Blankenship, Krol, Schultz clinch Naples Council seats

Naples voters decided Feb. 3 that a former council member will return to Naples City Council joined by two political newcomers. 

In a field of eight candidates, former Naples City Councilman Ted Blankenship came out on top for one of the three open seats on the seven-member board, while newcomers John Krol and Scott Schultz landed the other two. 

“This election showed that Naples residents want thoughtful leadership, not politics as usual,” Schultz said. 

Out is council member Ray Christman, who had the fourth highest number of votes in the nonpartisan general election race. He was the only incumbent vying for a second term. Beth Petrunoff chose not to seek reelection, and Vice Mayor Terry Hutchison termed out, so he was not able to run again. 

Blankenship, Krol and Schultz will be sworn in Feb. 18 to join a City Council that also includes Mayor Teresa Heitmann and members Berne Barton, Bill Kramer and Linda Penniman. The other candidates rounding out the 2026 race included Dan Barone, Sally Petersen, John Langley and Penny Taylor. 

True to municipal elections held in a year without the presidential preference primary and mayoral race, the voter turnout was low — only 38%. Of the city’s 16,451 registered voters, only 6,262 cast ballots. More citizens voted in person on Election Day (3,981) than voted by mail (2,281). 

The unofficial tally by the Collier County Supervisor of Elections Office on Feb. 3 breaks down votes received and the percentage of the total for each candidate: Blankenship, 2,959 votes (16.9%); Krol, 2,381 votes (13.6%); Schultz, 2,364 votes (13.5%); Christman, 2,260 votes (12.9%); Barone, 2,234 votes (12.8%); Petersen, 2,081 votes (11.9%); John Langley, 1,637 votes (9.4%); and Taylor, 1,565 votes (9%). 

The city’s canvassing board, comprised of City Clerk Patricia Rambosk, Heitmann and city resident Christine Greider, will meet after 5 p.m. Feb. 5 to review vote-by-mail and provisional ballots and certify the election and its official results. 

Christman, 76, was the candidate with the most campaign contributions and expenditures, as of the last financial reporting date Jan. 23. He had nearly $66,000 in contributions and spent more than $46,000. On the other hand, Blankenship and Krol were victorious with the least amount of campaign contributions.  

Blankenship, 60, served on City Council from 2020 to 2024 but stepped down two years ago to run for mayor. He moved to Naples in 2011 to join the executive team of an education services company as its chief financial officer. Blankenship campaigned to preserve the city’s small-town charm. 

“We need to manage redevelopment within the city carefully within our codes, and we need to coordinate with Collier County to alleviate pressure from large projects just outside our city borders,” he said. 

Blankenship’s goals on Council include completing the inventory of needed projects and implement a comprehensive resiliency strategy that has a 20-year plan with financing sources; update the stormwater code passed during his first term; and normalize relations with the Airport Authority, the County Commission and the state legislative delegation.  

Krol, 64, a 22-year resident of Naples, earned an MBA in finance, is a former vice president of Goldman Sachs and is the president of three real-estate-related companies. He sees the city’s top issues as community preservation, storm resiliency, infrastructure and water quality of beaches and waterways. 

Krol is not surprised that he won a seat on Council. “I ran a different type of campaign. Some people didn’t think it was going to work putting residents first in a grassroots campaign. Not a monetary campaign, but a residents-based campaign worked for me,” he said. “Instead of killing a lot of trees with cards in the old way, I did a lot of social media, did a lot of ground game and participated in every debate, every meet-and-greet, I had my own forums, as well. I was out where the residents were.” 

Krol promotes government leadership with business sense and common sense. 

“We have a lot of infrastructure work. We have a lot of things we have to structure right. We have to be smart about it,” he said,  

Schultz, 68, a Naples resident for 21 years, serves on the city’s Planning Advisory Board and is the former chair of the Collier County Coastal Storm Risk Management Ad Hoc Advisory Committee. He prioritizes responsible growth inconsistent with the city's master plan and thinks it is important for the Naples 2045 Comprehensive Plan to be revised during season when most of the residents are in town.  The plan’s primary objectives are to revise city policies to promote climate resiliency, balance redevelopment with preservation of Naples’ unique character and manage growth and development pressures on the city’s resources and infrastructure. 

Schultz said the election results were very gratifying. “We expected to do well, and we did, so that’s all that matters,” he said. “We put in a lot of work.” 

Gulf Coast Agency CEO Matthew Boggan, who managed the campaign, said their whole strategy was digital. “For Scott’s campaign, we didn’t do a single mailing. We did all strictly digital,” Boggan said. 

While personally knocking on about 2,000 doors during the campaign, Schultz found that residents are tired of increased traffic and want to slow development. “They’re ready for change. The public wants change,” he said. “We’ve got to be prudent about how we go about doing this. The devil is always in the details.”