In a night when Gov. Rick Scott's apparent squeaker victory over Democrat Charlie Crist drew the most media attention, political eyes in Southwest Florida were fixed on School Board contests.

According to unofficial final election results, Bridget Ziegler was elected to a full term on the Sarasota County School Board in what was ultimately the closest contest during a big political evening in the region. Further north, Mary Cantrell won a Manatee County School Board seat in the night's biggest upset.

Ziegler said she was looking forward to continuing her service on the board to which she was appointed five months ago. "I ran on change that I firmly believe in," she said. Ziegler won with 50.87 percent of the vote over challenger Ken Marsh in one of the most closely watched contests in the county. Marsh has been the top vote-getter in an election in August over Ziegler during a four-man contest, but both eliminated candidates endorsed Ziegler, and the race took a partisan tone as Republican Party leaders put their influence behind her campaign against Marsh, a registered Democrat.

The Manatee School Board contest pitted the champion of an insurgent board elected four years ago against a long-time respected administrator within the system. Cantrell previously served as director of Manatee Technical Institute. She won with 53,406 votes over School Board member Julie Aranibar's 46,517 votes. Aranibar was elected in 2010 just before major budget problems in the district were exposed and a previous superintendent left the administration. New Superintendent Rick Mills, who has overseen significant turnover in the district, was a frequent subject on the campaign trail, but Cantrell stressed before the election she was not running to fire anybody. "Enough people have been fired," she told SRQ last week.

Another high-profile Manatee race ultimately saw a landslide victory for Manatee County Commissioner Carol Whitmore over Democratic challenger Terri Wonder. Whitmore won 65,202 votes to Wonder's 43,950. 

In Sarasota County, Republicans Paul Caragiulo and Alan Maio coasted into positions on the board. Caragiulo had 66.16 percent of the vote over independent Alexandra Coe, and Maio won 53.43 percent of the vote over Democrat Ray Porter's 41.26 percent and independent John Minder's 5.31 percent. 

Legislative races in Southwest Florida this year all proved to be routs. U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan won with 164,710 votes over Democrat Henry Lawrence's 102,474 votes. State Rep. Ray Pilon, R-Sarasota, took in 35,020 votes to Democrat Greg Para's 25,623. State Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, crushed independent Philip Garrett with 29,511 votes to 7,527.

Statewide, all the Republican incumbents on the Florida Cabinet won re-election. A medical marijuana proposal failed to hit the 60-percent threshold to be included in the Florida Constitution, and a change in judicial nomination processes failed to even win a majority, but voters did approve protection of state funding for conservation lands.