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Incumbent Ocala Mayor Kent Guinn won his fifth straight term after handily defeating his opponent, Barbara Fitos, who was trying to make a political comeback after almost a decade out of public office.

Guinn took 59.1% of the vote in the citywide election defeating Fitos, a former Marion County commissioner by a vote of 3,094 to 2,141, according to unofficial results from the Marion County Supervisor of Elections Office.

While both races are nonpartisan contests, the mayor’s race took on a partisan feel after Fitos declared her run in response to specific actions from Guinn.

Guinn issued a proclamation recognizing Confederate Memorial Day in April and also spoke strongly about his disdain for Manal Fakhoury’s ties to groups reportedly sympathetic to recognized terrorist organizations. Fitos is a friend of Fakhoury, a peace activist, and felt the Confederate Memorial Day proclamation was insulting to the city’s black community.

Despite coming up short in the race, she felt she accomplished her goal. “It was a remarkable journey. The groundswell of support that was forthcoming was amazing. I’ve been involved in this community for 40 years, and I’m going to continue to stay involved. So we’re going to continue to let those voices be heard,” Fitos said as her and some of her supporters watched elections results at Stella’s Modern Pantry.

Not far away, Guinn sat in his office at city hall with his wife, Sandra, and son, Cameron, watching the results come across. They didn’t have to wait long before his re-election was assured after the polls closed at 7 p.m. and the first results came in at about 7:20 p.m

Guinn said he will continue to do the city’s business in his official role as overseer of the Ocala Police Department, but also as his unofficial role as the city’s public face.

“I want to continue the work we’re doing in the police department. One of the things I was able to do was develop a relationship between the State Attorney’s Office and the United State Attorney’s Office here. We’ve been putting some really, really bad guys away for a long time,” he said.