The Lee County Democratic Party congratulates its 10 victorious candidates in Tuesday’s election.
We also applaud Joe Biden’s progress in other swing states and strongly support his call to finish counting votes and to respect the will of the voters.
Clearly, the results in Lee County and the State of Florida held disappointments for all of us. They didn’t reach the level we think the people of Lee County deserve.
But the victories of these 10 candidates are a bright spot. They mark another advance in the Democratic Party’s battle to broaden Lee County’s government beyond the control of the single party that has dominated our county for too long. No one said this would be quick or easy, but it is something we are determined to keep fighting for.
We thank our Democratic voters, who braved both Covid and occasional intimidation attempts to do the right thing, in large numbers.
We thank all our candidates for their tireless efforts. You were inspiring and, in difficult moments, courageous.
And from the bottom of our hearts we thank our dedicated volunteers, without whom we could not have achieved what we did. The Democratic voter turnout was outstanding and your work will serve as a model for our renewed efforts going forward.
We note with satisfaction that the three constitutional amendments we endorsed — one raising Florida’s minimum wage and two that improve property-tax provisions — were approved and will become law. We also are pleased that two amendment proposals we opposed — which would have abolished party primaries and made it harder to amend the constitution — failed.
We congratulate our elected candidates:
— Jessica Cosden, Cape Coral City Council
— Johnny Streets Jr., Fort Myers City Council
— William Burke, Lee County Mosquito District
— Sanford Cohen MD, Lee Memorial Health Board
— William Byrnes, Upper Captiva Fire District
— Julie Hollingsworth, Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District
— Kenneth Thompson, Lehigh Acres Municipal Services Improvement District
— Karen Montgomery, Bayside Improvement Community Development District
— Michael Cutler, Laguna Lakes Community Development District
— Steven Brown, Paseo Community Development District