CLAY COUNTY – Incumbents Erin Skipper, Michele Hanson and Ashley Gilhousen turned back serious challenges to keep their seats on the Clay County School Board. 

All three won the early and mail-in portion of Tuesday’s Special Primary, then they added to their tallies by dominating election day, with all three races attracting nearly 36,000 voters. 

 Skipper turned back Lara Libretto, 19,912-16,140; Hansen turned back a spirited run by Michael Rathjen, 20,184-15,541; and Ashley Gilhousen collected 19,473 votes to easily turn back Gerald Beasley (9,008 votes) and Veronica Powell-Faison (6,988). 

Since candidates in all school board races are listed as No Political Affiliation, all three will bypass the General Election and be sworn in at the Annual Organization Meeting on Nov. 17. 

“My commitment remains the same: put students first, respect parents, support our teachers, protect taxpayer dollars, keep our schools safe and make thoughtful decisions that strengthen this district for the generations that follow us,” Gilhousen said in a statement released on social media. 

Clay voters also helped Byron Donalds clinch the Republican nomination to replace Gov. Ron DeSantis, who will term out at the end of the year, while they helped David Jolly win the Democrat nomination. 

Voters here also backed statewide winners GOP Ashley Moody and DEM Angie Nixon for the U.S. Senate; U.S. House District 4 DEM LaShonda Holloway (while GOP incumbent Aaron Bean wasn’t challenged in the Primary); DEM Annette Taddeo and GOP Blaise Ingoglia for Chief Financial Officer; and GOP Wilton Simpson and DEM Joey Mendoza Atkins for Agriculture Commissioner. 

All will face each other at the General Election on Nov. 3. 

Florida is a closed primary state, which means only Republicans can vote for Republicans, Democrats can only vote for Democrats and those registered as No Political Affiliation can vote on No Political Affiliation ballots. Clay County has 88,012 registered Republicans, 30,886 Democrats, 29,211 with no political affiliation and 6,206 who registered as “other.” 

According to figures at the Supervisor of Elections Office, 18,030 voters turned out for Tuesday’s primary, while 12,447 voted in advance or by mail. The combined turnout of 38,921 was 25.22%, which was slightly higher than the median average of nearly 23% for non-presidential primaries from the last 20 years. 

The good numbers came as portions of Clay County were pounded by a violent thunderstorm. The storm swept through the Orange Park and Fleming Island area at about 4:30 p.m., knocking out power to thousands – and to six polling stations – with fallen trees and large hail causing serious damage. 

Supervisor of Elections Chris Chambless said each polling station has a generator on standby, so the affected stations were up and operational within minutes. 

“If you look at it historically, I think that this was a good turnout, especially when you factor in the rain,” he said. “I think the reason for that is there were a lot of races, especially the school board races. The fact that you had a gubernatorial race where there was no incumbent.” 

Chambless praised his staff, election workers and Clay Electric for responding quickly. He said four members from his office moved a down tree limb off a roadway to keep traffic moving in and out of one of the polling stations. 

Early voting for the Nov. 3 General Election will be from Oct. 23-31. 

Results: 

Clay County School Board District 1: Erin Skipper,19,912 d. Lara Libretto, 16,148; District 4: Michele Hanson, 20184 d. Michael Rathjen, 15,541; District 5: Ashley Gilhousen, 19,473 d. Gerald Beasley, 9,009, and Veronica Powell-Faison, 6,988. 

Federal results for U.S. House District 4: DEM LaShonda Holloway, 3,934 d. DEM Michael Kirwan, 2,464, and DEM Brit Robinson, 1,485; U.S. Senate: GOP Ashley Moody, 21,909 d. GOP Chris Gleason, 3,218, GOP Ernest Rivera, 1,004, and GOP Neelam Taneja Perry, 416; DEM Angie Nixon, 5,332 d. DEM Alex Vindman, 2,644. 

State results for Governor: GOP Byron Donalds, 10,730 d. GOP Jay Collins, 7,397, GOP Paul Renner, 3,616, GOP James Fishback, 3,358, GOP Bobby Williams, 1,093, GOP Rachel Rodriguez, 299, GOP Jim Holcomb, 200, GOP Caneste Succe, 95, GOP James W. Shaw, 87, Arthur Joseph McCaffrey, 71, and GOP Daniel Nokovich, 58; DEM David Jolly, 4,174 d, DEM Dayna Marie Foster, 1,575, DEM Dotie Joseph, 938, DEM Evelyn Castillo-Bach, 679, and DEM Thomas Eloy Fernandez, 359; Agriculture Commissioner: DEM Joey Mendoza Atkins, 5,315 d. DEM Donald A. Prichard, 2,217; GOP Wilton Simpson, 17,444 d. GOP Matt Taylor, 8,088; Chief Financial Officer: DEM Annette Taddeo, 4,589 d. DEM Earle Ford, 3,090; and GOP Blaise Ingoglia, 15,947 d. GOP Frank William Collige, 9,507.