Dunedin Mayor Dave Eggers is winning against six other candidates in a crowded Republican primary for the District 6 County Commission race.
With all precincts reporting, Eggers commanded the race with 30 percent of the vote. His next closest challengers are former State Rep. Peter Nehr and retired dentist Johnny Johnson with 22 percent and 21 percent respectively.
Eggers could replace outgoing commissioner Susan Latvala who decided not to run for re-election.
If the numbers hold, he’ll face Democrat Mark Weinkrantz and two no party affiliation candidates: Marcus Harrison and Carl Folkman in the Nov. 4 General Election.
The North Pinellas district is highly conservative, making the Republican candidate a presumptive front-runner.
Eggers’ primary campaign focused on jobs.
“Unemployment might be at 6 percent, but there’s a lot of people that have taken themselves out of the market,” Eggers said. He suggested several ways to bring more high-wage jobs to the county including cutting red tape, working with other municipalities both in and out of the county and consider the needs of individual districts.
On Greenlight Pinellas, Eggers was an initial naysayer on the transit referendum. As a conservative, he feared putting a tax increase before voters. He initially suggested proposing a half penny sales tax increase instead of the full penny that will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot. However, he recognizes the need for changes to the county’s public transportation and will vote for the referendum even though he’s not sold on the viability of rail in Pinellas.
Also running in this race was Tim Keffalas, Wanda Kimsey, Macho Liberti and Jim Ronecker.
