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© St. Petersburg Times, published November 6, 2002
BROOKSVILLE -- Republican challenger Robert Schenck, a 27-year-old making his first bid for public office, upset Democratic incumbent Chris Kingsley in Tuesday's District 4 Hernando County Commission race.
Schenck's victory over Kingsley, 50, makes the political newcomer the lone Republican voice on the five-member commission for the next two years.
In the District 2 race, current commission Chairwoman Nancy Robinson defeated her Republican challenger, Rose Rocco. With the victory over Rocco, Robinson, who was elected to office in 1992, moves into her fourth term on the commission.
With all precincts reporting, unofficial results had Robinson defeating Rocco 29,159 votes to 26,539, or 52.4 percent of the vote to 47.7 percent.
Also with 100 percent of precincts in, unofficial results showed Schenck over Kingsley by 29,288 votes to 25,808, or 53.2 percent to 46.8 percent.
Schenck, a teacher of special needs students who ran on a platform promoting business development and fiscal conservatism, was not surprised by his victory.
"The feedback we were getting going into today was real positive," he said shortly after the results were in. "It was just a lot of hard work, a lot of good people that supported me."
Though the sole Republican, Schenck said he had no worries about his ability to work well with the rest of the commission.
"I don't see them as adversaries at all," he said. Kingsley, who was elected to office in 1998, was surprised by the results.
"I think that people just don't care that he is going to be a puppet of special interests," Kingsley said of Schenck, whom he had painted as a builders' and developers' golden boy. "It's sort of surprising that people don't care about that kind of stuff."
Kingsley said he had no plans to run for elected office any time soon, but had a more immediate goal.
"I'm going to learn how to skydive," he said.
Robinson, 57, who campaigned on protecting water resources and her extensive record, said she planned to rest for a few days and become reacquainted with her family.
"It feels wonderful," she said of the victory. "I would like to thank the voters for all their support during this process."
Rocco, 61, took the defeat in stride, saying it was a victory, given the paucity of donations and endorsements she received.
"I didn't lose," Rocco said, adding that she and her supporters "did it on our own. We did it our way, with no endorsements, only the endorsement of the people."
Rocco said she had not decided whether she would run again for elected office.