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No candidate achieved a majority, or more than 50%, of the vote on Tuesday, Aug. 18 in a closely watched three-way race for the Polk County School Board District 3 seat. Incumbent Kate Wallace, 41, appointed to the position on Nov. 7, 2025, by Gov. Ron DeSantis, faced challengers Victor Sims, 30, and Sarah Corona, 52.
The top two candidates, Wallace, with 45.1% of votes, and Sims, 35.8%, will advance to a run-off during the November general election. Corona was eliminated from the race, receiving 19.1% of the vote.
When the run-off was confirmed on Tuesday night, Wallace said she considered the outcome a “personal win,” as the last candidate to enter the race.
She said she is “going to remain focused on representing the conservative vote in the race, advocating for school choice, and ensuring students and parents can be proud of Polk County’s public schools.”
If elected, she said she will strive to create an A-ranked pathway of traditional and neighborhood public schools that would be available to all students — regardless of where they live. Wallace said she was proud of herself for running a campaign, while working a full-time job and serving on the school board.
Sims told supporters at his watch party that he envisioned winning in the primary after a campaign that lasted 500 days, overshadowing the birth of his second child and then his first birthday. But Sims was undaunted.
“There are going to be checks flying in on the other side from people who have no business caring about what’s going on in this district,” Sims said. “And they’re going to try to influence it.”
As he asked his supporters to continue to fund his campaign, Sims described himself as “probably the most fiscal conservative actually in this race,” explaining that $36 dollars donated allowed him to reach 3,600 people via text message.
“We are going to care for every dollar that goes in — that’s the same way I’m going to lead when I’m on the school board — caring about every penny that comes to our school,” he said.
On Wednesday morning, Corona said that the outcome wasn’t what she had hoped for, but she was grateful for everyone who believed in her. “Thank you so much for your prayers, your vote, encouragement,” Corona said.
She said she does not plan to run again. “I’m not a politician. I’m not seeking power or money or a title. So I’m probably one of the few that is running for the right purpose. But sometimes it doesn’t go our way.”
Despite that, she said she was proud to have received more than 16,000 votes in her first campaign, connecting with Hispanic voters and people who had never voted in a primary before. “They came out to support me,” Corona said. “We started momentum, and I’m very pleased.”
“All the people out there like me that are planning to or have thought about running in the future, please don’t stop,” she said.
District 5
Despite a slow campaign start shrouded in personal losses, Kay Fields, 73, cemented her position as the longest serving member of the Polk County School Board. This November will mark 24 years since Fields first took office in 2002. In her victory speech, Fields dedicated her campaign to her sister Barbara Carpenter, a former Polk County school educator who passed away in May.
In a largely grass-roots funded campaign, Fields received 57% of the votes, while first-time challenger Sam Neelam, 52, received 43%. Neelam, an entrepreneur and Florida Poly Trustee, mostly self-funded his campaign and moved from Davenport into the district in April.
For her final term, Fields says she is focused on “some incentives as it relates to recruiting and retaining teachers and employees that we really need.”
“I want to work to see how we can increase our (educators) salaries — that’s something I think that all of us want,” Fields said.
District 6
Incumbent Justin Sharpless, 42, an agriculture professor at Warner University, won a decisive victory with 67.5% of the vote over political newcomer Kasen Hampton, a 19-year-old student at Polk State College. Sharpless raised more than $55,000, compared with Hampton’s $2,400.
“I’m very proud of our record and what we’ve done up to this point,” said Sharpless, “we’ve moved our district from a C district to a B district. And while that is great progress, I’m not content with that progress. By 2030, I want us to be an A district.”
This will be Sharpless’ second term on the Polk County School Board.
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