Traylor wins Republican primary for county commission seat
Incumbent City Commissioner for Gulf County’s District 2 Ward McDaniel will not be returning to his seat after having been defeated in Tuesday’s Republican primary for the position.
In a close three-way race, McDaniel was narrowly beaten by Billy Traylor, who won by only eleven votes.
According to Gulf County Supervisor of Elections John Hanlon, although the race was close, vote totals are final.
“It was tight margins, but it is outside of recount territory,” said Hanlon.
Traylor received 186 of 505 total votes, or 36.83 percent. McDaniel received 175 votes, and Tom Semmes, a former communications electronic officer for the White House and the third candidate in the Republican primary, received 144 votes.
There are no runoff elections for the position, even if no candidate garners a majority vote. Therefore, Traylor’s name will be placed on the November ballot along with Democratic candidate Michael Riley, the only Democrat to run for the seat.
Traylor has been undergoing treatments for brain cancer while campaigning for the office. He said he is nearing the end of his treatments.
“Thank you to everyone for your vote and to my opponents for a respectful race,” Traylor wrote in a Facebook post. “I am doing well and have one more week of treatments! Look forward to seeing each of you soon. Remember to vote on November 8.”
Here’s how Gulf County voted in other primary races
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
County Commission Dist. 2
| Ward McDaneil | 175 votes | 34.65% |
| Tom Semmes | 144 votes | 28.51% |
| Billy Traylor | 186 votes | 36.83% |
Commissioner of Agriculture
| James Shaw | 390 votes | 26.05% |
| Wilton Simpson | 1,107 votes | 73.95% |
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Governor
| Charlie Crist | 367 votes | 51.9% |
| Cadence Daniel | 32 votes | 4.53% |
| Nicole “Nikki” Fried | 262 votes | 37.06% |
| Robert L. Williw | 46 votes | 6.51% |
Senator
| Ricardo De La Fuente | 20 votes | 2.9% |
| Val Demings | 484 votes | 70.25% |
| Brian Rush | 120 votes | 17.42% |
| William Sanchez | 65 votes | 9.43% |
Attorney General
| Aramia Ayala | 238 votes | 36.12% |
| Jim Lewis | 257 votes | 39% |
| Daniel Uhlfelder | 164 votes | 24.89% |
Commissioner of Agriculture
| Naomi Esther Blemur | 305 votes | 45.66% |
| J.R. Gaillot | 182 votes | 27.25% |
| Ryan Morale | 181 votes | 27.1% |
Meet the Editor
Wendy Weitzel, The Star’s digital editor, joined the news outlet in August 2021, as a reporter covering primarily Gulf County.
Prior to then, she interned for Oklahoma-based news wire service Gaylord News and for Oklahoma City-based online newspaper NonDoc.com during her four years at the University of Oklahoma, from which she graduated in May with degrees in online journalism and political science.
While at OU, Weitzel was selected as Carnegie-Knight News21 Investigative Fellow among 30 top journalism students from around the country. She also was senior editor managing a 12-person newsroom in coordination with Oklahoma Watch, a non-profit news organization in eastern Oklahoma.