Leventis wins runoff; new Area 8 representative on Sumter school board
Former senator's term will be 2 years as a trustee
Former state senator Phil Leventis is the new Sumter School District Board of Trustees’ Area 8 representative after winning Tuesday’s runoff election over Keith Schultz.
Leventis captured 55.7% of the total vote, compared to Schultz’s 44.3% in the runoff, which had more turnout than the special election two weeks ago on Feb. 11, according to unofficial results tabulated by Sumter County Voter Registration and Elections Office.
A total of 404 registered voters in Sumter School District’s Area 8 participated in the runoff election between early voting last week and Tuesday for a turnout rate of 5.23%. Turnout for the special election two weeks ago to include its early voting period was 4.72% and 366 votes. There are 7,731 registered voters in Area 8.
Leventis’ seat on the nine-member board will be a shortened, two-year term. He will serve the remaining two years of Sen. Jeff Zell’s term, who had to resign after he ran for and won the state Senate District 36 seat in the November 2024 general election.
School board seats are nonpartisan races in Sumter County.
Like the special election, the Wilson Hall precinct had the largest turnout rate at 10.5%. A total of 202 votes were cast from there, representing 50% of all runoff votes. Leventis won the precinct with 56.9% of the vote, fueling his overall win.
The next largest precinct as far as turnout was Green Swamp 2 with 6.03% registered voters going to the polls in the runoff.
Sumter County Voter Registration and Elections Director Pat Jefferson said she was pleased that turnout was higher in the runoff.
“That told me that the two candidates worked, knocked on doors and called residents,” she said. “They really ran good campaigns because they got the people out. I was happy to see that the turnout was greater.”
Turnout for a special election is always slim after a November general election, which usually has more than 20 races on the ballot in Sumter County, Jefferson added.
Votes will be certified on Thursday at 10 a.m. at the voter registration office, she said.