Two candidates are running for Collier County Commissioner for District 5. Both are Republicans, so the seat will be decided the day of the primary election.

William McDaniel has served eight years on the Collier County Board of Commissioners for District 5. His term is up, so he is running again this year, and he has an opponent on the primary ticket. McDaniel summarizes what he wants to work on if elected:

“We have infrastructure issues, we have transportation issues, we have housing issues, we have systemic issues with how our government has been run since the beginning of time and so and those are all of the things that we are, in fact, working on and plugging away at but still need to be taken care of,” said McDaniel.

The other candidate is Ralph Rodriguez.

“It all boils down to decisions made by the previous boards, adding to the conditions, the traffic conditions and construction and all of the property east of Collier Boulevard having driving conditions that are ridiculous,” said Rodriguez. “And I think we need a change. I guess we need somebody that makes some common-sense decisions for the working people in that area.”

In addition, Rodriguez wants to encourage people to vote in the primary, which will decide several races before we even get to the general election in November. Early voting takes place through August 17 and the primary is Tuesday, August 20. For more information, go to WGCU.org and Colliervotes.gov.

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