The biggest losers last night weren’t even candidates in the Republican Primary. They were Rep. Joel Rudman, who saw the defeat of most of the candidates he endorsed, and Randy Williams, who is perhaps the filthiest campaign manager Santa Rosa County has ever seen. Williams lost both of the campaigns he was running.
As a result of choosing to align with community agitators, Rudman has burnt some vitally important bridges with local leaders and elected officials, who were disgusted by how he used his political action committee money.
Rudman gambled and lost big in multiple races, including but not limited to:
Ginger Pace, who retired from the Clerk’s Office this morning after losing to newly elected Clerk of Court Jason English by ~3,373 votes;
Jerry Couey, who lost to newly elected District 3 Commissioner Rhett Rowell by ~4,114 votes;
Angie Straughn, who lost to School Board District 2 incumbent Charles Elliott by ~4,502 votes.
Although Rudman also endorsed Bobby Burkett, who won the District 1 Commissioner primary, that happened because Burkett is a geniunely nice person who wasn’t actively using dirty campaign tactics. Hopefully Bobby will not end up being a puppet for Rudman and Couey – they certainly didn’t help him. It was Bobby’s own quality of character which distinguished him from them and ultimately carried him across the finish line.
As far as the wannabe campaign manager Randy Williams, he supposedly “ran” the campaigns of Ginger Pace and Angie Straughn. Well, all he did was run their campaigns into the ground! Randy’s vile and disgusting negative attacks on several people during the race set a new low. However, it’s obvious Santa Rosa voters were repulsed by his actions because both of his candidates ended up losing.
Failed campaign manager Randy Williams, pictured at a Rudman event with Couey, who has now lost 7 attempts for public office. Is that a record?
Rudman with Couey and Williams
