2012 Election Results Brown, Smith and Davis Win City Races

BRADENTON – The Palmetto City Commission will add one new member and retain another, while the Bradenton City Council adds a new member to replace Marianne Barnebey, who had to give up her seat in a failed bid to replace incumbent mayor Wayne Poston.

In Bradenton, Gene Brown won in a walk, getting 56 percent of the vote in the three-way race for mayoral candidate Marianne Barnebey's Ward 2 seat. Brown faced Manatee Planning Commission member George Mendez (29 percent) and Binnie Williams (15 percent).

Despite very low turnout numbers, incumbent Ward 1 Palmetto City Commissioner Charles Smith easily won a 24-point victory over Carolyn Higdon, in an election that saw both applicants for the seat vacated by Mary Lancaster face-off with the voters demonstrating the same preference for Smith that his fellow commissioners did when they appointed him as Lancaster's replacement after she retired.

First-time candidate Jonathan Davis upset Palmetto Planning and Zoning Board member Eric Gilbert for the Palmetto City Commission At-Large 1 seat 54-46 percent. Davis, a local charter fishing boat captain, will replace commercial developer Alan Zirkelbach, who did not seek a second term.