Lakeland city commissioners today scheduled a public meeting to interview the eight applicants for interim commissioner representing northwest Lakeland. The person chosen by the commission will fill out the remaining 13 months in Phillip Walker’s term in office. More
Polk School Board member-elect Rick Nolte’s $5,200 cash donation to his own campaign violates Florida law, according to a legal scholar with expertise in Florida election laws; Nolte declined to answer questions about the contribution on Thursday. More
Until today, it looked like Phillip Walker was a shoo-in to continue serving on the Lakeland City Commission for another 13 months. He had resigned from his commission seat to run for another office, but after losing that race he applied to continue beyond his Nov. 7 resignation. However, this afternoon he removed himself from consideration for the interim position after the city attorney said his appointment could subject the city to a legal challenge. More
It will be 17 days before Lakeland city commissioners appoint an interim city commissioner to represent the northwest district, but several commissioners said today they plan to vote to select Commissioner Phillip Walker to continue in the seat for another year. More
Former Polk School Board member Billy Townsend, who writes a newsletter about education and local politics, has filed a campaign finance complaint against Rick Nolte, who last week defeated incumbent Sarah Fortney for a School Board seat. More
The interim city commissioner chosen to replace Phillip Walker could possibly be … Phillip Walker. The 13-year incumbent had resigned from his city position in connection with his bid to become a state representative. He lost that race to Jennifer Canady on Tuesday; on Friday morning, just before the noon deadline, he submitted an application for the one-year interim position. More
Rick Nolte, who received the backing of Gov. Ron DeSantis and conservative activist organizations, unseated one-term incumbent Sarah Fortney from the Polk County School Board today in an election that saw the return of 20-year School Board veteran Kay Fields and the victory of newcomer Justin Sharpless. Incumbent Lisa Miller faces a Nov. 8 runoff with Jill Sessions. More
Lakeland voters chose Jennifer Canady over Phillip Walker today for an open seat in the Florida House of Representatives. In a north Polk House race, Josie Tomkow easily won re-election. A five-way race for Polk County judge goes to a Nov. 8 runoff between top vote-getters John Flynn and Ruth Moracen Knight. In one of the two U.S. House races involving Lakeland districts, Republican Laurel Lee will face Democrat Alan Cohn in the November general election for District 15. Rep. Scott Franklin won the District 18 primary and faces token opposition in the general election. More
Polk County’s 134 polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday for the Florida primary election. Even though it’s a primary election, six races on Lakeland-area ballots are open to all registered voters, regardless of party affiliation. More
An image promoting a candidate for county judge was removed from the Republican Party of Polk County website today after questions were raised about whether the promotion violates a state law. More
