Three Ocala government positions are up for election this year

Kristen Dryer, Ire Bethea and Kent Guinn 

This year, the city of Ocala has three seats up for election: two city council seats and the mayor’s seat. 

Incumbent Ire Bethea has already filed to run again for the District 2 city council seat and has drawn no opponents. He reports contributing $1,000 to his campaign account. 

Incumbent Kristen Dryer has indicated to the Gazette that she intends to run again for District 3 city council seat but has not formally filed for it. 

Mayor Kent Guinn has not filed to run for his mayoral seat and told the Gazette he had “no interest” in answering questions about it. Ben Marciano is the only one who has filed for the mayoral seat and reports $103,700 raised for his campaign. 

The city elections are nonpartisan and open to qualified candidates registered under the district they live in, regardless of their party affiliation. The city elections will be using new district boundary maps, redrawn after the 2020 census. 

City Clerk Angel Jacobs oversees qualifying candidates, and interested candidates can reach out to her for more information about what that entails. Jacob’s email is ajacobs@ocalafl.org. 

Jacobs said that the qualifying period for candidates begins at noon, on July 10, and ends at noon, on July 14. 

The general election is scheduled for Sept. 19. If needed, the runoff election is set for Nov. 21.