Punta Gorda, Florida sample ballot 2026

John Fleming is a retired New York City police detective with 28 years on the force, a former police union president and a criminal justice instructor who chairs the Burnt Store Corridor Coalition, per his campaign site.

Kim Amontree serves on the Charlotte County School Board for District 2 and has lived in Charlotte County for about 34 years, per her campaign site and the Charlotte Sun. She has chaired the Punta Gorda YMCA board and the Florida School Boards Association's legislative subcommittee.

Michael Melton is a licensed Florida professional engineer and small business owner who founded Enterprise Engineering Service and has served on the Charlotte County Construction Industry Licensing Board for seven years, per his candidate statement filed with the Supervisor of Elections and his campaign site.

James Stewart was appointed circuit judge by Governor DeSantis in 2025 after 17 years as a prosecutor and deputy chief assistant state attorney, and holds law and undergraduate degrees from Northeastern and the University of Michigan, per Sparkers Soapbox.

Vera Bergermann is a family law attorney and founder of the Bergermann Law Firm with more than 45 years of legal practice, per Sparkers Soapbox.

Amanda Levy-Reis was appointed circuit judge by Governor DeSantis in 2025 after more than 20 years as a legal aid attorney, federal court staff attorney and traffic hearing officer, per Sparkers Soapbox.

Ryan Kuhl is a board certified civil trial attorney (since 2012) and Florida Supreme Court certified mediator with a University of Miami law degree, per Sparkers Soapbox.

Jeannine Polk is the sitting Punta Gorda vice mayor for District 1, elected in 2024, and a longtime resident whose family develops and operates commercial property in Charlotte County, per her campaign site.

George Williamson is a businessman with more than 40 years of executive experience who was CEO of the Tampa Port Authority and settled in Punta Gorda in 2020, per his campaign site.

Gary Butler spent 35 years with the Boy Scouts of America, retiring as chief operating officer, and later worked with the Military Heritage Museum; he moved to Punta Gorda full time in 2012, per the Venice Gondolier. No campaign website was found as of October 6, 2026.

Janis Denton is the sitting District 4 member of the Punta Gorda City Council, per the city's council page. Per her campaign site, she previously started a yacht brokerage, owned a tall-ship charter business and ran a boutique inn in Gig Harbor, Washington, and has served on the Charlotte County Tourism Development Committee and the Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center board.

Angie Nixon is a Florida state representative from Jacksonville, a union organizer and a mother, per the campaign site. She is executive director of Florida for All, a statewide coalition, and runs a bookstore and community hub in Jacksonville, per the campaign site. The campaign site says she expanded child care in the State House and led the fight against the state's new voting maps, per the campaign site.

Donalds is a member of Congress representing Florida's 19th District since January 2021, per the chamber's membership roster. Before Congress, he worked in the finance, insurance and banking industries in Southwest Florida and served in the Florida House of Representatives, where he chaired the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee and led the effort to enact Hope Scholarships for school choice, per the campaign site. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Florida State University in 2002, per the campaign site.

• Voted yes on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the 2025 tax-and-spending package, which passed the House 218-214 in July 2025. Supported
• Voted yes on the Laken Riley Act, expanding federal detention of certain immigrants charged with theft or violent crimes, which passed the House 263-156 in January 2025. Supported
• Voted yes on the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026, which passed the House 231-196 in September 2025. Supported
• Voted yes on the November 2025 funding agreement that ended the government shutdown, which passed the House 222-209 in November 2025. Supported
• Voted yes on the September 2025 stopgap funding bill, which passed the House 217-212 in September 2025. Supported
• Voted yes on the March 2025 full-year stopgap funding bill, which passed the House 217-213 in March 2025. Supported

David Jolly is the Democratic nominee for Florida governor, a former Republican congressman from the Tampa Bay area who left the GOP and joined the Democratic Party in 2025. His campaign emphasizes affordability, property insurance reform, public schools, and ending one-party control of Tallahassee.

Jose Javier Rodriguez is an attorney, a former Florida state representative and state senator from Miami, and a former U.S. assistant secretary of labor, per the campaign site. His campaign says he would focus the office on crime, costs and corruption and serve as an independent-minded enforcer of the law, per the campaign site.

Annette Taddeo is a Florida state senator, the first Latina Democrat elected to the Florida State Senate, first elected in a 2017 special election, per the campaign site.

Simpson is a fifth-generation Floridian and lifelong farmer who operates a large-scale egg-laying operation supplying Florida supermarkets, per the campaign site. He currently serves as Florida's Agriculture Commissioner and previously served in the state Senate, per the campaign site.

Joey Mendoza Atkins is the Democratic nominee for Florida agriculture commissioner. A lifelong Floridian, he earned a political science degree cum laude and a law degree, worked as a family-law attorney, and represented athletes as a Miami-area sports agent. His platform focuses on grocery costs, local farmers, and affordability.