Ocala, Florida may be one of the fastest-growing areas in the state, but this year's city elections showed that the small town was not ready to change its leadership. In the city-wide elections, Mayor Kent Guinn (R) crushed challenger, Dr. Manal Fakhoury in his re-election bid.
Mayor Kent Guinn has been Ocala's Mayor since 2011 and has seen his fair share of hotly contested races over the years. However, this did not turn out to be the photo finish many voters anticipated it to be.
Guinn finished with 6,497 votes, carrying 65.93% of the total voters. Fakhoury finished with 3,358 votes or 34.07% of the vote. The Mayor released a statement following his easy victory, saying, "First off, I want to give credit to God. I'm very happy about the election."
Guinn who now enters his sixth term at 66-years-old thinks that this election serves to reflect Ocala resident's satisfaction with his administration's job these past 10 years.
Like a good sport, Fakhoury accepted the results of the election. She also informed the public that she does not regret running for Mayor, and noted that she "learned a lot."
Fakhoury wishes the Ocala residents well and indicated that her life of service will not end in the Central Florida community.
In other news, all three amendments on the ballot were approved and multiple races for City Council will go to a runoff election as no candidate amounted to over a 50% vote total. This runoff election will be held Tuesday, November 18, 2021. The deadline to register to vote will be October 18, 2021.
