Stuart Tettemer wins Panama City Beach mayor’s race, unseating incumbent Mark Sheldon

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – Stuart Tettemer won the Panama City Beach mayoral seat Tuesday night, defeating Mayor Mark Sheldon.

Both candidates are Republicans, but the Bay County GOP endorsed Tettemer.

According to unofficial results, Tettemer won with 57.61% of the vote to Sheldon’s 42.39%, a gap of around 600 votes.

Leading up to the election, Tettemer expressed concerns with Sheldon’s leadership and ability to put local Panama City Beach residents first.

One of Tettemer’s main policy platforms is to prioritize “locals” over tourists.

His prime ideas include improving parking and traffic management, promoting local parks, stop the dumping of stormwater into the Gulf of Mexico because of its worried impacts on beachgoers and costs of removal, and collaboration between the city and neighborhoods,

Statewide officials like Gov. Ron DeSantis and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis flocked to Sheldon’s support shortly before the election.

“Mayor Mark Sheldon has been a good partner with the State of Florida as we work to promote freedom, public safety and small business,” DeSantis said. “I support his re-election as Panama City Beach mayor and look forward to working with him in the future!”

Opposition to Tettemer’s candidacy partly focused on his history as a registered Democrat and donor to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.

The Bay County GOP responded to those claims, defending Tettemer and his record.

“The lies against Stuart have become standard,” the party said on social media. “Stuart is not a lifelong Democrat. He WAS a Democrat in college, but many good Republicans were. He left the party after getting firsthand exposure to how the left has destroyed the beauty of California.”

“He didn’t support Bernie Sanders over Trump, he voted for Trump in 2016,” the party added.