Port St. Lucie mayoral race moves to November runoff

Angela RozierPORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. —

The Port St. Lucie mayoral race is advancing to a November runoff after incumbent Shannon Martin and challenger Steven Giordano did not secure a majority in Tuesday’s primary election.

Giordano, a small business owner, received 35% of the vote during the primary. Martin, the current mayor, earned 47.9% after spending the day on the campaign trail.

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Left to right: Shannon Martin and Steven Giordano

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“Thank you to all the voters, thank you for everybody that came out. Congratulations to Eric; he did a great job. I’m very excited to do the next phase of campaigning, and thank you to each and every voter that came out because it’s really, it’s up to them,” Giordano said.

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Martin shared her reaction, saying, “I’m just super incredibly grateful to the residents of our city, Port St. Lucie, who participated in the election and came out and voted today. We’re going to continue on to November, and I’m grateful for that strong support.”

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The Port St. Lucie mayoral race will head to a November runoff after Shannon Martin and Steven Giordano failed to secure a majority in the primary election.

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The race has drawn attention due to a controversy involving campaign signs, which resulted in three Port St. Lucie police officers, including Martin’s husband, being placed on leave.

When asked if recent events influenced the election results, Martin said, “I think it probably had something to do with it, but I’m going to keep focused on the issues and not on other things that are not important to the campaign.”

“I think that if it was two weeks prior, I think we would have had better results,” Giordano said.

Both candidates are now preparing for the November runoff.

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