Only 847 people voted in the non-partisan 2014 Mayoral Election in New Port Richey, Florida. The winner, Mayor Marlowe and the council went on to refurbish local Sims Park from a druggie hangout to a family friendly destination, attract 30 net new businesses to town, offer several programs to assist low income people to fix up their homes, allow vegetable gardens in front yards, and more. He had and continues to be responsive to city residents’ requests and needs. With things going so well, he hoped he wouldn’t get an opponent.
But at the last hour of the last day of qualifying, Ed Beckman turned in his candidate papers. Beckman had a career with the Sheriff’s Office and quickly was endorsed by the Republican Sheriff, Tax Collector and a County Commissioner. Donations poured in until Beckman had $12,000 for a campaign that normally was run for the cost of signs. The SOE said he had never seen such a high amount raised for this type of race. But that wasn’t enough money for the Republicans. A PAC out of Tallahassee connected with Speaker of the House Richard Corcoran spent money on mailers to trash the Mayor. Then came robocalls to deny the candidate knew anything about the mailers.
Mayor Marlowe had a good relationship with local democrats and many had been watching to see if anyone would oppose him. The Pasco Democratic Executive Committee immediately jumped into action when we saw Beckman’s background, knowing even though this was a nonpartisan race, the Republicans were determined to defeat the only remaining Democrat officeholder in the county. The Democratic clubs donated money so Marlowe could compete, as did the DEC. The Vice Chair and State Committeeman organized canvasses, phone banks, and campaign materials. We had a slight edge of Democratic registered voters in town, but Marlowe was determined to run as a nonpartisan as the office called for. He wanted to win on the successful transformation of New Port Richey.
Pasco municipal elections run only from mid-February to the second Tuesday in April. We needed to increase the turnout for this race and ensure that Marlowe’s supporters came out to vote. The town consists of three precincts, none of which had Democratic leaders. We had partially worked the area only once before. To counter the $ disadvantage, we also appealed to the new FDP Chair and obtained enough to do a positive mailer and robocalls in the last days of the campaign. We made about 3000 phone calls and knocked 1700 doors.
According to local papers, Beckman had hordes of volunteers and plenty of money. Plus they were willing to go dirty. Residents were shocked at all the attention they were getting. One lady told us in 20 years, her neighbor had never spoken more than hello until this election and had tried to convince her who to vote for. Others said it was the most partisan, nonpartisan race they had ever seen. Our canvassing results were uneven, some great support, some unsure, some opposed. We had a plan to get out the vote. Had it worked?
After the debacle of 2016, we needed a win and today we got it. With a turnout of 1587, almost double 2014, the Mayor won 900 votes to 687 for Beckman. Our hard work paid off. Congratulations to Mayor Rob Marlowe. We look forward to another three years of progress.