A Villager who has been fighting to keep his little white cross has won election to the Community Development District 8 Board of Supervisors which is suing him to force the removal of the cross.
Wayne Anderson of the Village of Tamarind Grove bested CDD 8 Supervisor Kevin “Mac” McGovern in Tuesday’s balloting.
“We rocked the world here in The Villages,” Anderson said after confirming his victory. “We had a cause. The cause was the cross.”
Anderson has been in The Villages for five years and has spent four of those years fighting to keep his little white cross.
He has never held political office and for most of his life, never believed he would put his name on a ballot.
Anderson and his wife, who are from Wisconsin, kept it simple on Election Night. They had dinner at Burger King before checking the vote totals.
In the end, Anderson collected 52.21 percent of the vote to McGovern’s 48.79 percent.
Anderson’s victory will make for an uncomfortable situation in CDD 8, where supervisors have huddled in closed session with their attorney to discuss legal strategy. Now as a board member, Anderson will be privy to those executive sessions, even though he is the party being sued.
McGovern had been appointed to the board in 2023.
CDD 7 chairman fends off challenger
The chairman of the Community Development District 7 Board of Supervisors has won re-election.
Jerry Vicenti of the Village of the Hemingway defeated Gilbert Windsor of the Village of Bonita. Vicenti got 55.08 percent of the vote to Windsor’s 44.92 percent of the votes cast.
“I really do this for the residents,” said Vicenti.
Vicenti was first elected to the CDD 7 board in a nail biter in 2012. He won that race by four votes. A recount was called but it showed that Vicenti had indeed prevailed by a four-vote margin.
CDD 1 supervisor prevails over persistent critic
Community Development District 1 Supervisor Judy Biebesheimer on Tuesday coasted to victory in her contest.
The longtime resident of the Village of Palo Alto had been challenged by Ken Mann, who has been persistent critic of the board, primarily concerned about traffic issues.
Biebesheimer easily defeated Mann. She got 67.39 percent of the vote to Mann’s 32.61 percent of the ballots cast.
