Republican Vince Nowicki sets eyes on Pinellas commission seat: ‘New generation of leadership’

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. – Republican Vince Nowicki is calling for a “new generation of leadership” as he sets his eyes on the Pinellas Board of County Commissioners District 3 seat.

The 31-year-old is running in the 2024 election against Democrat Charlie Justice, who currently holds the position.

“One of the reasons why I decided to run is my career Democrat opponent, when he first ran, he talked about how our beaches were overcrowded and our roads were too congested,” he said.

“If you look at from when he took office to today, we have no beaches, because they’ve eroded away and haven’t been renourished,” he said. “We have more development, more traffic, more people in Pinellas County than ever before.”

Nowicki noted the “two main things he [Justice] set out to avoid,” saying he’s “totally failed” and “really lacked the vision and the energy to anticipate where we are going to be as a county today.”

Over the last 20 years while Justice held public office, Nowicki said Justice has not taken action to prepare the city’s beaches, water, trash, sewage and infrastructure.

Justice, in response, told Florida’s Voice that during his time on the commission, they have “protected our beaches and estuary, invested in quality infrastructure and made public safety a priority – leading to a 59% decline in serious crime – all while at the same time balancing the budget and lowering the milage rate.”

Nowicki believes they are “in an inflection point in the county to where we now are increasing our taxes, increasing our utility rates, to do all these things that they should have done a decade ago.”

Nowicki, who describes himself as a conservative, is a realtor who started his own real estate business in 2018 and has actively engaged in both state and local politics. One of his top priorities is beach re-nourishment, which he said is one of the largest economic drivers for the county.

“We have beautiful, best beaches in the country, win tons of awards, but yet our beaches have actually been closed now, because they’ve been eroded away because the county won’t execute and use our tax dollars to renourish the beaches,” Nowicki said.

Nowicki said another issue is tax increases from the commission.

“Even though we have a million people and our population has expanded, and we have more people that can shoulder the burden of taxes, our county commission feels the need to increase what the individual has to pay, even though we have more people than ever paying into the system,” Nowicki said.

Nowicki believes there are two things the county has lacked: a “vision” of where the county is going and “the actual energy, or fortitude to accomplish the things that we need to accomplish.”

If elected, Nowicki said he will be the “most transparent, authentic and accessible politician that’s ever going to be.”

“I don’t even consider myself a politician, I consider myself a vessel for the individual to use government to improve their lives,” Nowicki said.

Nowicki said leaders have to make tough decisions while Americans are facing inflation along with interest rates going up.

“And so government, we just can’t be, well, it’s other people’s money. So we don’t care, we can just keep on spending. No, that’s not what conservatives stand for. That’s not what I stand for,” Nowicki said.

He believes government “shouldn’t be excluded” from these tough decisions and Republicans or Democrats “shouldn’t think just because it’s not their personally money that they’re signing, that they’re excluded from making those tough decisions.”

Nowicki said people that are making decisions are 70 or 80 years old so it is “important” for the younger generation to “take a seat at the table with everybody else, not, you know, make all the decisions, but just have a voice so that we can share our concerns.”

“People under 35, make up probably close to 30 to 40% of the county’s population. But we don’t even have a seat at the table to what’s important to us,” he said.

Nowicki said the county is skewing younger and it’s “time for my generation just to have a seat at the table and to represent our values.”

“It’s time for a new generation of leadership, new blood to come in, and to spur government into action to accomplish these things for the residents of the taxpayers,” Nowicki said.

Nowicki has received endorsements from Redington Beach Mayor David Will, Belleair Beach Mayor Dave Gattis, Madeira Beach Mayor Jim Rostek, Former Madeira Beach Mayor John Hendricks, Treasure Island City Commissioner John Doctor, Treasure Island City Councilmember Christine Brown, Gulfport City Councilmember Ian O’Hara, Gulfport City Commissioner Rich Cariello, State Rep. Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, and former Rep. Larry Ahern, R-Seminole.

He has also been endorsed by Former St. Petersburg Mayoral Candidate Deveron Gibbons, Former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, Former St. Petersburg City Councilmember Robert Blackmon, School Board Member Stephanie Meyer, Former School Board Member and St. Petersburg City Councilmember Bill Dudley, Largo City Commissioner Curtis Holmes, and Pinellas County School Board Member Dawn Peters.