Mayor Tim Murry beat Joe Fumasi 56% to 44% and Bill Petersen held Seat 5 with 60%, unofficial results show. Lake County voters also backed a 1-mill school tax.
Clermont voters returned both incumbents on the City Council on Tuesday. Mayor Tim Murry won Seat 3, the mayor’s seat, and Council Member Bill Petersen kept Seat 5.
The results are unofficial until they are certified. They come from the Lake County Supervisor of Elections results page, last updated at 11:14 p.m. Tuesday with all 10 city precincts reporting.
The Clermont results
| Race | Candidate | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seat 3 (mayor) | Tim Murry | 10,770 | 56.44% |
| Seat 3 (mayor) | Joe Fumasi | 8,313 | 43.56% |
| Seat 5 | William “Bill” Petersen | 10,968 | 59.63% |
| Seat 5 | Michael Gonzalez | 7,425 | 40.37% |
Murry won by 2,457 votes. Petersen won by 3,543.
Murry did better than Fumasi in each way of voting the county reports. On Election Day he had 3,428 votes to Fumasi’s 3,327, the closest of the three. He won early voting 5,017 to 3,779 and mail ballots 2,325 to 1,207.
Petersen led Gonzalez in all three as well:
- Election Day: 3,952 to 2,601
- Early voting: 4,909 to 3,541
- Mail ballots: 2,107 to 1,283
The city’s council page lists Murry as mayor in Seat 3 and Petersen in Seat 5. Alison Strange was the only candidate to qualify for Seat 1, so that seat was not on the ballot, the city clerk’s elections page says.
The mayor and council members serve two-year terms. Since a 2019 charter change, they are limited to four terms in a row, the clerk’s page says.
Lake County’s school tax passes
Lake County voters approved the school district’s 1-mill property tax by 119,943 votes to 53,225, or 69.26%. It is listed on the results page as School Board Resolution 2026-02.
The district’s referendum page says the money will go to:
- school resource deputies and officers, and school safety guardians
- school psychologists, social workers and mental health liaisons
- a nurse on every campus
- recruiting and keeping teachers
The tax replaces the 0.75-mill school safety tax voters approved in 2018 and renewed in 2022. That tax ends June 30, 2027. The new one starts July 1, 2027, and runs four years, the district says. An independent citizens’ oversight committee will watch the spending.
Other races on Clermont ballots
Countywide, with all 92 precincts reporting:
- County Commission, District 2: Sean M. Parks, 88.45%, against a write-in
- County Commission, District 4: Leslie Campione, 58.32%, beat Egor Emery, 41.39%
- School Board, District 1: Pat Kelley, 91.27%, against a write-in
Countywide turnout was 63.06%, with 178,949 ballots cast from 283,785 registered voters.
Nearby towns
In Minneola, about five miles north:
- Seat 1: Pam Serviss beat Monica Luna, 58.06% to 41.94%.
- Seat 3: Erick Hernandez had the most votes, 48.63%, ahead of Denise Calderon and Juan P. Camacho.
- Seat 5: Jennifer Morse had the most votes, 36.72%, ahead of Chase Hansen at 32.01% and Nathanael “Nate” Edmund at 31.27%.
In Groveland, about eight miles west, Keith “Chef” Keogh won the mayor’s race with 69.73% of the vote to Judith Fike’s 30.27%.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes at City Hall. The same five members sit on the council. Its next meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 10, when it takes up the tabled Oakley Seaver Recreation rezoning; see our story on the Oct. 27 meeting.
- The school tax takes effect July 1, 2027. The district says the owner of a home assessed at $250,000, minus homestead exemptions, would pay $4.69 more a month. Our property tax page explains how Lake County bills work.
- The count is not final. At 11 p.m. Tuesday the county listed 269 mail ballots still to be cured and 43 provisional ballots under review. Neither Clermont race was close enough for those to change the result.
- Check your own ballot’s races on the county results page, and see our voting page for the next election.
We do not endorse candidates.
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