Gilchrist County finished No. 8 in the state of Florida for voter turnout by percentage for the 2026 primaries.
Gilchrist had a turnout of 37.9 percent. In our three local races, those voters voted in two new candidates and one incumbent.
Cody NesSmith defeated incumbent Bill Martin and challenger Daniel Fussell for County Commission District 2. NesSmith earned 49.4 percent of the vote while Martin earned 32.61 percent and Fussell got 17.98 percent.
Charlotte Kearney defeated incumbent Deen Lancaster for School Board District 5.
Kearney picked up 52.9 percent of the vote while Lancaster earned 47.1 percent.
The only contested incumbent to hold their seat was Roy Smith. Smith defeated Raymond Robbins in the School Board District 3 race with 59.61 percent of the vote to Robbins’s 40.39 percent.