MANATEE COUNTY – Incumbent District 3 Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge announced he’s no longer seeking reelection in his current district.
He will instead seek election to the District 7 at-large seat currently held by George Kruse, who seeks re-election to another four-year term in that seat. The two sitting county commissioners will square off in the District 7 at-large Republican primary that concludes on Tuesday, Aug. 20.
On May 31, Van Ostenbridge filed his campaign redesignation letter with the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Office, as did former District 7 Republican candidate April Culbreath, who is now running against Tal Siddique in the District 3 Republican primary.
The winner of the District 7 Republican primary will then face the winner of the Democratic primary between Aliyah Hurt and Sari Lindroos-Valimaki in the general election. The winner of the District 3 Republican primary will face Democratic candidate Diana Shoemaker in the general election.
On May 31, Van Ostenbridge distributed the following text announcement regarding his political lane change: “For me, it boiled down to this: Manatee County Republicans deserve a truly conservative representative who believes in the free market; who will never apologize to liberals; and who will protect and defend every God-given constitutional right. I can continue to represent west Bradenton and at the same time restore the promise of conservative representation to the county as a whole. George Kruse is a liberal. I am a staunch Trump conservative. George Kruse thinks the government knows best. I know the people know best.”
Van Ostenbridge shared his pro-Trump campaign statement the day after a 12-person New York jury found the former president guilty of all 34 felony charges alleged against him.
On June 1, Kruse provided The Sun with the following written response to Van Ostenbridge’s statement: “Both the decision to run away from the District 3 race and the context of his announcement are not a surprise to anyone. After a lifetime of living in his district and four years of ‘representing’ his district, the residents out west made it clear through their polling that Kevin only represents himself and a very small handful of people in Manatee County and his district wants him out. I’m happy for those residents and I’m hopeful they’ll once again have a commissioner who actually cares about their voice and their future.
“His announcement of this change is a reflection of how they’ll campaign throughout 2024. When you know you can’t run on your record, you deflect and distract in hopes of finding enough uninformed voters to manipulate into voting against their best interests. Kevin’s consultant (Anthony Pedicini) will deflect everything wrong with him onto me while they continue pushing their revisionist history of the facts. Kevin has consistently fought to stifle the voices of the people he claims ‘know best.’ Through his actions on Anna Maria Island and throughout the county, he has proven to be the foremost advocate of authoritarian, big government, tax-and-spend policies Manatee County has had on our board in a very long time,” Kruse stated.
“I’m hopeful that our community has finally been pushed too far by Kevin and his syndicate. The public is waking up and an informed electorate is not their voter base,” Kruse stated.
DISTRICT DIFFERENCES
Van Ostenbridge has invited opposition on Anna Maria Island due to his ongoing efforts to build a three-story parking garage at the county-owned Manatee Beach in Holmes Beach. Since being elected to the District 3 seat in 2020, Van Ostenbridge has frequently feuded with Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth and Police Chief Bill Tokajer about beach parking and other parking allowances.
District 3 includes all of Anna Maria Island, all of Cortez, the northern half of Longboat Key, west Bradenton and portions of Bradenton. It was long-rumored that Van Ostenbridge would switch to the District 7 at-large race if early polling numbers indicated he might not win the District 3 race, which features fewer total voters and a higher percentage of Island voters. Island voters make up a significantly smaller percentage of the total votes cast in the countywide District 7 at-large race.
When winning the election for the first time in 2020, the then-relatively unknown Van Ostenbridge received 23,213 (58%) of the 39,766 votes cast in the general election in which he faced non-party-affiliated opponent Matt Bower. Van Ostenbridge was the only Republican primary candidate in that race.
When winning the election for the first time in the 2020 District 7 at-large Republican primary, Kruse received 21,184 (57%) of the votes cast in the primary race that also included former county administrator Ed Hunzeker. When later running unopposed in the general election, Kruse received 159,894 (93%) of the 171,437 votes cast, with unnamed write-in candidates receiving 11,543 votes.
CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISING
According to the latest campaign fundraising reports, Van Ostenbridge has raised $214,253 so far. Kruse raised $37,088, Valimaki raised $500 and Hurt has raised nothing. In the District 3 race, Siddique has raised $26,933, Culbreath has raised $19,993 and Shoemaker has raised $25,767.
Monday, July 22 is the deadline to register to vote in the August primary. July 22 is also the deadline to change one’s party affiliation to vote in the Republican primaries that will help determine who ultimately wins the county commission seats up for grabs in this year’s general election.
