Collier Commissioner Chris Hall cruises to second term

Collier County Commissioner Chris Hall easily beat his Jeffersonian Party challenger in the Nov. 3 election, winning 76% of the vote and earning a second four-year term.

Election results posted by the Collier County Supervisor of Elections show Hall, 55, garnered 26,537 votes versus 8,376 for Cody Davis, 26, a political newcomer challenging him for the District 2 seat on the Board of County Commissioners. Countywide, 172,998 ballots were cast, representing 65.1% of registered voters, including Election Day, early and mail-in voting.

“This victory is not about me,” Hall said on his Facebook page. “It is about the shared values that define our community — fiscal responsibility, protecting our small-town character, defending constitutional rights, supporting law enforcement and ensuring that Collier County remains a place where families can thrive.

“Over the past four years we have worked hard to keep taxes low, improve transparency and make practical decisions that put taxpayers first,” he continued. “Your strong support tonight tells me you want that approach to continue.”

The North Naples district spans from Pine Ridge Road north to Bonita Beach Road, where it reaches the Lee County line.

Hall said the work ahead is important and that commissioners would continue to manage growth wisely, protect quality of life and “keep Collier County a shining example of responsible local government.”

Davis established the Jeffersonian Party of Florida, which gained ballot access in October 2024, making the commission race the county’s first for an official third-party candidate. He focused on protecting the county’s character from overdevelopment, ensuring more fairness in land-use decisions and restoring $29.6 million in funds taken from Conservation Collier, funds Hall maintained were never a loan and would not be repaid.

The decision to tap Conservation Collier funds to help cover a more than $60 million budget shortfall in October 2023 angered environmentalists and residents — and some commissioners. The next month, commissioners approved a resolution allowing them to take Conservation Collier funds for any use. Davis said he’d fight to represent the will of the voters, who approved the environmental land-acquisition program in three referendums since 2002.

In contested races for Naples Airport Authority board seats that, for the first time, will provide representation for unincorporated county residents, attorney John Goede edged out Rick Mellon for Seat 4, with 72,763 votes (54.4%) to Mellon’s 60,924.

Goede, an aircraft owner who uses Naples Airport, is an aviation attorney who represents Part 135 charter operators and handles aircraft purchases and sales. Mellon, a Naples Airport hangar tenant and commercial pilot for more than 25 years, is a former chair of the Naples Airport Noise Compatibility Committee and served in the U.S. Air Force from 1968 to 1971.

Veteran U.S. Navy pilot Keith West, who owns Rexair, a flight school at the airport, earned 47,134 votes, winning Seat 5 over four other challengers: Don Antonacchio garnered 27,981 votes; Jason K. Brooke, 24,072; David A. MacGregor Jr., 23,532; and Jason Schappert, 6,816.

The elections changed representation on the five-member board, whose members had been appointed by Naples City Council since the authority’s creation in 1969. In April, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 4005, amending the selection process to require countywide elections. The change came after years of complaints from county residents about jet noise, pollution and the impact of flight paths.

The board still includes three members from Naples city limits, who will be elected by city residents, but two are now elected by unincorporated Collier County residents. Board members serve four-year terms, with elections staggered to prevent seats becoming vacant at the same time.