Musleh and Schlichter will go to runoff in District 3

Jay Musleh, the president of the Ocala City Council, poses for a photo at Ocala City Hall in Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2020.

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Posted September 21, 2021 | By Matthew Cretul, matthew@ocalagazette.com

Jay Musleh and Ty Schlichter will head to a runoff in the Ocala City Council District 3 seat after neither earned a majority of votes during the Sept. 21 election.

The runoff will be held on Nov. 16.

According to unofficial totals posted to the Marion County Supervisor of Elections website Tuesday evening, Musleh, the incumbent, received 3,981 votes, or 43.22% of the total.

Schlichter, meanwhile, received 2,788 votes, or 30.26% of the total.

Rusty Juergens placed third, receiving 2,443 votes, or 26.52% of the total.

“It feels good,” Musleh said after receiving both the most mail-in votes as well as the most election day votes.

“We’ve still got a runoff…and I’ve got an opponent who garnered 30% of the vote and showed he can raise some money,” Musleh said of Schlichter.

According to Wesley Wilcox, the Marion County Supervisor of Elections, a candidate must get a majority of votes, which translates to at least 50% of the vote plus one extra vote in order to win an election.

Any election not resulting in a candidate receiving a majority of the vote requires a runoff between the two candidates who received the most votes.

Musleh knows the next two months will require his focus.

“I’ll work the next eight weeks as hard as I worked the last eight,” he said.

Musleh was first elected to the seat in 2012.

When announcing his bid for reelection, he said he wanted to see the construction of the Mary Sue Rich Center at Reed Place and the development of the former Pine Oaks golf course into a residential community.

Schlichter had three reasons for running. He wanted to develop a strong connection between the public and private sectors. Additionally, he believes the Ocala Police Department and Ocala Fire Rescue should have all the resources they need, and he would like to work on enhancing Ocala’s parks and other physical spaces.

Schlichter did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday evening.