{"id":34618,"date":"2025-11-05T18:03:55","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T18:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/34618\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T18:03:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T18:03:55","slug":"sara-roberts-mccarley-will-become-lakelands-next-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/34618\/","title":{"rendered":"Sara Roberts McCarley will become Lakeland’s next mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Previous Previous coverage: Lakeland mayoral election<\/a> <\/p>\n

Four candidates are vying to be the next mayor of Lakeland, and they are generating a lot of attention because of how diverse the playing field is in this election. FOX 13\u2019s Regina Gonzalez reports.<\/p>\n

LAKELAND, Fla. – The votes are in, and Sara Roberts McCarley will take over as the City of Lakeland’s next mayor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lakeland<\/a> voters cast their ballots on Tuesday to elect a new mayor \u2014 the first leadership change the city has seen in six years. McCarley won the vote by just slightly over 50%, preventing the need for a runoff election.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She will succeed outgoing Mayor Bill Mutz, who\u2019s stepping down after two terms.<\/p>\n

Who is Sara Roberts McCarley? <\/p>\n

Sara is a current city commissioner and nonprofit leader, and says she wants to build on Lakeland\u2019s growth through teamwork and transparency.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s known for launching programs like the city\u2019s internship initiative and leading the legislative committee.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The race also featured three other candidates with distinct perspectives and priorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who were the other candidates?\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Kaitlin Kramer:<\/p>\n

Kaitlin is a 24-year-old University of South Florida graduate and restaurant manager<\/a>, who calls herself a “working-class candidate.”<\/p>\n

She says her service-industry experience taught her leadership and budgeting skills, and she campaigned on infrastructure improvements, flooding fixes, and affordable housing.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Cedrick Valrie:<\/p>\n

Cedrick is a Southeastern University professor who ran for office for the first time. He said he was inspired by Lakelanders struggling to afford housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He called for policies that promote “affordable everyday housing”\u00a0and attract higher-wage jobs to keep graduates local.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Kay Klymko:<\/p>\n

Kay is a retired family nurse practitioner with more than 40 years in health care. She says her campaign centered on “community well-being.”<\/p>\n

She supports projects such as a Senior Hub and a new Police Athletic League facility, saying city leadership must care for vulnerable residents, including seniors, youth, and the unhoused.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

CLICK HERE:>>> Follow FOX 13 on YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n

The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13’s Regina Gonzalez.<\/p>\n

Lakeland<\/a>Politics<\/a>Election<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Previous coverage: Lakeland mayoral election Four candidates are vying to be the next mayor of Lakeland, and they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2811,47,7154,115,99,7153,135,137,136,628],"class_list":{"0":"post-34618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-election","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-lakeland","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-polk","14":"tag-tampa","15":"tag-tampa-headlines","16":"tag-tampa-news","17":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}