Sanford and Broadway have municipal elections in 2023, and the process is about to get under way.

Candidate filing for available seats begins noon Friday at the Lee County Board of Elections, 1503 Elm St., Suite 1, and ends at noon on July 21. The deadline for candidates to have filed to withdraw from the election is 5 p.m. on July 18.

If primaries are necessary in Sanford’s partisan races, they will be held on September 12. If a second primary is necessary, it will be held October 10. Election day in both the Sanford and Broadway races will be held November 7.

Seats on the Sanford City Council and the Broadway Town Board up for election in 2023 are as follows. Incumbents are noted, but as of this writing most of the candidates, incumbent or otherwise, have not made their intentions known publicly. Click here for a city ward map.

Sanford City Council:

Ward 2 (northern and western portions of Sanford and much of the Hawkins Avenue corridor): incumbent Republican Charles Taylor.

Taylor told The Sanford Herald in a story printed Thursday that he would seek a fifth term (subscription required):

“My intentions were to complete my fourth term and be done – never say never,” Taylor said. “About six months ago I started talking to people in my ward about the upcoming election. I received a lot of comments about running again. I have as much gas in my tank as I did in 2007 so after lots of prayer the choice was clear.”

Taylor was first elected in 2007 and won re-election in 2011, 2015, and 2019. In 2015 he wrote a letter to constituents announcing his re-election bid and said the decision was “not an easy one because I believe in Term Limits.”

He said in a 2019 Herald article leading up to the municipal election that year that he was “hoping the public would send me back for one last term.”

After Ward 3 Councilman J.D. Williams, Taylor is the council’s second longest-serving member.

Ward 4 (southern and central portion of Sanford between U.S. 1, Weatherspoon Street, Horner Boulevard, and Garden Street): incumbent Democrat Byron Buckels

Ward 5 (southeastern portion of Sanford surrounding Jonesboro Heights): incumbent Democrat Jean Dabbs

At Large (entire city limits): incumbent Democrat Jimmy Haire

Broadway Town Board (nonpartisan):

Mayor: incumbent Donald Andrews Jr.

Two at large seats (entire town limits): incumbents Lynn West Green and Teresa Dew Kelly