2020 Municipal Election Results

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The March 17 municipal election in Palm Beach Gardens was a clear win for challenger Chelsea Reed with 52% of the vote over incumbent Councilman Matthew Lane. Many of the individual precincts were close though.

Lane carried BallenIsles, Frenchman’s Reserve and Creek, Old Palm, Osprey Isles / Carleton Oaks, Mirasol, Mirabella, Rustic Lakes and Bay Hill Estates. Reed carried the rest and was particularly strong in PGA National, Bent Tree / Garden Lakes / Shady Lakes, Evergrene and Westwood Gardens. (See Map)

The overall turnout of 22% was twice what a municipal election normally sees, but very light for a Presidential Preference Primary. In 2016, about 16,000 Gardens residents went to the polls for a 42% turnout. That year delivered 51% to David Levy in a three way race before a court overturned it in favor of Carl Woods.

The Group 1 and 5 seats were up for re-election this year, but no one came forward to challenge Rachelle Litt or Mark Marciano and so they won by default.

Municipal elections are non-partisan, meaning the candidates cannot campaign as a member of a political party. In reality though, when the candidates are registered in different parties, the word gets out on who is who, and at least some of the voting is driven by party affiliation, particularly among voters who don’t follow city business. Think about that as supporting candidates who “share their values.” Palm Beach Gardens goes farther than any other city in the county to discourage partisan activity, and actually has an ordinance that prevents a candidate from accepting money or assistance from a political party. (Code of Ordinances, Chapter 26-21 Unfair Acts)

A candidate’s affiliation can often be determined by their endorsements. Chelsea Reed carried endorsements from just about every Democrat office holder in the county, from Congresswoman Lois Frankel, down through state senators and representatives, county commissioners and Democrat officials from other cities. Matthew Lane’s endorsements from individuals were mostly from Republican officials, both current and former.

Since the Gardens has an R+7 electorate, you would think that Matt would have had an advantage, but he made it clear early on that he did not want to associate with his party, and many political activists who would have normally helped such a candidate sat on the sidelines.

Chelsea Reed on the other hand, had a big team of supporters doing sign waving at the library during early voting, seemingly led by former Mayor and Councilman Eric Jablin who was there most days.

Hovering over all of this was the strange turnout numbers county-wide that were influenced by Corona Virus fears, and the preponderance of Democrat voters given the choices in the Presidential primary.

In our opinion though, Chelsea Reed ran the better campaign, put in the work, got out the vote, and deserves the win she achieved.

Group 3

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Group 3
Strong Reed	Weak Reed	Very Close	Weak Lane	Strong Lane
Click the precinct on the map for vote totals.

	Neighborhoods	Voters	Cast	Turnout	Reed	Lane	Reed Margin
1186	Mirabella	1561	379	24.3	170	209	44.9
1188	Westwood Gardens	957	205	21.4	116	89	56.6
1189	Old Palm – North	107	22	20.6	7	15	31.8
1190	The Isles\ Paloma\ San Michelle\ Alton	4555	839	18.4	440	399	52.4
1192	Evergrene	1547	287	18.6	160	127	55.7
1194	Frenchmans	2197	560	25.5	229	331	40.9
1222	Avenir	13	4	30.8	2	2	50.0
1228	Osprey Isles\ Carleton Oaks	455	133	29.2	54	79	40.6
1238	Mirasol	1838	402	21.9	189	213	47.0
1240	PGA National	2576	603	23.4	337	266	55.9
1242	PGA National	2665	673	25.3	369	304	54.8
1244	PGA National	1612	344	21.3	188	156	54.7
1246	Bent Tree\ Garden Lks\ Shady Lks\ Gdns of Woodbury	2556	550	21.5	308	242	56.0
1247	Old Palm – South	265	46	17.4	15	31	32.6
1248	PGA-east.	1558	381	24.5	205	176	53.8
1250	Gardens Glen	64	17	26.6	2	15	11.8
1252	BallenIsles	2348	742	31.6	335	407	45.1
1254	Hunt Club	449	101	22.5	52	49	51.5
1260	Elm Avenue	1333	323	24.2	193	130	59.8
1262	RCA Center	2	0	0.0	0	0	50.0
1264	Northcorp	1	0	0.0	0	0	50.0
1266	Union Square\ Randolph Way	475	52	10.9	35	17	67.3
1268	Golfers Drive\ Lilac	317	37	11.7	25	12	67.6
1270	Lilac Park	11	1	9.1	1	0	100.0
1272	Holly Drive\ Riverside	1992	472	23.7	288	184	61.0
1274	Gardenia Dr\ Arbor Way	1625	344	21.2	175	169	50.9
1280	Lake Catherine	407	97	23.8	53	44	54.6
1284	Gardens Mall area	2344	405	17.3	226	179	55.8
1288	Oakway Circle	36	14	38.9	10	4	71.4
1290	The Oaks	2165	500	23.1	263	237	52.6
1292	Nature’s Way	91	24	26.4	17	7	70.8
1296	Prosperity Oaks\ Marina Gardens	795	89	11.2	57	32	64.0
1306	US1 and PGA	8	0	0.0	0	0	50.0
1310	Ellison Wilson	4	0	0.0	0	0	50.0
1324	Oaks East\ Sandelwood	1329	235	17.7	133	102	56.6
1326	Siena Oaks	589	148	25.1	91	57	61.5
1340	Landing Place	16	9	56.3	6	3	66.7
1352	Steeplechase\ Montecito	2242	405	18.1	245	160	60.5
1360	Sunset	946	253	26.7	127	126	50.2
1372	Sandtree	184	27	14.7	15	12	55.6
6062	Bay Hill Estates	877	228	26.0	87	141	38.2
6064	Rustic Lakes	127	29	22.8	13	16	44.8
TOTAL	Palm Beach Gardens	45239	9980	22.1	5238	4742	52.4