![\"Port](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/f064fc6c-2df4-48ee-b1f3-d6965ebe0cbb.jpeg\" "\\"Port")
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Port St. Lucie Police Department<\/p>\n
WILL GREENLEE\/TCPALM<\/p>\n
USA TODAY Network, Reuters<\/p>\n
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement continues investigating August incidents involving political campaign signs in the Port St. Lucie mayoral race, a police spokesperson said Oct. 19.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, three police officers, including Lt. Aaron Martin, the husband of incumbent Mayor Shannon Martin, remain on paid administrative leave, according to information from Officer Brandon Martinez, police spokesperson.<\/p>\n
Port St. Lucie Police reported investigating two separate incidents involving political campaign signs prior to the August primary election in the city’s mayoral race, the agency stated Aug. 7.<\/p>\n
In both incidents, which occurred Aug. 5 and Aug. 7, respectively, Steven Giordano, who is running for mayor in a Nov. 3 runoff against incumbent Martin, was reported being present.<\/p>\n
In the Aug. 7 case, Aaron Martin was present and reportedly involved in a “verbal confrontation” with Giordano, according to police.<\/p>\n
In the Aug. 7 incident near Southwest Airoso Boulevard and Southwest Thornhill Drive, investigators found Aaron Martin and Giordano had been in a “verbal confrontation regarding the placement and movement of campaign signs at a nearby residence.”<\/p>\n
“Investigators also interviewed the homeowners and learned that both residents believed they had separately granted permission for campaign signs to be placed on the property,” police stated.<\/p>\n
In the Aug. 5 incident in the area of Southwest Airoso Boulevard and Southwest Thanksgiving Avenue, a police sergeant saw Giordano and a woman “near political campaign signs at a residence and initiated an investigation after one campaign sign was found on the ground while another campaign sign had been placed in the yard,” police stated.<\/p>\n
Surveillance video appears to show Giordano and the woman arrive, approach the signs “and interact with the signage.” The video appears to depict the woman removing a Mayor Shannon Martin sign before a different sign is placed in the yard.<\/p>\n
Aaron Martin, who has been with police since 2006, is an internal affairs lieutenant. He was on paid administrative leave effective Aug. 11, as were Lt. Jason Vega, also in internal affairs, and Detective Sgt. Joseph Alves, who is in the agency’s special investigations division, according to police and information from Officer Brittany McNally, police spokesperson. <\/p>\n
Ultimately, Chief Leo Niemczyk asked the FDLE to investigate the incidents “to ensure the investigation remained fair, impartial, and unbiased,” a release states.<\/p>\n
After the criminal investigation concludes, an internal police investigation will proceed.<\/p>\n
Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on X @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com.<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Campaign incidents in Florida city remain under investigation<\/p>\n
Reporting by Will Greenlee, Treasure Coast Newspapers \/ Treasure Coast Newspapers<\/p>\n
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
This story was originally published October 19, 2026 at 2:30 PM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Port St. Lucie Police Department WILL GREENLEE\/TCPALM USA TODAY Network, Reuters The Florida Department of Law Enforcement continues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-432342","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\/432342","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=432342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}