How did Longboat Key votes fall in the 2024 primary election?

Results from the Aug. 20 primary election showed that although Longboat Key residents fell in line with the counties at large on many of the races, Longboat Key voters favored many of the winners more strongly. 

Because Longboat Key is split in half between Manatee and Sarasota counties, it has two voting precincts: One for each. 

Overall, voter turnout was 25.2% for Longboat’s Manatee County residents and 34.2% for Sarasota County residents. Vote-by-mail was the preferred method for both counties, with 328 out of 548 votes being by mail in Manatee County and 1,116 out of 1,493 by mail in Sarasota County.

One race that was especially relevant for the Key's Manatee County voters was the Republican race for Manatee County County Commission District 3.

District 3 represents parts of Bradenton, Cortez, Anna Maria Island and north Longboat Key. The seat is currently occupied by Kevin Van Ostenbridge, who ran for an at-large commission seat in this year’s primary election.

With Van Ostenbridge out of the District 3 race, Tal Siddique opposed April Culbreath for the Republican nomination. Like the rest of the district, Longboat Key voters fell more in favor of Siddique. 

According to the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections office, Siddique won 60.84% of Longboat’s votes and Culbreath had 39.16% of the votes. That’s equivalent to 174 votes for Siddique and 112 votes for Culbreath. 

In the district overall, the race was similar, with Siddique beating Culbreath by a vote of 6,070 to 3,870, or 61.07% to 38.93%. Siddique will now face off against Democratic candidate Diana Shoemaker in the Nov. 5 general election. 

Van Ostenbridge campaigned against incumbent George Kruse for the District 7 at-large seat on the Manatee County Commission 

On Longboat Key, north-end residents favored Kruse. Kruse gained 59.86% of the votes from Longboat’s precinct and Van Ostenbridge had 40.14% (170 votes to 114 votes). 

The race was similar at the county level, with Kruse winning with 58.43% of the votes. Van Ostenbrige garnered 41.57% of the votes.

On the other side of the island, Sarasota County residents of Longboat Key’ voted similarly to the county as a whole in races for School Board Districts 2 and 3.

Candidate for School Board District 2 Liz Barker won Longboat Key voters with 57.57% of the vote, and Barker won in the county overall with 51.49% of the votes. 

Similarly, for School Board District 3, Tom Edwards won 61.47% of Longboat’s votes and 55.84% of the county’s votes. 

There were also three open at-large seats for the Sarasota County Hospital Board. In these races, south Longboat Key residents were strongly in favor of the winning candidates. 

For example, the Seat 1 position was a race between Sharon Wetzler DePeters and Tamzin A. Rosenwasser. DePeters won the seat with 66.69% of the county’s votes, but Longboat Key residents voted 80.47% in favor of DePeters.