It was an enthusiastic but slightly nervous room at the victory watch party for Jennifer Pippin and Dr. Jacqueline Rosario. As is custom by the Supervisor of Elections, within a few minutes after the polls close, the office releases the mail-in ballot and early vote totals. It was surprising for Pippin, who found herself in the lead with 40% of the vote and winning both categories easily.
“I was floored. I was humbled. I was surrounded in a room full of family, friends, and people who have helped me since I announced on March 9th for my campaign. And I was surprised that I won both early voting and the mail-in ballots,” said Pippin. She added to her lead when the Election Day vote totals were reported, taking 41.6% of the vote and cruising to a 7-point victory over Bob McPartlan, who captured 34.5%. Brooks Robinson finished with 23.9%.
While Pippin was winning 27 of 35 precincts, Dr. Rosario was down a half point before Election Day votes were released. Yet, for observers, despite challenger Tom Lange’s slight lead by 125 votes, the inevitability of Election Day belongs to conservative Republicans. Rosario finished strong with a 4-point swing, taking 51.8% and ultimately winning 24 of 35 precincts.
“I thought it was a nail-biter at first, but I feel really good,” she said, adding, “It tells me that [Indian River voters] know what they want and who they want in this seat. It tells me that conservative values matter in Indian River County. And there’s no amount of money that can replace that kind of value.”
Aligned against Rosario was over $100,000 between a PAC and Lange’s campaign funding. The 3 school board members, David Dyer, Teri Barenborg and Peggy Jones, along with school board elect Ryan Matthews, publicly endorsed Lange. The divisive front didn’t faze Rosario. She said, “I’ve been working with these people all along, so it doesn’t change the dynamics. They didn’t like me before. They don’t like me now. They’re not going to like me in the future. So it doesn’t change anything except that they made it public.”
Dr. Jones and Barenborg went to other local media during the campaign to complain about Dr. Rosario’s divisiveness by starting culture wars. Dr. Rosario responded, “I’d like to see the receipts of your claims that I caused culture wars,” she said, adding, “They don’t like my values; they don’t like the fact that I’m opinionated and that I’m not a rubber stamper. I’m not going to go along just to get along. I’m going to say the truth. I will do the homework.”
Pippin was also the candidate in both races for County Commission who bucked the rubber-stamp convention. The government wonks are terrified of Amendment 3. She came out in full support for the property tax referendum. Polls show it has 74% statewide approval. She said, “I think that it definitely set me apart from everybody who is running. I believe that voters saw that I was the voice of the people.”
She continued, “This ballot referendum is something that needs to happen. It needs to happen for families. It needs to happen for veterans, for single-parent families. You know, families are struggling. People are struggling. And, I think that voters saw that, even though I was the only one standing there standing alone, I was out for looking out for the people.”
Dr. Rosario is used to the negative campaign attacks. However, the request that was made to voters by 3 sitting board members to fire her is unprecedented. In 3 campaigns, she had her financial records strewn across media, her private emails made public by the school system, and TC Palm’s Larry Reisman making false claims about her mortgage too.
As an advocate for parental rights, Pippin is used to mud being thrown at her, and she was often notorious for responding directly. Yet, campaigns are different when people are considering who they want to elect. After the mailer portraying her as a woman with a dark financial history and unable to lead, she learned something about Indian River County residents. She received emails, texts, and phone calls of renewed support from committed new voters and even some who switched to her candidacy.
“Indian River County does not like negative campaigning. I didn’t know that as a first-time candidate. Outreach came from people who were praying for me, who were going to the polls just to vote for me because of the mailer,” she said. She immediately put a heartfelt response out on her Facebook campaign pages and website about her bankruptcy when she was 25 years old.
Pippin surmised, “They believed the TC Palm hit piece that came out against me. They saw that mailer but then saw my response. It completely changed the direction of my campaign.”
While Pippin was getting cross-examined as a first-time candidate, Dr. Rosario found it best not to engage in the fray. Early on she told Russ Lemmon at Lemmon Lines she would not be doing any interviews with his publication. Her decision stemmed from a special election issue Lemmon published during the 2022 cycle where he falsely accused Rosario’s campaign of racism.
Pippin has had her tussles with the media, but this primary season she put her foot down as well. After Reisman wrote his mistake-ridden and second-hand sourced column on July 19, she informed the publication they were not allowed to cover the victory watch party.
“Three times in a row!” exclaimed Dr. Rosario about her victory on Tuesday. “It’s humbling and honoring and fulfilling,” she shared, adding, “I don’t know how to express the gratitude in my heart for the people who have re-elected me. Really, it comes back to the values and the morals that are the heartbeat of Indian River County.”
Rosario wants to see the K-8 classical school fully established. She hopes the original plan, which called for a K-12 classical school, can be reinvigorated before she terms out in 2030. Yet, today Indian River learned that Dr. Moore is leaving after this year. A big decision is on the horizon.
Her most important initiatives are to improve upon the recognized high performance of the school district. At the beginning of the campaign she told the Sunshine Journal, “I want to continue to push the envelope even more with closing the achievement gap, focusing on project-based learning, differentiated instruction, and creating engaging learning experiences for all students.”
As an advocate, Pippin was very used to pushing the envelope with Dr. Rosario to establish practical policy centered around parental rights. She commented, “So, for me, advocacy work is when you don’t get paid, but you do something because it has to be done.”
Yet, she feels that if she is elected in November, her role will be different from her advocacy work. It will be the same in one aspect. Like Pippin listened to parents and presented their issues before government, she has been doing much the same on the campaign trail. She said, “There’s so much that I’ve learned on the campaign trail that may not be something that was on my radar.”
She scheduled a day off for her husband’s birthday celebration on Wednesday. “Starting Thursday, it’s game on to the general election because this is just the first part of the journey,” she said, adding, “I need to connect with more voters. I need to have harder conversations. So when I am in that seat in November, I can hit the ground running.”
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