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    • Republicans sweep all four seats on Sarasota public hospital board
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    Republicans sweep all four seats on Sarasota public hospital board

    Harry Posted on

    Chief executive focuses on future after slate receives overwhelming support

    Sarasota County voters voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to fill Republicans’ seats in elections for the board that oversees the Sarasota Memorial public hospital system.

    voters Sarasota County Public Hospital retained two incumbent Republican members of the Board of Directors, Sharon Wetzler DePeters in At-Large Seat 1 and Board President Sarah Lodge in Central District Seat 1, and added two new Republicans, Kevin Cooper in At-Large Sofa 3 and Pam Beitlich in At-Large Sofa 3.

    All four candidates received more than 60 percent of the vote in the final unofficial count.

    “I think this speaks loudly to who this county wants to run the hospital in the future and what the focus should be on,” Lodge said, adding that he hopes politics will be off the board’s daily agenda. and can focus on bringing in good healthcare providers and promoting the interests of the community.

    Click here to see results from all Sarasota County local elections.

    Wetzler DePeters defeated Democrat Alan Sprintz; Cooper, Democrat Dr. He surpassed Dale Anderson; Beitlich, Democrat Dr. defeated George Davis; and Lodge won Democrat Vicki Lynn Nighswander. The winners each received approximately 61% of the vote.

    All write-in candidates filed at the call of Hospital Board Member Victor Rohe at the America First Southwest Florida Caucus meeting and received 1% of the vote in each race.

    Teresa Carafelli, who served from 2008 to 2012, was the last Democrat elected to the hospital board. The Democratic Party participated in the 2022 elections, where three “health freedom” candidates were elected to the board, exploiting dissatisfaction with the way Sarasota Memorial handled the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

    Their choices led the hospital board to authorize a study of Sarasota Memorial’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    That, combined with Republicans’ full “medical freedom” ticket, has strengthened the hospital board primary race But after four mainstream Republicans won easily, The November race was more traditional.

    The four candidates who won in both races were Dr. Thomas, a pulmonologist and a member of the board of directors of the Sarasota Memorial Health Foundation. It was supported by the Citizens Action Fund for Health Care, a political action committee chaired by Kirk G. Voelker. It was established in February 2023 to protect the hospital.

    Harry
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