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Commissioner Sara Roberts McCarley will be Lakeland’s next mayor — the first woman to hold the position in four decades and the first ever elected to the role.
McCarley, 54, overcame three challengers to win 50.3% of the vote, narrowly avoiding a runoff, according to unofficial results of the Nov. 4 election.
Cedric Valrie received 19.5%, Kay Klymko 17.3% and Kaitlin Gracie Kramer 13%.
About 19% of Lakeland’s 62,600 voters cast ballots. Many who voted by mail in recent years went to the polls in person after discovering that their mail-in ballot requests had expired.
Well-funded campaign
McCarley, who has been on the City Commission since January 2019, ran a sophisticated, well-organized campaign after amassing the largest campaign war chest in Lakeland history. She raised $91,625 and spent $70,038, according to the latest finance report filed Oct. 31.
That was more than five times her nearest rival, Valrie, who raised $17,706.
McCarley, who admitted being nervous about a potential runoff, chose to watch the results at a private gathering with a small group of close friends.
“I am grateful to the citizens of Lakeland for electing me as mayor. Lakeland has been led by many great public servants, and I am humbled to continue to serve this community that is my home,” she said in a statement, after getting the results.
Klymko and City Commission candidate Kim-Marie Noble gathered with supporters at Union Hall. Kramer watched the returns at Cob & Pen. Valrie gathered with friends for an after-hours watch party at Britt’s Cafe on Harden Boulevard.
Modern trailblazer
McCarley will be Lakeland’s fourth female mayor — following Lois Quinn Searl (1965), Peggy Brown (1976, 1984) and Carrie R. Oldham (1980). But she is the first to be chosen directly by voters.
Before 1988, commissioners selected one of their own members to preside as mayor for a one-year term.
Record fundraising
McCarley shattered the record held by Mayor Bill Mutz, who raised $72,020 in his 2021 re-election campaign.
She was also helped by a local political action committee (PAC) called the Coalition for a Stronger Lakeland, which raised $42,500 in contributions this year, including $26,000 from retired Publix executive Hoyt Barnett and $5,000 from Harrell’s.
The Coalition paid for at least three of the seven full-color mailers sent to voters in the city limits promoting McCarley’s candidacy.
Much of her direct support came from state-level political groups.
Several political committees donated to her campaign, including Advancing Florida Agriculture, Citizens for Solutions, Freedom and Liberty Fund, Defending Conservatism and Democracy, Florida Conservatives United.
McCarley also received support from the campaign committees of former Senate President Ben Albritton, Sen. Colleen Burton, Rep. Jennifer Canady, and nearby Sens. Jim Boyd and Joe Gruters.
McCarley has the closest ties to the Legislature of all of the sitting commissioners, partly because of her late husband Randy Roberts’ connections there but also because of her work with the foundation she created in his name. Every year, she takes high school juniors to Tallahassee during the legislative session to cultivate their interest in public service.
McCarley has traveled to the Capitol every year in her role as a commissioner, working with the city’s lobbyist and delegates to advance Lakeland’s interests and protect it from potential threats. She chaired a strategy meeting on Friday to craft the city’s goals in the upcoming session.
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