Okaloosa County’s District Three Commission seat has been described as best gerrymandered by one of its past occupants. Unlike the rest of the seats on the commission, which have relative congruity, District Three is spread out across much of the county’s western portion. The district includes the part of the west of Crestview, the western part of Niceville, Valparaiso and the northernmost reaches of the Greater Fort Walton Beach Area.
For the last 12 years, the youngest member of the Okaloosa County Commissioners, Nathan Boyles, has represented the district. Boyles announced in 2022 that he would not seek a fourth term, opening up the race to many hopefuls (the longer you look at local politics, the more shocked you’ll be when someone runs against an incumbent.)
Before the election of Boyles, no one from the part of the county north of the Eglin Reservation had held the seat since the Reagan administration. Boyles is a Holt-area resident.
Although any voter in Okaloosa County can vote for the District Three commissioner, only the people who live inside District Three’s boundaries may run for the seat.
An Okaloosa County Commissioner is responsible for the oversight of nearly three quarters of a Billion of your local tax dollars every year. In addition to budgeting responsibilities they have several other issues they must deal with every year. Click the button for a refresher of what an Okaloosa County Commissioner does.
Incumbent Okaloosa County Commissioner for District Three, Nathan Boyles, won’t seek re-election this year. He has decided not to make an endorsement for one of the three candidates currently running, but does have a lot to say about the county itself. “Growth is change and change is hard,” Boyles says, “Staying ahead of that growth and changing our community in the right way – that means keeping up with infrastructure and keeping up with design and development standards so that as we build out our community, we can build out a place that we will continue to want to live and hopefully where our kids will want to live.”
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