Race Analysis: BOCC District 4 Republican Primary

The Manatee County Commission District 4 Republican primary sees planning commission veteran Mike Rahn challenge incumbent Misty Servia, a former planner with both the county and the private sector. Because there are no other candidates on the ballot and the write-in-loophole is being used to prevent an open primary, this race will decide who gets the seat.

Whether or not you agree with her positions, Servia has done an exemplary job as an elected representative. The one-term commissioner has set a new bar for constituent engagement, using town halls, social media, and office hours to regularly communicate with any citizen whether they have a specific issue or are just interested in learning more about matters that the board is contemplating. Public officials who encourage their constituents to follow government closely tend to be those with the least to hide, in my experience.

Servia is accessible, courteous, and has proven herself a better listener than a talker–not a common trait among politicians. Most importantly, Servia seems to be sincere and honest about her positions and intentions and comes to every meeting hyper-prepared to ask important questions, rather than just relying on staff recommendations, or, worse, special interest influence. Her extensive background as a planner in both the public and private sectors has proven extremely useful in this regard.

As someone who has spent her life in development, Servia makes no bones about the fact that she is pro-growth and sees an important role for government in meeting the demand for housing in our community. Our editorial page has always prized sustainable growth practices and advocates prioritizing the quality of life for existing homeowners over the creation of additional inventory. This is most often where we’ve disagreed with Commissioner Servia on votes.

That said, district 4 Republicans searching for someone who is less pro-growth than Servia will not find that candidate in Rahn, who, as a planning commissioner (an advisory board that makes recommendations to the county commission on land use decisions) has been little more than a rubber stamp for local developers. The best example of this would be the Gamble Creek approval, in which the board voted 6-1 to approve comp plan, map, and text amendments that will ultimately transition 5,000 acres of Parrish farmland into a city the size of Palmetto.Once zoned for up to 1,200 houses, that land will now hold up to 7,200, all of which will be east of the county’s Future Development Area Boundary.

The sole nay vote on Gamble Creek came from Servia. Meanwhile, Rahn had recommended its approval when it came before the planning commission. While other commissioners gushed over the glossy presentation of a city of the future, Servia asked tough questions and found that the applicants didn’t have many good answers. Accordingly, she couldn’t support their request, and this is what I appreciate most about her as a commissioner. She votes her conscience, and I’ll take an honest expert I sometimes disagree with over 99 percent of the people in public office, particularly these days. Rahn apparently agreed with that sentiment until very recently, as he enthusiastically endorsed Servia in 2018, as well as when she ran for school board two years prior. As for other votes in which we disagreed with Servia, I could not find one in which Rahn took the opposite position.

The irony here is that Servia is being targeted by local developers precisely because she has not been willing to allow them to control her vote at every turn. Developers pushed hard for firing former county administrator Cheri Coryea when she wouldn't squash a county land acquisition deal on land they wished to build out, and Servia and District 6 Commissioner Carol Whitmore were the two Republicans on the board who refused to acquiesce on this critical issue. They each now face a challenge from the right in a closed primary. Make no mistake. That is not a coincidence.

The tactic here is obvious. Put up a write-in candidate to close off the otherwise open primary to just Republican voters and then attack the Republican you don’t want to win as a RINO (Republican in Name Only), attempting to tie them to Joe Biden, Nanci Pelosi, AOC, and any other national Democrat loathed by GOP primary voters, who tend to be more conservative than the larger number who vote in the general election.

In Rahn, developers seem to have found the perfect candidate, so much so that Servia’s District 4 was actually redrawn by opponents on the board to literally draw in Rahn’s address after rumors began to swirl that he was going to be put up to run against her. Rahn's social media page throws the RINO term at any member of the GOP who’s not an all-in January 6 should be a holiday and Trump really won the election Republican. It’s also loaded with misogynistic, homophobic, Islamophobic, and otherwise hateful rants that read like they are being issued by a crazy uncle glued to his screen during Hannity, none of which speaks to the judgment or civility we’d like to see in our public officials.

In case you haven’t noticed, our county commission has been captured by special interests (our aforementioned local developers), and experienced professionals are fleeing the new administration in droves amid unprecedented chaos, now that developers want much more than just favorable approvals for their projects. Simply put, if you’re a Republican who thinks that the current majority of commissioners–Kevin Van Ostenbridge, Vanessa "Vaccinegate" Baugh, George Kruse, and James Satcher, along with Coryea’s replacement, Scott Hopes–are doing a fine job and that loyalty to former President Trump under all circumstances is a good litmus test for local candidates, Rahn's definitely your guy. If you are not, Servia is the very easy choice in this race.