Incumbent St. Johns County Commissioner Christian Whitehurst is seeking re-election in District 1. He defeated two challengers in the Republican primary. While there are no Democratic candidates in the race, there is a write-in candidate who qualified, meaning the primary was only open to Republican voters.
News4Jax sent a questionnaire to each candidate asking about their background and their views on several issues. Scroll down to read the responses of those seeking your vote -- in their own words.
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Note: Responses are sorted alphabetically by party and are presented exactly as submitted, with no editing by News4Jax staff.
Christian Whitehurst
Occupation: Small business owner, jewelry store
Age: 42
Family: Wife Courtney, two daughters Olivia and Hannah
Education: High school
Political experience: Volunteer on various Republican campaigns between 2007 - 2016
Vice Chair of Republican Party 2019
What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?
1. Public Safety: All of the reasons people enjoy living in St. Johns County are only possible because our law enforcement and Fire and Rescue put their lives on the line daily. That is why I have voted to raise the Sheriff’s budget nearly $40 million since 2020. I have also voted to raise the starting pay of a new Sheriff Deputy from $42k to $55k per year. We have funded 5 new fire stations with Sheriff’s substations in areas of need all over the county. The best part is that we are paying for them primarily with developer impact fees without using any of our residents’ property tax dollars.
2. Transportation Infrastructure: Congestion on our roads disturbs our quality of life. That is why I worked so hard with our staff, other Commissioners, and our leaders in Tallahassee and Washington to bring funding to St. Johns County to bring relief to our roadways. I am pleased to report that we currently have about $600 million in transportation infrastructure projects under construction or design in the areas where we need capacity improvements the most. It is also worth noting that St. Johns County will benefit from over $1 billion in transportation infrastructure by the end of this decade. If elected to another term, I will continue working overtime to improve our roads.
3. Quality of Life Enhancements: Parks, Beaches, and Green Space are all amenities that make our county a great place to live. During my first 100 days in office, I voted to reactivate the LAMP program. We can not effectively manage growth without having a local conservation program. I have been working with leaders and stakeholders all over our State to bring supplemental funding to our local program so that we can continue protecting our precious ecosystems and waterways. We have 42 miles of beautiful coastline that is a magnet for recreational activities and a key component in keeping our environment and communities pristine. I am pleased to have supported efforts to reach out to our State and Federal Governments to bring funding to keep our beaches beautiful. Having graduated from high school in St. Johns County, I know how important it is to have adequate capacity at our ball fields to support our recreation leagues. Sadly, these facilities have been on the back burner for far too long. I am thrilled to be able to announce that using developer, tourism, and state dollars, we will build four brand new regional parks that are scheduled to open by the end of 2026. It was important to me to catch us up and do so in a fiscally responsible way. We have found such a solution with the help of Joy Andrews and the County staff.
How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?
I have earned three separate certifications from the Institute of County Government through the Florida Association of Counties. These certifications, focused on the details of County Government, have allowed me to be effective in finding solutions for St. Johns County. During my first term, we received record funding from our Legislative delegation and our Congressional delegation. These dollars come as a result of hard work by myself, our staff, and other Commissioners who made the effort to advocate for dollars to meet the needs of our residents. Taking the time to learn and understand Florida’s private property rights laws has allowed me to be able to say no to developments without getting our County into legal trouble. Too many candidates are making campaign promises that would violate Florida’s private property rights laws, specifically what is outlined in Brevard vs. Snyder. If re-elected, my education and experience will allow us to build on the success that we have had during the last 4 years bringing public safety, infrastructure and quality of life projects to St. Johns County.
What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?
The fundamental change in our approach to managing growth. I am proud of my record of voting no on many projects that were in areas that either were not compatible or didn’t have the necessary infrastructure to support them. If we did vote yes on a project of any significance then we required the developer to pay for the road widening project BEFORE the homes they were building were occupied by residents. Funding the building of four new regional parks and four new fire stations with sheriff’s substations without using any of our resident’s property tax dollars is a major accomplishment that most of our commissioners and our staff played a big part in making possible. Bringing in record dollars from Tallahassee and Washington has allowed us to continue to keep taxes in St. Johns County amongst the lowest in the state of Florida.
Campaign website: electwhitehurst.com
Campaign social media: Facebook
Write-in candidate Taylor Ohntrup also qualified for the general election. A line for a write-in candidate will be on the November ballot, however, no name will appear there.