By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer

Frank Attkisson and Don Miers will face off Nov. 2 for the district 4 seat on the Osceola County Commission with both taking considerable leads over their opponents in Tuesday’s primary while one incumbent was unseated in the School Board election.

District 79 House race

Despite Thomas Chalifoux Jr.'s last-minute filing Monday of a libel and defamation lawsuit against his opponent, Mike Horner won the Republican House district 79 race with 78 percent of the vote. In Osceola County, Horner garnered 6,040 votes, or 79 percent, to Chalifoux’s 1,627.

“From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all the volunteers and contributors who helped the Horner campaign win the primary in state House district 79,” Horner said in a prepared statement. “I am so grateful to all my friends who supported us in the election.”

Horner, 42, president of the Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber of Commerce, said he plans to stop socialized medicine in the state, improve education and give local law enforcement the tools needed to enforce immigration laws.

School Board

Incumbent Jay Wheeler defended his seat in district 1 of the Osceola County School Board with 1,890 votes, or 57 percent, over newcomer Nancy Gemskie, who garnered 1,442 votes.

“I am honored and privileged to have won my third election in a row to the Osceola School Board,” Wheeler said. “Serving on the Osceola School Board is the most important and meaningful work I have ever done.”

After the results, Gemskie said, “I’m just glad I had the opportunity to run and I’m sure the new board will serve the community well.”

Incumbent David E. Stone failed to hold onto his School Board seat in district 4 with school bookkeeper Barbara Horn getting 2,091 votes, or 53 percent, over Stone’s 47 percent.

“I’m very pleased,” Horn said. “I want an A-plus education for our students and some accountability from the School Board. I’ve went and walked and talked to people and played by all the rules. I’m looking forward to sitting in the seat of district 4 and working for all of Osceola County, not just district 4. We need accountability now.”

In district 5 for the School Board, incumbent John McKay was taking on three challengers, as Wade Davis, Long and Stacy McCland were vying for the seat. In the end, Long, of St. Cloud, won (1,611 votes) and moved on to the run-off in November with McKay (1,596 votes).

“The voters have made it very clear their demands for a new direction for the education of our children,” Long said. “I am extremely thankful and humbled by the confidence the voters have placed in me.”

County Commission

Attkisson, 54, of St. Cloud, said he plans to make opening a small business easier in the county and wants to establish a policy where county spending can only increase if family income has increased the previous year. Attkisson, the Republican candidate, is a former state representative and former mayor of Kissimmee.

“The voters told me today that we can’t spend our way back to prosperity and government can’t create jobs, and I agree with them,” Attkisson said.

Democratic candidate Miers, 53, of Kissimmee, the Osceola County sports development director, said he plans to streamline the county's budget, protect the environment and use resort taxes to build facilities to attract tourists.

“Obviously we feel great but it's the first leg of the race,” Miers said. “Bob Healy (the other Democrat in the district 4 race) was a great opponent; we all had a clean campaign.”

Miers said he plans to take a few days off before regrouping and focusing on Nov. 2.

“Frank Attkisson and Jose Colon (no-party affiliation candidate) are both formidable opponents. It's going to be a good race,” he said.

Voter turnout

Only 14 percent of registered county voters cast a ballot Tuesday: 20,285 out of 143,999. More than 4,700 voters came out for early voting and 4,668 absentee ballots were counted, according to Amber Smith, community relations coordinator for the Supervisor of Elections.

“We did better than in 2008. (Supervisor of Elections) Mary Jane Arrington would have liked to see 15-20 percent,” Smith said. “Overall, it wasn't disappointing. You have to factor in the rain and, historically, the primary doesn't have a big turnout.”

Statewide races

Osceola County voted similar to the majority of the state in the U.S. Senate race: Republican Marco Rubio won 85 percent of the vote statewide and 83 percent in Osceola County while Democrat Kendrick Meek won his primary by 57 percent statewide and 47 percent in Osceola County. Both Meek and Rubio will go up against Gov. Charlie Crist  in November.

Democrat Alex Sink, the state’s current chief financial officer, won the Democratic primary for governor with 77 percent of the vote statewide and 71 percent in Osceola County. Republican Rick Scott beat Bill McCollum by only 42 votes in Osceola County but Scott still secured the majority overall in Florida with 46 percent of the vote.

Assistant Editor Rick Madewell contributed information for this story.