Eric Cooley Wins 3rd Term on Flagler Beach Commission in Subdued Election as Trump Takes Presidential Primary

Incumbent Flagler Beach City Commissioner Eric Cooley won his third three-year term today in a subdued non-partisan municipal election framed by the Republican presidential primary, which former president Donald Trump–the only candidate not to have suspended his or her campaign–unsurprisingly won.

Cooley defeated Bob Cunningham in the only municipal race on the ballot in Flagler County this year, in Cunningham’s second try in two years. He didn’t do so overwhelmingly–it was no Spradley landslide–but still commandingly: with all 1,474 ballots counted, he had a 56-44 win (820 to 654 votes).




Trump won Flagler County with 85 percent of the vote, with Nikki Haley second, at 11 percent and DeSantis at 3 percent. That contest was pre-determined, though it still drew nearly 12,000 voters, a turnout of 25 percent. Statewide, Trump took 81 percent to Haley’s 14 percent and DeSantis’s 4 percent.

The tale of the municipal election was summed up in a pair of tableaux late this afternoon as Election Day was winding down. The usual campaign klatch that forms along South Central Avenue just north of the City Hall polling station, where candidates in elections past have always lined up their tents and trucks and sign clusters, often mingling with each other to pass the time, was not possible this year. Construction of the future  Margaritaville Hotel closed down that section of South Central.

So Cunningham sat along State Road A1A, in the chill of the ocean breeze, waving to cars passing by, one sign planted in front of him, a couple of signs planted at intervals on the right of way. He was by himself.

A block and a half away at the corner of South 3rd and South Central, Cooley’s zone and sign forest was more like a mini-community of Flagler Beach’s recent history and politics. He wore a jacket and tie, as if her were chairing a commission meeting. Mayor Suzie Johnston, his companion, had turned up to wave signs and talk to potential voters, so had Linda Provencher, the former mayor. Commissioner Rick Belhumeur, a supporter, stopped by periodically. The only reason Commissioner Scott Spradley, whose law office was across the street, wasn’t with the group just then is because he’s been under the weather, and was taking a break: he was there much of the day. And here came Gail Wadsworth, the former Clerk of Court. She’d voted weeks ago when she got her mail ballot, but she was out to lend support and hang out. And in the middle of it all, Wednesday, the surfing dog and one of three that Johnston and Cooley own.




Not much nervousness was detected in the group, though the cold air may have been creating that illusion: candidates are always nervous on Election Day regardless. Cooley had decided to run for a third term late in the election season, after indicating that he, like Johnston, would be done this year.

“I’m excited to see a lot of these things through,” he said. “It’s like when you work on something for so long, being able to actually get it across the finish line, that’s going to be the big reward, actually seeing these big projects hit the completion. Because the beach will be done, the pier will be done, the hotel is not a city project, but that’ll be done. We’ll have A1A getting resurfaced, being redone, and the sea walls being redone, and just on and on. All those projects having the boxes checked: this will be the term of finished projects, is kind of how we look at it.”

Spradley, who prizes consensus and deliberations, said Cooley having been in the middle of the city’s projects for six years made his contribution vital for the next few years. “Even if the opponent was very capable, the commission would definitely lose some horsepower” if Cooley lost, Spradley said. The commission is also benefiting from an unusually well balanced mix of personalities, perspectives and age.

Cunningham over the last two years developed a persona as an amiable, interested and involved everyman as he contributed his ideas from the podium. He is no less approachable in person. But he inexplicably lost a lot of good will, among commissioners especially, when several weeks ago he accused them of deception and dishonesty, and of working behind closed doors, when the commission was moving toward amending its annexation ordinance. (See: “Veranda Bay Courtship: Flagler Beach Swiftly Changes Its Annexation Rule In Defensive Move Against Palm Coast.”) Commissioner Jane Mealy, the dean Flagler Beach government, was especially offended. Cunningham never walked back his comments.




Johnston decided not to run for a second term in order to spend more time with her teen-age daughter before she goes off to college: those years are dwindling.  She felt “a little melancholy” today, though the term isn’t over until the swearing in later this month, when Patty King will be sworn in as mayor. King drew no opponent.

“It’s hard to step back, mid-roll. It’s going to be interesting to be on the other side of the podium, given three minutes during public comments,” Johnston said.

“Oh, you’ll enjoy it,” Belhumeur told her. He spoke from experience. He was defeated after his second term, spent the year in and out of commission meetings, addressing commissioners from behind the podium, then was “re-commissioned” again last year, as he put it, alongside Spradley.

“It’s much nicer to sit at home and watch it on YouTube,” Provencher told her.

Put another way: Johnston has no plans to walk away.  And there was even a hint of regret, or at least a doubletake, about her decision to step down. “We had a very toxic commission,” Johnston said. “We had a city manager that was underperforming. We had a commission that had lots of grandstanding going on. It was personalities showing through, and once there was change on the dais and a change with the city manager, the entire city dynamics changed, and it became a lot easier to work with. Everyone’s voice was equally heard. There was no one trying to out-stand someone else.  And really Mike Abels, when he came in as interim city manager, that’s when it really started to change. Then when we hired Dale, the commission was back to being united.” Dale Martin is the city manager.

Johnston then added: “Had it been like that from the very beginning, I probably would have still run. But going through two years of toxic commission, meanwhile I’m giving time away from my daughter, where’s the win for me?”

She was asked if she was coming back. “Maybe,” she said. “I didn’t throw away my signs. I just got a get a girl through high school.”