DELTONA, Fla -- Anita Bradford romped to victory over fellow challenger Tom Stauffenberg with 64.1 percent of the votes to win the district 2 seat on the Deltona City Commission in Tuesday's general election.
"I am honored and so excited to be your next Commissioner," an ecstatic Bradford, 48, said after the votes came in showing her with 4,044 votes to 2,235 votes of her opponent, 49-year-old Tom Stauffenberg. "Thank you all for your support and faith in me. I will be your voice and serve you all proudly."
Bradford also thanked her husband, Wendell Bradford, himself a candidate in the earlier Volusia County Sheriff's race where he finished fourth among five candidates won outright in the Aug. 30 primary by Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood. "Wendell Bradford, I could not do this without you by my side," she said. "I love you."
"I am honored and so excited to be your next Commissioner," an ecstatic Anita Bradford, 48, shown here, said after the votes came in showing her with 4,044 votes to her opponent Tom Stauffenberg's 2,235 votes. "Thank you all for your support and faith in me. I will be your voice and serve you all proudly."
Bradford also thanked her husband, Wendell Bradford, himself a candidate in the earlier Volusia County Sheriff's race where he finished fourth among five candidates won outright in the Aug. 30 primary by Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood. "Wendell Bradford I could not do this without you by my side," she said. "I love you."
Headline Surfer co-endorsed Chief Deputy Eric Dietrich and Wendell Bradford, a retired Seminole County Sheriff's deputy, in the race for Volusia County Sheriff, and endorsed Anita Bradford for the district 2 Deltona City commission seat.
Anita Bradford speaks at a community fundraiser for her election in Deltona on Oct. 23. This was Anita Bradford's first campaign for elective office and she was a big winner. She takes the seat held by Dine Smith who held it since 2014 when she filled a vacancy left by then-Commissioner Webster Barnaby's decision to run for the at-large seat in the 2014 elections. Barnaby finished third among three candidates in the 2014 primary and out of the running for the county seat eventually won in the general election by incumbent Joyce Cusack over then-district 5 County Councilwoman Pat Northey, who was term limited in her own seat.
Smith, who had been appointed in a 3-2 vote of the city commission to fill the seat vacated by Barnaby who wanted to return to it, opted not to run in this election cycle to to try and hold onto the municipal seat.
Like winner Anita Bradford, this was defeated Tom Stauffenberg's first try at elective office.
District 2 covers the northwest section of Deltona.
In the zone 4 commission race, fellow newcomer Chris Alcantara defeated incumbent Nancy Scheicher.
What's Next:
Anita Bradford and Christopher Alcantara will be sworn into office 6 p.m. Monday at Deltona City Hall. They will then take their respective seats to begin their new four-year terms. Each will receive $9,390 annually in commissioner pay.