NICEVILLE, Fla — Daniel Henkel is the Mayor of Niceville following balloting yesterday at the Niceville Community Center. Abner Williams was elected to the city council in the special municipal election and a runoff will be held between Stephen Shelton and Carl Donahoo to determine the winner of city council group 4.

NICEVILLE, Fla — Daniel Henkel is the Mayor of Niceville following balloting yesterday at the Niceville Community Center. Abner Williams was elected to the city council in the special municipal election and a runoff will be held between Stephen Shelton and Carl Donahoo to determine the winner of city council group 4.

More than 1,750 voters took part in the special election which was originally scheduled for April 14 and then rescheduled for July 21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The city’s 2019 election drew 751 voters in all.

In the race for mayor, Henkel garnered 75 percent of the vote, defeating Judy Boudreaux 1,326 votes to 437.

Williams earned 1,244 votes in winning the group 3 seat over Suraj Patel who had 478 votes.

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Because no candidate earned at least 50 percent plus one vote in the race for city council group 4, a runoff will be held August 4 between Donahoo and Shelton, the top vote-getters. In the balloting on July 21, Donahoo received 825 votes to Shelton’s 485. Rachelle Waltz received 386 votes.

Both Henkel and Williams were sworn into office following the announcement of the election results last night.

The special election was made necessary by the death of longtime mayor Randall Wise in January. Wise served as Niceville’s mayor from 1971 until his death on January 20. At the time of his death, Wise reportedly was the longest-serving mayor in Florida and the fourth-longest current serving mayor in the United States.

Because both candidates running for mayor were members of the city council, each had to vacate their council seat, thus making necessary the two races for city council.