The Santa Rosa County primary election results were surprising to many citizens tonight as the close race for Board of County Commissioner District 2 was won by half a percentage by incumbent Bob Cole. The mayoral race for City of Milton was a shocker for Guy Thompson, incumbent who’s served the city for 20 years and lost to two year City Councilman and Hobbs Middle School teacher Wesley Meiss by a 20 percent differential. Meiss said he has a lot to do and is excited about what’s ahead. Meiss said being a local history teacher, he loves history and it’s not lost on him that the historian made history tonight. Meiss found out he won while viewing the election results at the Santa Rosa County Supervisor of Elections office.
"I feel great. It's an honor to be elected," he said. With his fiancee, Lauren Basford, by his side, Meiss said, "My job is to pull the city back together." Meiss acknowledged his opponent, the 20 plus year former Mayor Thompson. However, he said after meeting with citizens on front porches and in living rooms, the message he received was one of change. Going forward, Meiss said he wants to focus on putting the city of Milton first through inclusion, collaboration, and transparency. "People will be seeing a lot of me," he said.
“Our own chapter is being written,” said Meiss. “100 years from now people will look back at this historic race. 7 out of 9 seats were up for election,” he said. He referred to his upcoming term as a ‘new era’ for Milton.
Bob Cole had a narrow victory for the race for District 2 County Commissioner seat against Jim Melvin. Melvin was the current commissioner for District 4 and gave up his seat to run for District 2 when the district boarders were restructured last year.
With the tough campaign behind him, Cole said he must give thanks first to the Lord God. “I put it all in his hands,” he said. He also said thank you to his constituents in the south end of the county who voted for him and believed in him.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Santa Rosa County victory for new Milton Mayor and District 2 County Commissioner