Florida › Manatee County › Manatee County Commissioner District 1
2 candidates are tracked for Manatee County Commissioner District 1 on the November 3, 2026 ballot: Elizabeth Arnold and Sari Lindroos-Valimaki. Candidate information follows official Manatee County election filings; verify with the official election office linked below.
August 18 primary result: Elizabeth Arnold won the six-way Republican primary for the open seat with 28 percent, per the Supervisor of Elections' unofficial results, and advances to the November 3 ballot, where a qualified write-in line also prints.
Elizabeth Arnold
Republican
Per Suncoast Searchlight, Arnold is a retired executive from Florida Power Corp., where she handled cash management and efficiency improvements. Her campaign site says she spent over two decades with Florida Power Corporation, rising to Director managing major financial operations, after earlier efficiency-review work for the City of St. Petersburg.
2026 priorities
- Conservation: 'Protect What We Have' by preserving Old Florida rural lands and fighting overdevelopment in sensitive areas, per votelizarnold.com
- Infrastructure first: 'We cannot keep approving development without the roads, drainage, and emergency services to support it,' per votelizarnold.com
- Public safety: improve EMS response times and better pay for EMS personnel, per votelizarnold.com
Source: candidate campaign site, roster verified 2026-08-19.
Reported fundraising: $20,148 (county campaign-finance filings).
Campaign site →
Sari Lindroos-Valimaki
Democratic
Per Suncoast Searchlight, Lindroos-Valimaki works in cybersecurity and previously ran for the county's at-large District 7 commission seat in 2024.
2026 priorities
- Reassess the county's long-term plan, per Suncoast Searchlight
- Prevent development-related loss of natural land, per Suncoast Searchlight
- Restore integrity in governance: 'We need integrity back in government, and decency,' per Suncoast Searchlight
Source: candidate campaign site, roster verified 2026-08-19.
Reported fundraising: $11,406 (county campaign-finance filings).
Campaign site →
