Carol Whitmore and Robin DiSabatino Win Manatee County Commission Races by Wide Margins

Carol Whitmore

BRADENTON – Roger Galle and Sundae Lynn Knight had hoped to follow fellow Democrat Michael Gallen in riding an anti-establishment wave to victory in this year’s Manatee County Commission races. However, Gallen won an open primary against a fellow Democrat mired in controversy, while they faced strong Republican opponents in Republican leaning districts.

Whitmore, a one-term incumbent with strong financial support and 20-year name recognition, had little trouble winning the county-wide district 6 race over Knight, a political newcomer with a background in engineering. Whitmore received just over 70,000 votes in the county-wide race, more than twice than her opponent en-route to a 38-point victory. DiSabatino, a former realtor who raised an unthinkable $123,000, mostly from the development community, cruised to a 21-point victory in district 4 and will assume the seat being vacated by incumbent Republican Ron Getman.

Galle and Knight had strong, energetic grass roots campaigns, but existed outside the political mainstream and were ultimately unable to connect with enough voters to contend with polished candidates supported by well-organized party machines. Gallen and DiSabatino are both younger than most other commissioners and will bring different skill sets to the board, especially Gallen who will be the only attorney among the seven commissioners.