As Mayor Wayne Poston seeks a fifth term as Bradenton’s top elected official, he faces an old adversary, a new one and a recent employee. Former Mayor Bill Evers, who Poston challenged and defeated for the mayorship in 2000 has entered the race, while Millennial activist Eleuterio Salazar, Jr. argues the city needs a fresh face. Former Deputy Police Chief Warren Merriman has also filed. 

Poston, for what it’s worth, remains confident he will be re-elected. With such city successes as the opening of the Bradenton Riverwalk, the arrival of hotels, including a Hampton Inn and a soon-to-open Marriott Springfield Suites and significant other developments and improvements to Downtown Bradenton, he hopes citizens will want the city continuing on its current course. “The crime rate has been down 38 percent in the last 10 years,” he says. “You are safer in Bradenton than you are in Sarasota, and they have twice the officers we have.” 

Evers, though, feels Poston has built on successes laid by others. “Everything happening in the city today dates back to my administration,” says Evers, who led Bradenton City Hall for 20 years before Poston beat him. The creation of a reservoir, an insurance program for employees and the early steps to create the Bradenton Village and Riverwalk laid a foundation for success. What Poston has done, Evers says, is waste taxpayers' resources to offer incentives to hotels and other developers who benefit from taxpayer-funded services without contributing to the taxable. 

Salazar, for his part, also criticized Poston for representing special interests over citizens. “It’s time for a change,” Salazar says. “We need to get rid of establishment and career politicians.” Swiping at Poston and Evers, Salazar believes City Hall has focused on boosting downtown at the expense of less wealthy areas like Ward 5. Meanwhile, police lack accreditation and part of the city remains underserved by libraries, groceries and other amenities private and public alike. Poston did note McKechnie Field improvements benefited Ward 5, but Salazar feels that only high-profile projects that boost the mayor’s profile get attention at City Hall.

Also in running is Merriman, a former deputy police chief who feels Poston takes credit for work achieved by the City Council. "He's not in the public like he should be," Merriman says. "In East Bradenton, nobody knows who he is." And promises made long ago by the mayor, Merriman says, remain woefully incomplete, like selling the existing City Hall. Merriman served in a variety of positions through the decades at City Hall, including as accreditation manager. He was fired last year and had been serving probation regarding a for submitting unworked hours for off-duty work to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was taken off probation early in April and adjudication was withheld in the case. "The people of Bradenton, my friends and family know the truth," he says of the scandal. "It's in the past."