SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Former Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight, who served in the position for 12 years, ran for the District 3 county commission seat and won big.
In the primary election, he defeated incumbent Neil Rainford, who was appointed to the position by Gov. Ron DeSantis, by more than 20 percentage points. In Tuesday’s general election, Knight beat NPA candidate Shari Thornton by almost 40 percentage points.
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He said he hopes to make a positive impact in the community and be a part of making “good public policy that works for the community”.
“For me, going into this seat, that is what I enjoy doing is fixing problems, and being part of the fix of the problem,” Knight said.
On his campaign website, three pledges are listed.
- stop overdevelopment and hold developers accountable
- report locally on the costs of illegal immigration
- stop budget and tax bloat
The topic of overdevelopment is something that has taken center stage in the county many times in the past several years. Residents from Old Miakka to Siesta Key have worked to fight off high-density development and some have even taken the issue to court.