Palm Beach County re-elects mayor and two new faces to the commission

Palm Beach County will keep its mayor and welcome two new faces to the county commission.

Current Democratic mayor Maria Sachs led the way in the polls Tuesday night with 795 of 799 precincts reporting as of 9:30 p.m., defeating her Republican opponent John Fischer.

Sachs will continue representing District 5 on the commission, which encompasses West Boca and West Delray. She ran again to continue the projects she said she began during her first term.

Sachs said her priorities heading into another mayoral term will be affordable and workforce housing, smart development and alleviating the cost of living.

"I am feeling hopeful," she said Tuesday night before official results were in. "I never count the votes until they are all in, even though it looks very good."

Sachs said she watched the results roll in from her home with family and some close supporters.

"I feel very humbled by the numbers so far," she said.

Fischer, Sachs' opponent, is a retired county paramedic firefighter captain who'd said that if elected, he wanted to address cost-of-living issues, specifically by analyzing the county's budget.

Though the county commission will retain its current mayor, a new face defeated an incumbent in the District 3 commission race: Democrat Joel Flores led the way in the polls against Republican Mike Barnett.

Flores previously worked as the mayor of Greenacres from 2017 to 2024. He said he wanted to run for a county commissioner position because District 3, which includes cities such as Greenacres, Palm Springs and Lake Clark Shores, "has been overlooked for a long time."

Flores said his priorities going into the term would be to bring in more affordable and workforce housing, maintain public safety by working with law enforcement, regulate the county's infrastructure and advocate for Hispanic voices.

"I'm feeling overwhelmed. I feel like today the voters had the last say, and I feel blessed to have the support of the community," Flores said. "Palm Beach County as a whole spoke loudly for District 3. ... We're going to represent the people and I look forward to doing the work that needs to be done."

Barnett, Flores' opponent, had represented District 3 on the commission since January of 2023 after being appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In the third commission race for District 7, Democratic Bobby Powell Jr. defeated Republican Leonard Serratore on Tuesday night.

District 7 encompasses Riviera Beach, Mangonia Park, Lake Park and part of Palm Beach. Powell will replace Mack Bernard, who has served in the District 7 seat since 2016.

Powell could not be immediately reached on Tuesday night.

Powell was a state representative from 2012 to 2016 and has been a state senator for District 24 from 2016 to now. He said in an interview that he ran for the open District 7 commission seat because he thinks it "would be an excellent opportunity to help people on a local level," to "get directly involved with the people at the county level," and "have an impact on housing, an impact on homelessness, an impact on small business and economic development."

The Palm Beach County Commission presides over a total of seven districts and often makes decisions about affordable housing, development in the Agricultural Reserve and managing county infrastructure.