{"id":375270,"date":"2026-08-19T04:04:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T04:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/375270\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T04:04:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T04:04:24","slug":"martin-giordano-head-to-november-runoff-for-psl-mayor-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/375270\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin, Giordano head to November runoff for PSL mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 The race for Port St. Lucie mayor is headed to a November runoff between incumbent Mayor Shannon Martin and challenger Steven Giordano<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Final results show Martin finished first with 18,726 votes, or 47.71%. Giordano received 13,821 votes, or 35.22%.<\/p>\n

Eric Strazzeri finished third with 6,700 votes, or 17.07%, eliminating him from the race.<\/p>\n

Neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote Tuesday, preventing either from winning the nonpartisan race outright.<\/p>\n

Martin and Giordano<\/a> received the most votes in the three-candidate race and will advance to November. <\/p>\n

The campaign has centered heavily on Port St. Lucie\u2019s rapid growth, traffic congestion, infrastructure and future development.<\/p>\n

Giordano has called for slowing development until the city\u2019s infrastructure can catch up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to slow down the growth and make sure that our infrastructure can handle what we already have,\u201d Giordano told CBS12 News before the election.<\/p>\n

See also: Florida voters choose nominees in crowded race to replace Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to continue on to November, and I\u2019m grateful for that strong support,\u201d Martin said. \u201cI really remain focused on my record and the results that we\u2019ve achieved in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin said she was not sure what to expect from Tuesday\u2019s results but was happy to advance.<\/p>\n

\u201cServing as mayor has been an honor, a privilege, honestly one of the greatest honors of my life,\u201d Martin said. \u201cI look forward to continuing to make the case of why I should remain mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giordano thanked his supporters and campaign team following the results.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really worked very hard for this,\u201d Giordano said. \u201cThank you to everybody that\u2019s been putting in a lot of hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giordano said the results show voters want a different direction at City Hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want change,\u201d Giordano said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to give them the change that they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

The election followed weeks of controversy surrounding two campaign-sign incidents<\/a> involving Giordano and Martin\u2019s husband, Port St. Lucie Police Lt. Aaron Martin.<\/p>\n

Aaron Martin and two other Port St. Lucie police officers were placed on paid administrative leave as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement took over the investigation.<\/p>\n

When asked whether the controversy affected the election results, Mayor Martin said she plans to remain focused on city issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to keep focused on the issues and not on other things that are not important to the campaign,\u201d Martin said. \u201cI\u2019m going to continue to keep focused on the issues that are important to residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giordano said he is \u201cvery excited for November\u201d and believes voters are ready for change.<\/p>\n

The candidates will now compete for the support of Strazzeri\u2019s voters. Giordano said he believes he and Strazzeri shared some common ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to represent them,\u201d Giordano said. \u201cI think he and I had a lot in common, so I\u2019d be interested to talk with anyone who wants to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin said she also plans to hold meet-and-greets and speak directly with residents about the future of Port St. Lucie.<\/p>\n

The two candidates have differed over some of the city\u2019s biggest issues, including traffic, growth and the planned minor-league soccer stadium.<\/p>\n

Martin has pointed to road projects already underway and supports the stadium as a potential anchor for new development on the city\u2019s east side.<\/p>\n

Giordano has called for a new traffic study and said he would try to stop the stadium if elected.<\/p>\n

Martin has campaigned on her experience and record leading the city. Giordano, a local business owner who grew up in Port St. Lucie, has presented himself as a political outsider who would bring a different leadership style to City Hall.<\/p>\n

Port St. Lucie voters will choose between Martin and Giordano in the November runoff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 The race for Port St. Lucie mayor is headed to a November…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-375270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375270","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=375270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}