The Sarasota County Commission next year will have one woman. Republican voters in District 1 will decide on Aug. 20 if that’s Teresa Mast or Alexandra Coe. That’s when a GOP Primary will effectively determine who succeeds term-limited Commissioner Mike Moran on the board.

For Mast, the coming election marks a culmination of more than a year and a half of campaigning for the opening on the board. She’s lived in the community since she was a teenager, and wants to play a role in ensuring its economic vitality, she said.

“The biggest thing for me is leaving a legacy,” she said. “The community I live in and call home, where I live and work and play, I want it to continue to be a conservative county that cares for the health, wealth and safety of its citizens.”

Coe, a member of the County Charter Review Board, has been active for years in historic preservation and founded the more libertarian-leaning Republican Liberty Caucus of Sarasota. She has focused on conservation during her campaign and expressed frustration at years of development influence on county government. She ran for commission previously in 2018 and sees little change.

“The overall tone of the County Commission is pretty much same, very developer-centric,” she said. “It has always been a part of it. But we cannot continue to elect people from the development sector to office and think that we won’t get overdevelopment. Just like if you elect lawyers you get more laws, when you elect developers you get more development.”

That’s an unmistakable jab at Mast, president of the Davin Group, a remodeling and renovation firm. Mast is also married to Jon Mast, CEO of the Suncoast Builders Association. This draws constant criticisms the candidate will value the needs of development firms ahead of other residents.

But Mast said her own background doesn’t suggest she will only vote in favor of developers. She chaired Sarasota County’s Planning Commission, and supported conservation of agricultural areas in rural east Sarasota County. She also stressed her own contracting work, leading a business for years with female-majority ownership, supports businesses in rural and metropolitan areas.

“Whether it’s a dairy farmer or someone who is selling hand-made jewelry, or its doctors, lawyers and teachers, all have an impact on the quality of life in Sarasota County,” she said.

Both candidates expressed infrastructure concerns. Coe noted flooding concerns in the district and county, much of that tied to development.

“If we end up with Lakewood Ranch-style development all over east County,” she said, “that water has to go somewhere and gets pushed into the urban core.”

Mast noted other weather concerns, notably the need for better transportation routes during evacuations. She said the community needs to improve east-west corridors like Bee Ridge and Fruitville roads, and to have better north-south paths like Lorraine Road.

Both candidates made unsuccessful runs for county office before. Coe lost a District 2 race (before redistricting) six years ago to Christian Ziegler. Mast, meanwhile, ran unsuccessfully for Sarasota County School Board in 2016 and lost to Carolina Zucker. In both cases, the candidates’ last major run was county-wide, but they now seek votes only in their district.

Mast doesn’t care for the change to single-member voting. She believes all voters should weigh in on every commission race.

“I’ve worked for years at polling locations and every single election since this change was made, I’ve heard people say, ‘Why isn’t everyone on the ballot? I didn’t understand this would happen,’” she said.

Coe, though, feels happier campaigning in one-fifth of the county.

“It’s much nicer because I can really focus on the community,” she said. “With a district-specific race, you are really able to connect with neighborhoods, and that was the whole reason for single-member districts, so people could actually have a relationship with their county commissioner.”