By Times Staff
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Thousands of voters declared their choice for who they want to represent them at the local, state and federal level. Here's a look at the results of some primary races around the Tampa Bay area.
Incumbent Kevin White, a Hillsborough County commissioner, lost his seat Tuesday in a three-way Democratic primary for District 3.
Les Miller, a former state legislator, unseated White with 50 percent of the vote. Fellow challenger Valerie Goddard took 30 percent; White came in third with 20 percent and conceded the election before 10 p.m. The race was largely viewed as a referendum on White, who was found last year to have discriminated against an aide who refused his sexual advances.
In the commission's other closely watched race, Mark Sharpe held off former Hillsborough County Republican Party chief Josh Burgin in the at-large District 7 primary with 55 percent of the vote.
Hillsborough School Board incumbent Jennifer Faliero also lost her seat in the four-way District 4 race. Faliero lost to two other candidates who will meet in a November runoff.
Attorney James Grant, 27, son of former state Sen. John Grant, won the four-way Republican primary for the District 47 state House seat. Grant took 37 percent of the vote and will face Democrat Michael Steinberg in November. He beat former wrestler and Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair, retired lobbyist Irene Guy, and businessman Tom Aderhold.
In the Republican primary for the District 57 state House seat, also in Hillsborough, Dana Young beat Dan Molloy and Todd Marks with 55 percent of the vote.