Carolyn DiPaoloAll voters in District 2 will choose a new commissioner on Aug. 18.
A School Board member and a county employee are competing for an open seat on the Palm Beach County Commission.
Haverhill Town Council member Teresa Johnson and School Board member Erica Whitfield, both Democrats, are running in the Aug. 18 primary to replace Commissioner Gregg Weiss, who is term-limited. The district reaches from Northlake Boulevard to Boynton Beach Boulevard and covers parts of West Palm Beach, Lake Worth Beach, Haverhill, Palm Springs and Greenacres.
Because they are the only candidates, the winner will assume the seat and all voters in the district can vote in the primary.
Editor’s note: Whitfield won the election with 62.7% of the 22,890 votes cast. Johnson drew 37.3%.
The office pays $127,320 annually, and commissioners are elected for up to two four-year terms. Johnson and Whitfield are running on their expertise in government leadership and years of community service.
Johnson is an organizational development manager at PalmTran. Being a county employee is an important distinction, she told Stet News.
“Folks are working for the county but are living in cars,” she said. “I can bring that perspective to the dais.”
Whitfield’s background is in public health. She was a wellness coordinator for the School District before she joined the School Board.
“I want people to understand that I’m in it for the right reasons, and that I want to make a positive difference,” Whitfield said.
Johnson, deep county ties
Johnson, 60, of Haverhill, is a lifelong Palm Beach County resident. She is a graduate of North Shore High School, now Dreyfoos School of the Arts. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Northwood University, a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Palm Beach Atlantic University and a doctorate in public policy from Walden University.
She worked as executive director of the Northwest Community Consortium, a nonprofit dedicated to improving life in the Historic Northwest neighborhoods in West Palm Beach from 2014 to 2022.
Johnson has served on the Palm Beach County Re-Entry Task Force, the Citizens Committee on Airport Noise and is a member of the 2026 class of Leadership Palm Beach County.
She is in her third term on the Haverhill Town Council, a town of about 2,800, where she said new development and fiscal discipline has allowed council members to cut the property tax rate for the past four years.
Johnson has a college-age daughter.
Whitfield, a public health focus
Whitfield, 48, is a Florida native who lives in Lake Worth Beach. She has a bachelor’s degree in health science education from the University of Florida and a master’s degree in public health from Emory University.
She won election to the Palm Beach County School Board in 2014. In her 12 years on the board, she helped guide a $6.25 billion annual budget for the 10th-largest school district in the United States. She was on the board during the devastating and divisive COVID pandemic.
She is a board member of the Children’s Services Council, a former Palm Beach County Health Care District commissioner and a member of the Leadership Palm Beach County Class of 2014.
Whitfield and her husband, Brent, have two daughters, one in kindergarten and one in college.
Campaign finances
Johnson has raised nearly $22,000, almost entirely from donors who contributed from $10 to $1,000. Campaign records show her supporters include Port Commissioner Wayne Richards, the Rev. Rae Whitely and former County Commissioner Addie Greene.
Johnson is the largest contributor to her campaign, lending it about $3,300 as of July 24.
Whitfield has amassed nearly $155,000 in her campaign account. Another $125,500 has flowed into the Friends of Erica Whitfield political action committee.
The political committee Citizens for Law and Order and Ethics, gave Whitfield $50,000. The PAC is controlled by Cornerstone Solutions’ political consultant Rick Asnani, who is managing her campaign.
Other top contributors to the Whitfield PAC are Palm Beach Aggregates ($5,000), the landowner pursuing Project Tango on Southern Boulevard near 20-mile Bend; and BH Real Estate Acquisitions of Aventura ($5,000), which partners with the Miami-based Related Group on residential developments throughout the county.
Her political committee also received $10,000 each from Highland Beach Real Estate Holdings, which is involved in the Milani Park controversy in that south county oceanfront enclave; and BMC Realty, affiliated with Realtor Benjamin MacFarland. Broward lobbyist Ron Book gave her $5,000.
Her County Commission account received more than 100 contributions of $1,000, the maximum amount the committee can accept, including three $1,000 contributions from companies affiliated with the Avenir development in Palm Beach Gardens.
She also received $1,000 contributions from Zemaso Management and Zemaso Capital, financial management companies affiliated in state records with Abraham Zaretsky of West Palm Beach; and two $1,000 donations from south county attorney Neil Schiller.
The issues
For this story, Stet News interviewed each candidate by phone, covered their appearance at the Aug. 6 Coalition of Boynton West Residential Associations candidate forum and considered their answers to questions from the League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County.
What is the county’s most significant challenge?
The candidates agree that the rising cost of living is the county’s biggest threat.
Johnson
She proposes expanding workforce housing requirements. The county should require a meaningful share of units in new residential developments to be affordable or workforce housing, particularly in high-growth areas.
Johnson wants an inventory of underused county-owned property and to make the appropriate sites available through long-term ground leases.
Whitfield
“At the county level, that means reviewing every line of spending, eliminating waste and pursuing outside funding before asking taxpayers to carry the load,” she said. ”It also means expanding workforce housing options and supporting local businesses that create jobs and keep dollars circulating right here in Palm Beach County.”
What would you cut and what would you keep in the county budget?
Johnson
She said she wants to ensure there is money for law enforcement and firefighters, roads, economic development and the high-priority needs of human services.
Palm Beach County has started to cut vacant positions, Johnson said. “Many of the departments have been asked to do that, and so we will continue to move forward and ensure that we are representing the residents. That we are getting rid of waste.”
Whitfield
She said the priority has to be making sure there is adequate housing. She said she would defend PalmTran despite pressure to make cuts in the bus service. She also wants to protect organizations that are serving our homeless families.
“However, I do believe that cuts can be taken in every department. I’ve worked at the school district for a very long time, and we are constantly having to look and find places where we can cut within our budget, and that’s something that I think the County Commission has the ability to do.”
What is a difficult decision you had to make in government service and how did you handle it?
Johnson
In Haverhill, “we approved the annexation for a 100-unit townhome. Even though only 10%of those units will be workforce housing. That wasn’t enough,” she said.
As a county commissioner, she would push for a higher percentage of units in new housing projects to be set aside for workers.
“Is that methodology on pace to meet the needs of the workforce?” she said. “When you look at the industry salaries of nurses, and transit workers, they aren’t making six-figure salaries.”
Whitfield
Whitfield was a member of the School Board in 2020, and she supported keeping schools closed during the COVID pandemic.
“You can’t make everybody happy,” she said. “I was just terrified that people were going to die on my watch.
“First, we thought it was going to be a week. Or two weeks. And then it was months. I think we did the best we possibly could. The impacts are still so real.
“I had one death threat.”
What is your view of the Project Tango proposal for a hyperscale AI data center?
They agree more study is needed.
Johnson
“We need separate zoning for such a data center. I think there needs to be more research of the environmental and human impact.
She watched the County Commission meeting before the 5-1 vote to deny the proposal. “I can’t really say that I heard what the impact would be to humans.
“I think those things have to be answered. As leaders, when we vote on something, we are OK, we are assured? I’m not at that place. I could not support the data center as it is right now.”
Whitfield
She supports the proposed one-year moratorium on data centers: “I think we’ll probably need to go longer than a year.”
The county has caught the attention of billionaires from Stephen Ross to Larry Ellison. What would you say to voters who think elected officials cannot say no to them?
Johnson
“I would say that I am not part of the establishment. Look at my list of donors. They are grassroots everyday people.
“My idea is to work with whoever is there. At the same time, I am going to listen to the constituency.
“We need more mixed income units now. We don’t seem to have enough housing units for teachers, firefighters and nurses.
“That is who we have to look out for. There is a role to be played by Related. I do believe that this thing is all hands on deck.”
Whitfield
With Project Tango, “we just watched the ‘no’ happen.
“There’s nothing scarier than a roomful of people wearing matching shirts. It’s because of that concern that the County Commission said no.
“When we talk about development, I’m going to ask, ‘How can it contribute?’”
Why should someone vote for you?
Johnson
“I do believe voters want someone who’s ready to govern on Day 1, who’s ready to listen, and who’s ready to take action. Who is not beholden to any special interest, but will do the work and the will of the people, and that is me.”
Whitfield
“I’ve received almost every single endorsement in this race. I have received support from grassroots people that have called me and said, ‘We are so excited that you’re taking this next step and offering to serve in the County Commission role.’ And I could not be more thrilled to be your candidate.”
