Lakeland voters today selected Mike Musick to serve on the Lakeland City Commission until the end of the year. He received 50.7% of the vote against Shandale Terrell in a runoff election for the seat representing southeast Lakeland on the nonpartisan board.
Musick will serve the last eight months of the term of Scott Franklin, who resigned in connection with his successful run for U.S. House. He faces another election battle this fall if he is challenged for a full four-year term on the commission. That election, in November, will also include races for mayor and two other commission seats.
Turnout was light, but the numbers were higher than last month’s general election. The 10,626 votes cast in the runoff represent roughly 15.6% of Lakeland’s registered voters. No other elections or issues were on today’s Lakeland ballot, although another runoff was held in Haines City.
Turnout was 13.6% in the April 6 general election, when 9,394 people voted as Musick and Terrell emerged as the top vote getters in a four-candidate field. Today’s runoff was held because no candidate received a majority in last month’s election; Terrell received 39.7 percent of votes cast in the general election, and Musick received 33.7%. The other candidates were Steve Frankenberger (20.9% of the vote) and Ken Post (5.7%).
The candidates were separated by 146 votes: 5,386 to 5,240.
Terrell, an educator, focused on deep community roots and civic participation in his campaign, and Musick, who owns a roofing company, positioned himself as a conservative small business owner concerned about government transparency. Neither has held elective office before. This was Terrell’s fourth try for an elected position.
While the election is a nonpartisan one, Musick’s candidacy has been heavily promoted on the Republican Club of Lakeland’s Facebook page and Polk County Republican Executive Committee’s newsletters. Terrell’s candidacy was promoted on the municipal elections page of the Polk County Democrats website.
The candidates differed widely in their approach to fund-raising. As of last week, Musick raised $40,040 from  91 donations, for an average donation of $440. Terrell raised $20,951.52 from 185 donations, for an average donation of $113.25.
Musick 
Terrell
Musick received endorsements from Business Voice of Greater Lakeland (political arm of the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce), Lakeland Realtors, Lakeland Professional Firefighters, and Polk County Builders Association. He was also endorsed by former Mayor Howard Wiggs and current Polk County Commissioner Neil Combee.
Terrell was endorsed by Frankenberger and Post, the two candidates eliminated in last month’s general election, retired Circuit Judge Bob Doyel and Equality Florida Action PAC.
latest news
Loading...
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
WOW! How do I vote for Frankenberger and Post in the initial election and do a 180 degree mental switch in the second? The informed voter could never see the logic while the uninformed could never see the conflict. Apparently, there is a boundless shade of principle in the choices some make.
In the first round, only around 3100 folks voted for Musick while a combined 6228 voted for the alternatives. The second election saw a falloff in support for the alternative of at least 1000 votes. A thousand? that’s a pretty strong statement to document where we are as a society.
The bible speaks in Proverbs 13:16:
“Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly.” Guess that about sums it up…