Greenwell, Mulicka win their Republican primaries
Lee County Republicans kept Lee County Board of County Commissioners Chairman Mike Greenwell as the party’s nominee for the District 5 seat in the Primary Election on Aug. 20, while also choosing David Mulicka for the District 3 seat.
Greenwell withstood a challenge from Alva Republican Amanda Cochran in one of the tighter county races of the night. He beat Cochran 55.33% to 44.67%.
Cochran ran a campaign against overdevelopment and specifically objected to a development proposal for property Greenwell owns in the rural North Olga neighborhood. The property was rezoned by the county commission while Greenwell was on the board to allow for 400,000 square feet of commercial space and 122 multifamily units. He contended that he needed to develop the property after losing part of his land to state road expansion projects to accommodate increased traffic from Babcock Ranch.
Greenwell will now face Democrat Kizzie Fowler in the November election. District 5 includes Alva, Lehigh Acres, Buckingham, Olga and eastern unincorporated Fort Myers, though voting is open to all of the county’s electorate.
Owner of HONC Destruction, Mulicka won his race comfortably while running on a pro-development platform over opponent Matt Thornton. Mulicka received 64.29% of the vote over Thornton’s 35.71%. Thornton ran a campaign against what he contended was over-aggressive development in the county.
Mulicka is the husband of District 78 State Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka.
District 3 includes Fort Myers Beach, Bonita Springs, Estero and the Iona-McGregor section of unincorporated Lee County, though voting is open to all of the county’s electorate.
OTHER COUNTY RACES
Lee County voters countywide, regardless of political party, were able to take part in a universal primary to keep Lee County Supervisor of Elections Tommy Doyle in office. He won in a landslide.
Doyle defeated challenger Michael “Mick” Peters. With all precincts counted, election returns saw Doyle receive 80.42% of the vote in his race, compared to the 19.58% received by Peters.
Peters did win a race to be Lee County’s representative as a State Republican committeeman with 59.42% of the vote over Andrew Sund. Peters is also on the executive board of the Lee County Republican Committee.
Melissa Giovannelli and Tara Jenner were in a close race for State Republican committeewoman representing Lee County. Jenner won with 33.78% to 31.16% for Giovannelli. Krissy Houlihan received 20.29% of votes while Adele Amico had 14.76%.
More than 109,000 ballots were cast in Lee for a turnout rate of about 23% of registered voters.
Results are unofficial until certified.