An Apopka High School alumnus won his first political race, a four-year term in the non-partisan Soil and Water Conservation District 1 race. He will assume office January 5, 2021.
Nate Douglas, 19, a substitute teacher for Orange County Public Schools and an economic major at the University of Florida, said he’s excited about his victory. He graduated from Apopka High School in 2019.
“I think it’s definitely an exciting feeling,” he said. “I’m really excited to get to work for the residents of Orange County, and I’m really excited that others like my plans, and they think that these are things that are important for Orange County, so it is definitely very exciting.”
On Election Day, Douglas collected 248,820 total votes (48.88 percent), beating out Bobby Agagnina who had 155,058 (30.46 percent) and Tim Viegle with 105,161 (20.66 percent). All total votes include Election Day, early voting, and vote by mail. The number of total eligible voters pertaining to
this race was 866,460.
Douglas said he was motivated to run for office because he was concerned about the environment.
“I fear about our community’s future and I fear about where we’re headed
when it comes to climate change,” he said, “and I couldn’t just sit idly by and
just let things go on as they are right now. I’m part of the Sunrise Movement, for instance. I’m very big in activism for the environment. And I think that soil
and water was definitely the right move, especially at such a young age bringing in the new generation of leadership to our local communities to solve the issues of climate change because if we don’t do that ourselves and really no one else was going to do it for us, quite frankly. We have to get involved ourselves.”
The full story appears beginning on page 1A of the Friday, November 13, issue of The Apopka Chief. Subscribe today!
