SPRING HILL – Kathryn Birren will be representing District 2 on the Hernando County Commission.
Birren ended the night ahead with 10,329 votes (30.95%) over Maxwell J. Glenn with 8,664 votes (25.96%) and Diane Greenwell with 5,103 votes (15.29%).
The results are not official yet, with 60 mail-in ballots uncounted on Wednesday morning.
State Rep. Jeff Holcomb is returning to the Hernando County Commission District 4.
In the Republican primary, the Navy veteran got 13,139 votes (59.07%) to defeat Marvin Baynham, who got 9,103 votes (40.93%).
Baynham, who had the support of County Commissioner Steve Champion, was the subject of negative TV ads on broadcast and YouTube, painting the firefighter as a tool of developers and a RINO (Republican in Name Only).
Holcomb, a former county commissioner, won a seat in the state House in 2022, representing District 53, and was re-elected in 2024. He stepped down for the 2026 cycle.
Former County Commissioner Brian Hawkins stepped down from his District 2 seat to run for state House in District 53, and on Tuesday night he won the primary with 10,791 votes (56.88%) over John Carroll, who got 8,180 votes (43.12%). He will face Democrat Tony Claude and Constitution Party candidate Christopher Anger in November.
School Board surprise
In the race for Hernando County School Board, District 1, Dana Lynn Pearce (18,061 votes, 52.22%) defeated incumbent Mark Johnson (16,526 votes, 47.78%).
In District 3, Shannon Rodriguez (22,797 votes, 65.31%) easily defeated Luciano Vignali (12,107 votes, 34.69%) to keep her seat on the panel.
The District 5 race will go to November with Kara Champion (13,717 votes, 38.96%) and incumbent Susan Duval (13,714 votes, 38.95%) so close, with Amanda Cunningham-Rud (7,781 votes, 22.1%) in third place.
The results from the Hernando County Supervisor of Elections are unofficial.
Of 136,139 registered voters, 37,802 ballots were cast for voter turnout of 27.77%
See the complete results for the county at https://enr.electionsfl.org/HER/4046/Summary/.
Overheard
Commission Chairman Jerry Campbell stopped in to watch the canvassing and check results from other counties.
A woman arrived with her son and smiled broadly as he dropped his mail ballot in the box. “His first vote,” she said as they left.
At one polling place, voters registered with no party affiliation were unhappy to receive a very short ballot. Under Florida’s closed primary rules, they could vote only in the County Commission District 2 race, for circuit judge in the 5th Judicial Circuit and in the three School Board races.
This story will be updated.