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Michelle Cook, David Broskie, Diane Hutchings win key Clay County primaries

Cook to become county’s first woman sheriff; Broskie to continue as superintendent of schools

By Don Coble don@opcfla.com
Posted 8/19/20

CLAY COUNTY – There’s a new sheriff in town.

Clay High graduate and former Atlantic Beach Police Chief Michelle Cook received 37% of the vote to emerge from a crowded field of candidates, …

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Michelle Cook, David Broskie, Diane Hutchings win key Clay County primaries

Cook to become county’s first woman sheriff; Broskie to continue as superintendent of schools


Posted

CLAY COUNTY – There’s a new sheriff in town.

Clay High graduate and former Atlantic Beach Police Chief Michelle Cook received 37% of the vote to emerge from a crowded field of candidates, including beleaguered Sheriff Darryl Daniels, to become the first woman to win the county’s highest law enforcement post. She’s will be sworn in on Jan. 5.

Cook, who started her campaign eight months ago and slowly gained momentum throughout the process, promised to move the Clay County Sheriff’s Office forward and to “heal some wounds at the sheriff’s office and rebuilt trust with the community.”

Cook met with supporters at Whitey’s Fish Camp while they waited for results to pour in. When she was declared the winner, she used a bullhorn to assure the raucous crowd she will strive to earn their respect.

“It shows you with hard work and a great team, you can get a lot done,” Cook said. “But the real work starts today. I will focus on moving forward. We are closing that chapter [Daniels’ reign] and creating a new one for the citizens of Clay County.”

Daniels, who was arrested on Aug. 13 on one felony and three misdemnor charges related to an extramarital affair, finished eight points behind with 29%, while Ben Carroll was a distant third with 15.4%.

Cook now was supposed to face a write-in candidate on Nov. 3, but that candidate, Francis Bourrie, withdrew from the race on Wednesday.

In other key races, David Broskie officially dropped his interim label as superintendent after he beat former Superintendent Charlie Van Zant 47.66%-37.59%, while Diane Hutchings ousted Ronnie Robinson to become the next tax collector.

Broskie joined supporters at V Pizza on Fleming Island to await the results. With every update, his lead continued to grow.

Broskie was appointed interim superintendent on March 2 by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after Addison Davis resigned to accept the job as superintendent for the Hillsborough County School District.

When Broskie woke up Wednesday morning, the election was an afterthought.

“I have been laser-focused on the reopening of schools and creating a safe environment for our students and employees,” he said. “I took a couple hours to celebrate [Tuesday night], but I was right back at it on Wednesday morning. Dealing with reopening and the campaign was a real challenge. During these times, being a superintendent is a 16-hour-a-day job.

“I was focused more on getting schools reopened than my campaign. It’s all been a little overwhelming.”

Broskie will face a write-in candidate who also hasn’t actively campaigned, so Broskie’s victory essentially is assured.

Voters also elected three new members of the Clay County Commission. Jim Renninger won the District 3 seat, while Betsy Sistrunk Condon will represent District 4 and Dr. Kristen Burke won in District 5.

Jennifer Bradley, wife of current Florida Sen. Rob Bradley (R-Orange Park), defeated Jason Holifield for the Republican nomination. She now will face Democrat Melina Barratt, who ran unopposed, in the primary election.

Kat Cammack, the former aide to Con. Ted Yoho, took a significant step to replacing him by winning the crowded Republican Party field for the District 3 seat. Cammack got 22% of the vote in Clay County and 25.2% statewide to advance to the general election against Adam Christensen, who narrowly beat Tom Wells by less than 800 votes.

Tara Green won re-election as the clerk of the circuit court, beating David Coughlin by 17,374 votes, while Scotty Taylor has a 368-vote lead against Ken Smallwood for State Committeeman.

Mary Bolla (District 4) won re-election to her seat on the school board. Since neither Carol Studdard (39.56%) nor Beth Clark (37.62%) received more than 50% of the vote in their non-partisan race for the District 2 seat on the school board, they will face each other again in November.

One out of three registered voters – 52,057 of 158,250 – voted in the primary, according to the Supervisor of Elections Office. Of that, 17,769 were sent my mail, 13,472 were from early voting and 20,813 were cast on Tuesday.

Cook started her campaign 242 days ahead of Tuesday’s primary. She has 28 years of law enforcement experience and is a graduate of the FBI Law Enforcement Executives. She credited her family’s deep ties to Clay County – particularly in the Green Cove Springs area – as formidable foundation to launch her campaign.

“We ran a grassroots campaign,” she said. “What really helped is I have deep roots in Clay County. My family’s been here for 50 years. I probably had 150 volunteers working with me in the last eight months. The ground game was incredible.”

Daniels was suspended on Aug. 14 by DeSantis after an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and State Attorney’s Office determined he asked the IT department at the sheriff’s office to destroy information on his cellphone that may have provided details of his affair with a subordinate when they both worked at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Jail. Daniels also was charged with three counts of making false claims to have the woman arrested for stalking.

DeSantis appointed FDLE’s Matt Walsh to serve as the interim sheriff. His roll now will end when Cook is sworn in.

Several candidates were running without party opposition and they automatically advanced to the general election, including Republican Sam Garrison, Libertarian Kenneth Willey and Democrat Leroy Edwards for the 18th district for the Florida House; Rep. Bobby Payne and Dem. Jaiden Hamilton for the 19th district of the Florida House; Rep. Melissa Nelson for State Attorney; Rep. Charlie Cofer for Public Defender; Carlos G. Nuniz for Supreme Court Judge; Rep. Tracy Scott Drake for Property Appraiser; Rep. Chris Chambless for Supervisor of Elections; and, Rep. Mike Cella for District 1 seat on Board of Commissioners.

James J. Daniel, Lester B. Bass, Michael Kalil, Lance M. Day, Adrian G. Soud, David M. Gooding, Meredith Charbula, Tatiana R. Salvador, Mike Sharrit, Virginia Norton and Waddell A. Wallace all were unopposed for races for Clay County Circuit Judges.