for west Lakeland known as Project Swan. (Tampa Bay 28)

🖼️ The world's largest collection of Banksy art is on display in Tampa until Sept. 27. (That's So Tampa)

Pornhub is hoping to return to Floridians' web browsers and search histories by challenging the state's age verification rules for porn sites.

Why it matters: It's been three long years since residents could directly access one of the biggest names in online pornography.

State of play: Pornhub sent a letter to more than 300 state leaders across the country this week — including Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier — asking for them to rethink or rescind laws that require adult website visitors to verify their age, Politico reported.

• The laws that exist now in roughly half of all states "demonstrably do not work" and effectively fail to shield the minors they were written to protect, plus they put "adults' personal data at risk," Pornhub wrote.

Flashback: A 2024 Florida law required websites that publish content "harmful to minors" (i.e., porn) to verify that users are 18 or older.

• In response, PornHub blocked access to its site in Florida, calling the state's photo ID rules unworkable, as it's done in nearly every other state with similar laws.

The other side: State Rep. Michele Rayner, a Democrat from St. Petersburg who co-sponsored the law, told Axios she's still digesting the letter but that Pornhub should take up their issues with the courts.

• A coalition representing the adult industry last year dropped a legal challenge to Florida's law after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a similar law in Texas.
• DeSantis and Uthmeier did not return Axios' requests for comment.

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