Sarah Compton Wins District IV, Says Key West Is 'Too Small for Big Politics'

The final race to determine the composition of Key West's City Commission this election cycle concluded with Sarah Compton capturing an estimated 52.27% of the vote and defeating Wayne Garcia in the District IV runoff.

Supporters gathered at the newly opened Misfit bar just off Duval Street for an election-night watch party, where the largely liberal-leaning crowd soon turned its attention to the wave of Democratic victories unfolding across the country.

At least two sitting city commissioners stopped by to congratulate Compton. Other familiar faces included artists, local activists, and campaign volunteers.

Many expressed hope that recently-elected Mayor Sam Kaufman might now be able to more quickly tackle top issues with this crucial potential fourth ally on the dais. Compton and Kaufman did appear together at joint candidate events while on the campaign trail. Kaufman even spoke about the importance of Compton securing a win back at his own victory party this past summer.

Among the elated supporters at Compton's watch party was Fran Decker, who does not live in Compton's district but backed her early on. Decker said she had never seen a political candidate work as hard as Compton.

"She deserves this win."

Compton and her campaign manager, Beth Bates, caught up with me to discuss the night's victory, what worked, and what the commissioner-elect hopes to accomplish once she takes office.

Compton on the margin of her victory:

"I thought it was going to be much closer. Wayne is an excellent candidate, and I really thought that it was going to be closer than it was. I'm very excited that people trust me to be their representative. That's huge."

On running a civil campaign:

I'm so proud of the campaign that myself and my team ran, but also that Wayne and his team ran because we showed that you can run against each other without being enemies. And that is something that I feel like the whole country needs.

On Key West's relationship with national politics:

"I feel like we're too small for big politics. I really do. We're very isolated, and it's very different, and we're all living here at the end of the road, and the water's rising at the same speed for all of us."

On her policy priorities:

Of course, flooding. That is huge for District Four. We have to work on flooding infrastructure and grant funding for that is huge. Another big part is of course affordability. We need to make sure that we are a place where families can continue to exist here because at this point, a lot of families are leaving and they're going to other places on the mainland because they can't afford to be here or to continue to exist here. You can't get a promotion here and keep your housing, things like that. We really need to work on making sure that we are at least de-incentivizing vacation rentals and things like that that are taking up the homes that people need, that our residents need.

Campaign manager Beth Bates on the campaign's winning approach:

"We just kept running a clean campaign. [Sarah] kept putting out the information that the voters needed to have, and I think ultimately that's probably what pushed people over the edge to vote for her."

On encouraging greater participation in local politics:

"I'd just like to see more people get involved. Volunteering, being parts of campaigns, voting, running for an office. It really starts locally, and that's how you make big change nationally."