Delray Beach City Commission Seat 2: 3 Candidates Compete

Delray Beach voters head to the polls Tuesday to fill a vacant City Commission seat that has sat open since Rob Long won a Special Election for House District 90 late last year. Three candidates are competing for the position: Andrea Keiser, Judy Mollica and Delores Rangel. The first-place finisher wins outright. There are no runoffs.

The stakes extend beyond filling a chair. Long regularly served as the deciding vote on a five-seat commission that has been anything but harmonious. Whoever wins Seat 2 inherits that swing-vote power at a moment when Delray Beach is fighting over development, money and the basic functioning of its own government.

Commission meetings under Mayor Tom Carney have deteriorated into what observers describe as chaotic shouting matches. The tension crystallized around a battle over the Downtown Development Authority, a body that promotes business activity in the city’s core. Carney has pushed for heightened scrutiny of the DDA’s finances and backed a state audit after an internal review identified weaknesses in controls and documentation. Commissioners Juli Casale and Thomas Markert have pushed back, defending the authority as a vital engine of downtown economic growth.

Finances have been equally combustible. In 2025, the commission voted 3-2 to raise the city’s millage rate from 5.94 to 6.19 mills, the first increase in over a decade. Officials warned that a previously lowered rate had created a $25 million budget shortfall. Deputy Vice Mayor Angela Burns, who opposed the increase, argued the hike would not solve the underlying problem.

Rapid development, particularly in the downtown core, adds another layer of friction. Residents have raised persistent concerns about density, traffic and developer influence over city politics. Those concerns have made growth management a central issue in every race on the ballot this cycle.

Delray Beach sits along the Atlantic coast in southern Palm Beach County, wedged between Boca Raton to the south and West Palm Beach to the north. With roughly 72,000 residents, it ranks among the larger cities in the county. Commission members are elected at large, meaning every registered voter in the city can weigh in on any seat regardless of their neighborhood.

Andrea Keiser, 42, brings a resume built in appointed positions and private practice. A Republican land-use and zoning lawyer, she has also worked as a small-business owner and education administrator. Her appointed service includes stints on the Delray Beach Housing Authority and the Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach County, both under Gov. Ron DeSantis. Her husband’s family founded Keiser University, the private higher education institution headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, where she previously worked in legal affairs. Her platform centers on government efficiency, public safety, workforce housing development and managing the traffic pressures that come with rapid growth.

The source material provided does not include full biographical and platform details for Judy Mollica and Delores Rangel, but all three candidates are competing in a nonpartisan contest, meaning party affiliation does not appear on the ballot.

Commission terms in Delray Beach run three years, with a two-consecutive-term limit. The winner will not just serve out the remainder of Long’s term but will begin a full three-year term, giving the victorious candidate a meaningful runway to shape the city’s direction.

The race lands at a genuinely consequential moment. Budget pressures, a contentious DDA dispute and the ongoing argument over what kind of city Delray Beach wants to become have all gone unresolved. The next commissioner steps directly into that friction. With no runoff mechanism to slow the result, Tuesday night will produce a clear answer, and a city already prone to conflict at the dais will learn quickly whether the new vote tips the balance toward stability or prolongs the standoff.

Polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday.