Photo by Max Goodman: Vern Buchanan wins an eighth term in Congress.

Election night produced good news for Republicans in the region and state. The GOP flipped a House district red an election cycle after suffering an embarrassing loss, defended a Congressional seat despite Democrats recruiting a seeming star, and kept the Sarasota County Commission an all Republican-board.

Sarasota and Manatee county voters both favored President Donald Trump’s reelection, helping keep the state in the President’s column even as the outcome of the national race remained unclear.

Republican Fiona McFarland beat Democrat Drake Buckman in Florida House District 72, taking 54.67% in a district Democrat Margaret Good won in a 2018 special election and defended in the mid-terms.

Meanwhile, Good’s ambitions were higher office were cut off as Rep. Vern Buchanan handily won an eighth term in the House.

“It’s very humbling and I’m very appreciative of the voters in this area,” Buchanan said. He ultimately won with 55.6% of the vote to Good’s 44.4%, expanding his margin of victory over his nearly 10-point victory over Democrat David Shapiro two years ago.

“That’s a big vote of confidence. We ran a campaign on what we have gotten done with 22 bills signed into law. All of those ideas came from the local community.”

Meanwhile, Sarasota County Commissioner Mike Moran won about 56% of the vote in his District 1 seat to secure reelection. Nancy Detert also won reelection in District 3 and Ron Cutsinger won the open race in District 5. In Manatee County, Republicans James Satcher and Kevin van Ostenbridge both won district elections as well.

One upset of the night came on the Manatee County School Board, where Mary Foreman unseated Dave “Watchdog” Miner after winning 59.2% of the vote in a runoff.

At the city level, quite a few new faces will appear at local daises.

City Commissioner Liz Alpert defended her spot on the Sarasota Commission, beating former Commissioner Terry Turner, but Commissioner Willie Shaw lost to challenger Kyle Scott Battie in District 1. In another win for Republicans, Erik Arroyo won a surprising victory in open Sarasota District 3 race over Dan Clermont in a somewhat partisanized race.

Gene Brown won the open Mayor’s race in Bradenton. Pamela Coachman won a Ward 5 seat. Shirley Groover Bryant won reelection as Palmetto Mayor and Sheldon Jones won a Commission seat there.

Brian Kelly won a seat on the Venice City Council. David Ionatti, Barbara Langdon and Debbie McDowell won spots on the North Port board.

Photo by Max Goodman: Vern Buchanan wins an eighth term in Congress.