First local candidate files for 2016 election

Amidst speculation about who will run for president, the first local candidate has filed to run for the 2016 General Election.

If the last few elections are any indication, local Republican Mike Moran should be a shoo-in for the District 1 seat on the Sarasota County Commission. But with an early filing and the backing of the Sarasota GOP establishment, he’s not taking his candidacy lightly.

“You can be — and should be — way ahead of this,” said Moran, who had to resign from his position on the Sarasota County Planning Commission to run for the seat.

Citing his more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry and time as a Southwest Florida Water Management District board member, Moran said he would be a conservative steward of tax dollars. Sarasota GOP Chairman and Florida GOP Vice Chairman Joe Gruters agrees.

“There’s no question Mike Moran will get the overwhelming support from the business community based on his record,” Gruters said. “He’s a uniter, he’s a team builder and he’s exactly what you’re looking for when you go out and find someone to run for office.”

With former Sarasota GOP Chairman Eric Robinson as his treasurer and political consultants Mac Stevenson and Kelly Dowd running his campaign, Moran follows in the footsteps of previous successful candidacies, including that of Commission Chairwoman Carolyn Mason, who currently represents District 1. Commissioner Alan Maio, who also filed 22 months ahead of his election, raised more than $125,000 and beat his opponent in the 2014 General Election by more than 18,000 votes with the same campaign team.

Mason ran unopposed in 2012 and beat Democrat Jono Miller by 14,000 votes in 2008.

“(Moran) is going to have more support than Carolyn Mason first had,” Gruters said.

Moran said he wants to focus on jobs, economic diversity and keeping millennials in the area.

“I want to make sure to attract and retain that talent here,” Moran said.

During his time on the Planning Commission, Moran helped vet and approve significant changes to Sarasota 2050, a long-range planning document guiding development on large swaths of land. He said his aim was to make Sarasota 2050 a more fluid and workable document, and would continue to do so on the County Commission.

“My family has always been civic-minded,” Moran said, whose wife Lori is on the board of trustees for State College of Florida, and currently works for Rep. Ray Pilon. “It was the next logical step for me so I can make a much bigger impact.”