The District 4 race for the Flagler School Board will go to a runoff in November, with candidates Christy Chong and Trevor Tucker advancing. Their opponent, Ron Long, placed third in Tuesday’s primary election and has thus been eliminated.
If one of the three candidates on the ballot Tuesday received over 50% of the vote, they would’ve won the election then and there. With that generally being an unlikelihood with three viable campaigns, a runoff in District 4 appeared likely from the outset.
District 4 was the only School Board race with the potential to move on to November. Both District 1 and District 2 had only two candidates: Cathy Moon and Jill Woolbright, and Will Furry and Rob Wood respectively.
The incumbent candidate, Christy Chong, is headed for a rematch against the former School Board member she defeated in 2022. Trevor Tucker served for three terms before being unseated by Chong four years ago. As of Tuesday, he feels confident he’ll reclaim his place on the Board. “If I didn’t think I cold get the seat back I would’ve never ran,” he said Tuesday.
Though school board races in Florida are nonpartisan, all three candidates are associated with conservative beliefs. Chong was even endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2022 election, and Long serves as the secretary of the Flagler County Republican Party. Tucker, a moderate conservative, generally refrains from partisan politics.
