Cunningham wins Lake County School Board seat
Former school administrator Mollie Cunningham won a seat on the Lake County School Board on Tuesday night.
With100% of the vote counted, Cunningham defeated her opponent, Betsy Farner, by 57% to 43% in the race for District 4. The winner replaces incumbent Sandy Gamble, who lost in the August primary.
Cunningham of Tavares worked 36 years as a teacher and school administrator, retiring as principal of Carver Middle School in Leesburg. Farner of unincorporated Tavares taught 37 years, including at Tavares Elementary, Middle and High School. She retired in June.
In the race for County Commission District 5, Republican incumbent Josh Blake won reelection, defeating opponent, Gabriel Aaron Ruiz, who ran as a no-party affiliated candidate. Blake won 67 to 33%.
Blake of unincorporated was elected to the commission in 2016 after working as a legislative aide
in Florida House District 33. Ruiz lives in Fruitland Park and served 10 years in the Marine Corps before he was honorably discharged in 2012. He works for Lake County in traffic operations.
Kirby Smith, who faced only a write-in candidate, easily won his County Commission race for District 3 with 95% of the vote.
Smith, who defeated incumbent Wendy Breeden in the Republican primary in August, lives in Tavares and served as a member, vice mayor and mayor on the Tavares City Council from 2009 to 2019.
Lake also will have another new County Commissioner. Doug Shields of Clermont de
feated incumbent Commissioner Tim Sullivan in District 1 in the August primary. With no other candidates, Shields was elected.
There were other city and county races. Find the results on OrlandoSentinel.com or Page B2 of Wednesday’s newspaper.