Precinct Map from Manatee County Supervisor of Elections

The DWC of Manatee County has a long history of awarding scholarships to girls and women in need.  Two scholarships are awarded as stepping-stones for secondary education - either college or vocational.  This year emphasis will be placed on STEM education, with consideration given to all applications.

Manatee County Democratic Party Encourages

Return of COVID Protocols in Our Schools

Statement to the Manatee County School Board emergency meeting

August 16, 2021

By Tracy Pratt

Manatee County Democratic Party Chair

The Manatee County Democratic Party supports scientifically validated efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and protect our children, teachers, and school staff to the best of our community’s ability. 

The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the Florida Department of Health recognize the proven effectiveness of masks and social distancing in mitigating the spread of this dangerous disease. We encourage the Manatee County School Board to follow the guidance of these non-partisan, scientific bodies. 

Therefore, we encourage a return to the same protocols as last school year, in order to provide our children and our community the same level of protection. We need these protocols now more than ever as the Delta Variant is ravaging our Florida communities, and overwhelming our hospitals with record levels of admissions. 

We also call out Governor Ron DeSantis’ order forbidding mask mandates in our schools as big government overreach. Decisions protecting the students and staff in our county schools should belong to our county. The Democratic Party supports local rule. We are disappointed the Republican Party is unable to see the wisdom of this position, which they have historically claimed to embrace.

As always, the Democrats are avid supporters of strong public schools – because that is what is best for our community. To ensure strong public schools we need to trust in our local elected officials to determine what is best for our communities.

As such, we encourage this board to make the decision that is best for our students, teachers and school staff. We encourage you to seek and utilize the advice of scientific and public health experts – and those experts recommend masks. 

 The Manatee County Democratic Party is urging the Manatee County School Board to follow the expert advice of pediatricians, epidemiologists, and public health officials. Protect our children. Require the wearing of masks to mitigate the spread of COVID until it is safe to do otherwise.  

See our full statement to the School Board below.

Indivisible Manatee and Action Together Suncoast have organized an informal gathering for the many volunteers and friends who worked on the millage renewal campaign, as well as anyone who wants to help with preparations for the Nov. 2022 election. 

Come meet like-minded individuals on Sunday, November 14, 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. at Motorworks Brewing, 1014 9th Street W., Bradenton.

Democratic Party executives, community leaders, social and political organizations will be represented at the gathering. A COVID vaccination card is required upon admission.

Next year, Manatee County voters will choose local officials, state and national representatives, a U.S. senator and governor. Preliminary work is on-going as we make our presence felt at all levels of governance.

For more information, contact Phyllis Myers, indivisiblemanatee@gmail.com. RSVP for the event at www.signupgenius.com/go/cometogether.

The Board of County Commissioners earlier this month began the once-in-a-decade exercise of redrawing their district boundaries to conform to shifts in the population based on the latest federal Census Report. The entire county saw an increase in population; some areas of Manatee County grew larger than others. 

The redrawing of district lines is required by statute and affects five commissioners who represent specific districts. Two other commissioners hold at-large positions on the seven-member board. 

Since the 2010 Census, District 5 (east county including Lakewood Ranch and Tara) and District 1 (north county including Ellenton and Parrish) have seen the greatest population growth. The redrawn boundaries must create districts with relatively the same number of residents but not discriminate against minority populations.

The Commissioners have a special meeting scheduled Nov. 9 and work sessions proposed for Dec. 7 and 15 where they may take up redistricting and possibly open up for public comment. Agendas for these meetings, and any other meetings the commissioners schedule, can be found on the Manatee County Commissioners' website. 

For information about special redistricting meetings and working sessions, contact the Manatee County Commissioners’ office, (941) 745-3700.

The Manatee County Democratic Party issued a statement urging the commissioners to conduct a fair, equitable and non-political redrawing of Districts. You can read the entire statement here. 

The Florida constitution lists criteria that the Commissioners must use to determine where the new boundaries are drawn. The criteria call for districts to be of equal size and population; honor geographic and political boundaries; and demonstrate “fairness” in terms of partisan and minority representation. According to Census figures, each district should have about 80,000 residents. In terms of demographics, District 2 is home to the majority of Black and Hispanic residents in the county but is the smallest in area and population. District 2 is a narrow corridor through Palmetto and the center of Bradenton.

At the Commissioners’ first redistricting session, community representatives of District 2 urged the commissioners to protect the rights of racial and language minorities to elect representatives of their choice.