Brooksville forum gives Hernando voters direct look at candidates

Growth, traffic and school capacity framed a Brooksville forum where Hernando County candidates introduced themselves before voters on April 9 at the Frederick Kelly Elks Lodge on Martin Luther King Boulevard. Sponsored by Hernando Community Conversation, the event gave each hopeful a short opening before audience questions, with Republican County Commission candidate Silvia Dukes first to speak.

The forum did not produce a dramatic confrontation, but it did point to the issues that will shape the county’s next two election cycles: how to manage development without overloading roads, how to fund public safety and infrastructure, and how much of that burden should land on taxpayers. Those questions carry extra weight in a county that continues to grow quickly. Hernando County’s population was estimated at 221,701 on July 1, 2025, up 14.0% from the April 1, 2020 census base, while the Hernando County School District served 24,015 students across 32 schools in the 2024 school year.

Voters will decide two County Commission races and three School Board races this year. County Commission contests are partisan, while school board races are officially nonpartisan. Commissioners earn $94,266 a year and school board members earn $47,403. Hernando County had 134,747 active registered voters as of May 4, including 69,454 Republicans, 30,055 Democrats and 35,238 voters with no party affiliation or another affiliation, a mix that helps explain why in-person forums still matter in a county where many residents want to compare candidates side by side.

The primary is set for Aug. 18, with the deadline to register or change party affiliation on July 20 and mandatory early voting from Aug. 8 to Aug. 15. In District 2, incumbent Brian Hawkins faces Dukes, Maxwell Glenn and James Scavetta. Dukes had loaned her campaign $20,000 and was the only candidate in that race reporting fundraising in the April update. District 4 incumbent Jerry Campbell is facing firefighter Marvin Baynham.

The school board side of the ballot is just as crowded. In District 1, incumbent Mark Johnson is up against Anthony Arenz and retired Springstead High principal Dana Pearce. District 3 incumbent Shannon Rodriguez faces Daniel Dumont, Matthew Impemba and Luciano Vignali. District 5 incumbent Susan Duval was still considering whether to run again in an April update. Those races reach into classroom technology, staffing and facilities, including the district’s one-to-one Microsoft laptop program.

By the Nov. 3 general election, the candidates who can turn broad slogans into specific plans on growth, public safety, taxes and infrastructure will be the ones most likely to earn trust in a county where local government is already shaping daily life.