Holmes joins District 4 race, backs balanced approach to mobility fees

Jeremy Holmes has turned Hernando County’s District 4 race into a three-way Republican fight, joining incumbent Jerry Campbell and repeat challenger Marvin Baynham in a contest that could effectively decide the seat before November.

Holmes, a lifelong Hernando County resident and third-generation local, entered the race as the county’s growth debate is already colliding with everyday frustrations over roads, development and how new construction is supposed to pay its share. Because no Democrats have filed, the Republican primary is likely to be the main election for the seat.

What makes Holmes’ entry notable is not just his name, but where he says he will focus. He is centering his campaign on mobility fees, a topic that goes straight to a question many District 4 voters and small businesses know well: how does Hernando keep pace when more homes, more rooftops and more traffic arrive faster than roads and other infrastructure can be widened?

Holmes said he supports mobility fees in principle because they help manage growth, but he argues the county needs a more practical and balanced way to structure and apply them as demands on roads and services keep rising. That puts him into the middle of a familiar local fight, one that stretches beyond campaign talk and into permit costs, traffic delays and whether growth is being handled in a way that protects existing neighborhoods and commercial corridors.

The stakes are larger than one district. Hernando County’s Board of County Commissioners has five members elected to four-year terms, and the board approves the county budget, adopts local ordinances and sets county policy. It also serves as the governing board for the Hernando County Water & Sewer District. District 4 was drawn after the 2020 census and was listed at 39,502 residents in the county’s post-redistricting breakdown.

Hernando County has been absorbing fast change. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the county’s population at 218,150 in 2024, up 12.2% from the 2020 census, and the county issued 2,505 building permits that year. The Board of County Commissioners adopted Impact Fee Notice Ordinance No. 2024-10 on July 30, 2024, and the new impact-fee rates took effect on Dec. 2, 2024 for most building permit applications received on or after that date.

County planning staff say growth is managed through the comprehensive plan, land-development regulations, rezoning, master plan review, special exception permits, conditional use permits and concurrency. That means the District 4 race is not just about who gets a seat, but who will shape the county’s response when traffic, water, roads and development pressure all land on the same agenda. The primary is set for Aug. 18, 2026, with early voting Aug. 8-15 and the general election on Nov. 3.