After Election Night – One Race Separated By Just 13 Votes

In Brief:

- Sherri Cox leads a close race for District 3 Okaloosa County Commissioner, potentially triggering a recount due to a slim vote margin.
- Incumbents Eric Aden and Paul Mixon secured significant victories in their respective races for Sheriff and District 1 Commissioner.
- Drew Palmer narrowly defeated Mary Anne Windes for the District 5 Commissioner seat, while Parker Destin won a seat on the Okaloosa School Board.

The results are (mostly) in! While one race (Okaloosa County District 3) has down to about a dozen votes between the projected winner and runner-up, most local races in Okaloosa County had clear winners and losers at the end of election day.

District 3 Okaloosa County Commissioner

In the tightest race in many years, it looks like former Tallahassee Lobbyist and Republican State Committeewoman Sherri Cox will take Nathan Boyles’ seat on the Okaloosa County Commission.

Cox earned 7,957 votes to edge out Keri Pitzer, who tallied 7,584 votes. The race still can’t be called, though. Officially, provisional ballots must still be counted, and if there is less than one-half of one percent difference between the winner and second place (which there is), a mandatory recount will occur. According to Okaloosa Supervisor of Elections, Paul Lux, that recount should take place on Friday or Saturday.

Final Results in that race were:

Sherri Cox | 23.55%

Keri Pitzer | 23.51%

Andrew Rencich | 22.85%

Heath Rominger | 16.14%%

Wade Merritt | 13.95%

Okaloosa Sheriff’s Race

Incumbent Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden defeated both opponents in this race by a two-to-one margin.

Aden, first ran unopposed in 2020.

Eric Aden | 66.58%

Ron Livingstone | 23.17%

Eddie Perillo | 10.25%

District 1 Commissioner

Incumbent Okaloosa County Commissioner Paul Mixon ran away with his race against challenger De’Carlo Garcia. Mixon tallied 24,127 votes to Garcia’s 8,452.

Mixon | 74.06%

Garcia | 25.94%

District 5 Commissioner

Matt Gaetz-backed candidate Drew Palmer sweated out a brutal campaign against Mary Anne Windes. Palmer would prevail against Windes by 786 votes total.

Palmer | 51.21%

Windes | 48.79%

Okaloosa School Board

Local businessman Parker Destin won election to the Okaloosa School Board Seat for Destin and part of Fort Walton Beach with a 4,022 vote margin. Destin will serve as one of two people in business on the school board, along with two former educators, school administrators, and a retired general manager. At the beginning of the month, the board makeup looked very different, including four former educators, school administrators, and a single retired general manager.

Parker Destin | 56.01%

David Schmidt | 43.99%