Langdon, Smith advance in North Port Commission race

NORTH PORT — Commissioner Barbara Langdon and newcomer Josh Smith came in first and second in Tuesday night’s primary election for a North Port City Commission seat.

The pair will now advance to the November general election since neither candidate earned 50%, plus one, of the votes cast.

Former Commissioner Cheryl Cook came in third and was eliminated from contention.

A total of 12,025 votes were cast in the nonpartisan race, according to the unofficial results on the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections website.

Langdon topped the vote, with 4,745 of them. Smith came second with 3,902, and Cook received 3,378.

District 2 was the only seat up for voters in the primaries as it had three candidates.

District 1 and District 3 are also up for grabs, but those races will not occur until November.

In the former, Mayor Alice White will take on Demetrius Petrow. For the latter, Andrew Sias will battle against David Duval, taking over for the current District 3 commissioner Debbie McDowell, who will be termed out.

But on Tuesday, it was Smith, Cook and Langdon who were on the ballots. And ultimately, Langdon and Smith prevailed coming first and second.

Neither, however, managed a total of 50% of the votes plus one vote which was required in the three-way race in order to avoid a runoff in November.

Langdon, White and other city commissioners and officials attended a get-together Tuesday night. Vice Mayor Phil Stokes and Commissioner Pete Emrich were also at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s along with Sias, who is vying for seat 3.

Emrich, who has been attending meetings online for months, said he was able to attend because the doctor said he now needs to strengthen his neck muscles after a motorcycle accident in March.

He said he plans on being back at in-person meetings very soon.

Langdon, Tuesday night, said she was thankful for all of the friendly faces that were there for her that day, as well as on election night.

“It is such a humbling experience to run,” Langdon said in a speech to her supporters. “It makes you realize you can’t do anything by yourself. I just have such wonderful friends and supporters. Thank you, everyone.”

Smith said he was glad to be in contention.

“It’s great to be in the top two,” he told The Daily Sun.

Now it is all about getting face-to-face with residents ahead of the general election, he said.

Smith believes it will be interesting to see who Cook’s 3,378 voters end up voting for, between him and Langdon this fall.

Cook did not reply to calls or emails for comment.

The general election is Nov. 5.