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Nelson routs Kilsheimer in Apopka mayoral election

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Both City Commission races end in runoffs: Kidd and Smith in Seat #1; Nolan and Velazquez in Seat #2

Apopka voters spoke loud and clear today, and its message was a change in direction. Orange County Commissioner Bryan Nelson defeated Apopka Mayor Joe Kilsheimer in the 2018 mayoral election with a convincing 4,103 votes (63.4%) to Kilsheimer's 2,369 (36.6%) in a record-breaking turnout.

Nelson will become Apopka's 24th mayor when he takes the oath of office on April 24th. And despite the appearance of a close election, the results were convincing.

It was a long, hard-fought campaign that ended with a surge of over 3,830 voters turning out on election day to propel Nelson to a convincing victory. The total vote count of 6,467 was the largest in the history of Apopka mayoral elections. It far outdistanced Apopka's 2014 mayoral general election turnout of 4,961, but also the 2014 runoff turnout of 6,155.

In the Apopka City Commission Seat #1 election Suzanne Kidd led all candidates with 2,308 votes (37.44%), but was unable to gain a majority, and therefore will go up against runner-up Alexander Smith who received 1,851 votes (30.03%). In third place was Gene Knight with 1,196 (19.4%) votes, followed by Theresa Mott with 809 (13.12%).

In the Seat #2 race, Alice Nolan edged incumbent Commissioner Diane Velazquez, but neither candidate was able to achieve the 50%-plus-one standard to gain victory. Nolan received 2,478 votes (39.7%), while Velazquez received 2,340 votes (37.49%). In third place was Leroy Bell with 1,206 votes (19.32%), and Alicia Koutsoulieris received 218 (3.49%).

The runoff election for Seat #1 and Seat #2 is April 10th.

This is a breaking story and more details will be available in The Apopka Voice tomorrow morning.

Decision Apopka 2018

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