Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/336863
The winner will face two write-in candidates (Steve McAllister and Pete Theisen) plus Alexandra Coe (no party affiliation) in the general election on Nov. 4. In District Four, Ramirez and Alan Maio will face off in the August primary; the winner will join Democrat Porter on the November ballot, along with John Minder (no party affiliation). While a candidate must live within the district he or she wishes to represent, all registered voters in Sarasota County can vote in all the races. Of the nine candidates, seven participated in the forum. Alan Maio was not present, while Coe was in the audience but was not recog- nized by the moderator or invited to join the other seven on the panel. Maio's absence was understandable, because the CONA meetings are Ramirez's home turf. The venue for the forum was the Sarasota Garden Club on Boulevard of the Arts in downtown Sarasota. It was an appropriate site for the debut of the candidates, six of them newcomers to the rough-and-tumble of electoral politics. Theisen has run repeat- edly for the Sarasota City Commission, winning about 7 percent of the vote in 2011. Caragiulo and Snyder both won election to the City Commission in 2011. Caragiulo beat The Sarasota Garden Club is a wonderful venue for fledgling politicians to test their wings in the winds of public approval. Photo by Stan Zimmerman Sarasota News Leader June 27, 2014 Page 27