Ohlrich upends Arroyo in Sarasota City Commission race

The Sarasota City Commission will have one new face on the dais beginning Friday.

Commissioner and former mayor Erik Arroyo was the lone incumbent of three to fall short in his re-election bid after serving one term in District 3, falling just 321 votes short of challenger Kathy Kelley Ohlrich. 

Ohlrich received 3,394 votes, or 52.58%, to Arroyo’s 3,073 as she rode a comfortable lead of early voting and absentee ballots through the election night tally as Arroyo gradually closed the gap, but not enough.

“It's humbling, really. You never know when you're knocking on doors,” Ohlrich told the Observer. “You think you're feeling well received by people, but you don't really know, and in small races like this, there aren't any polls that tell you what the public is thinking. You just work as hard as you can and speak from your heart and know that you're trying to do the right thing, and the people agreed with me.”

Arroyo championed such causes as affordable and workforce housing, historic preservation, updating the downtown master plan, alley beautification and the proposed Sarasota Performing Arts Center.

“We had an amazing record over the last four years,” said Arroyo to a gathering of friends and campaign workers. “We made some amazing new friends — some of you I've met in the last four years — so I'm very grateful for that.”

Photo by Andrew Warfield

Winning re-election were District 2 representative and current Mayor Liz Alpert and District 1 Commissioner Kyle Battie. Alpert defeated Ron Kashden 6,178 (53.18%) to 5,440 (46.82%) to secure her third term. In his first re-election bid, Battie defeated political newcomer Sequoia Felton 3,075 (55.67%) to 2,449 (44.33%). 

“I feel very honored that the voters in my district chose to elect me to a third term,” Alpert said. “I want to make sure we're getting a performing arts center. I want to try to get some more transportation options, reimagine the downtown, keep bringing affordable housing and keep the momentum we’ve built for the last few years.”

Kashden, a Laurel Park neighborhood activist, said his campaign brought to light issues he has with city government.

“I am so proud of the campaign that I ran,” said Kashden, a frequent speaker at commission meetings. “It was an ethical campaign that raised really important issues from the residents, and we tried hard. It was a good coalition, but we just couldn't beat the developer machine at the end of the day.”

Felton characterized her race against Battie as fun, being new to politics. 

“I think getting to know the people in the community, it opened up another world for me, so I think everything happens for a reason and I'm proud of Mr. Battie,” Felton said.

Battie did not return requests for comment on deadline. 

Alpert credited Arroyo for his contributions to the city government during his term.

"I'm sorry to lose him,” she said. “I think he helped us accomplish a lot in the last four years.”