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Incumbent Carol Cook, Joanne Lentino win their Pinellas School Board races

 
Pinellas County School Board member Carol Cook, left, reacts to election results Tuesday with Rachelle Warmouth of Palm Harbor, who worked on her campaign. The two were at a watch party at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. Cook, a 16-year incumbent, won her fifth term on the board,. defeating Eliseo Santana. [EVE EDELHEIT   |   Times]

Pinellas County School Board member Carol Cook, left, reacts to election results Tuesday with Rachelle Warmouth of Palm Harbor, who worked on her campaign. The two were at a watch party at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. Cook, a 16-year incumbent, won her fifth term on the board,. defeating Eliseo Santana. [EVE EDELHEIT | Times]
Published Nov. 9, 2016

After falling short of clinching the primary election, 16-year incumbent Carol Cook has won her fifth term on the Pinellas County School Board.

Cook, the second-longest serving board member behind Linda Lerner, held onto her Clearwater- and Largo-based District 5 seat to beat Eliseo Santana, 58, a political rookie and retired Pinellas County Sheriff's Office communication maintenance supervisor. Cook received 65 percent of the vote and Santana 35 percent.

Taking in the scene at state Sen. Jack Latvala's watch party at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Cook called the results "awesome."

"I'm excited for another four years," she said.

Latvala chimed in, adding that the teacher's union did its best to defeat Cook and "it didn't work."

The union's favorite, Santana, who was hosting his watch party with friends and family at Tia's Authentic Latin Restaurant in Largo, blamed the loss on his lack of funding to use direct mail.

Before he called Cook to concede the race, Santana said he had a message for her.

"I'll tell her that the community is out here looking at the School Board," he said. "There's a whole movement of people who supported me. It's time for the School Board to address and bring the community into the equation."

Joanne Lentino, 67, a retired Gulfport Elementary teacher, edged out her District 1 At-Large opponent Matt Stewart, 35, a human resources manager for Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners and a St. Petersburg College adjunct professor. Lentino, who based her platform on early childhood education, discipline and family and community involvement, carried the race with 56 percent of the vote.

"Our hard work really showed it," said Lentino, who was focused on monitoring national results at her watch party at La Casa del Pane restaurant in St. Pete Beach. "We really proved something, that we were able to do a grassroots campaign on a countywide race and came out on top."

In the August primary, Clearwater Intermediate teacher Eileen Long unseated north Pinellas County District 4 incumbent Ken Peluso. Long, Cook and Lentino will be sworn in later this month.

In the non-partisan races, the candidates raised more than $130,000. Lentino raised the most of all, with $38,600.

Contact Colleen Wright at cwright@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8643. Follow @Colleen_Wright on Twitter.