Challengers beat incumbents in City of Alachua races
April 8, 2025
Staff report
ALACHUA, Fla. – Challengers Walter Welch and Jacob Fletcher beat the incumbents in the City of Alachua’s election today.
Seat 1 (Mayor)
Gib Coerper – 618 votes (49.2%)
Walter Welch – 639 votes (50.8%)
Seat 2
Jacob Fletcher – 785 votes (60.4%)
Edward Potts – 513 votes (39.6%)
Welch and Fletcher will be sworn into office during the regular City Commission meeting on April 21, 2025 at 6 p.m.
Looks like the planning department walking out woke up the public!
Make Alachua Great Again
Gibby Go Away
Oh no! What if the people of Gainesville do this to me? Who am I kidding? The people of Gainesville are way too dumb to throw me out.
Gib and Ed got arrogant and caught. I didn’t see any campaign from either until the weekend before the election and then it was yard signs only.
Arrogant incumbents get beat when change is in the air.
Lisa, if you didn’t see Ed Potts campaigning before this weekend, you absolutely weren’t paying attention. That man was campaigning everywhere he went in and around Alachua. What did they get ‘caught’ doing?
New commissioners: Please get an appropriate city logo. Past mismanager Bookari changed it without commission approval. It is a Mardi Gra dunce hat, not a city logo. He changed it so the light pastels would barely show up painted on the doors of city vehicles, so they looked like commercial vehicles, not city vehicles. Made it easier for city workers to inappropriately use their city vehicles for private business. Oh yea, do something about that, too.
Congratulations and remember who elected you and why please.
Most politicians forget why they were elected once they take office.
It becomes more about “me” than “thee.”
Here is a suggestion for the new commissioners. No more high paid offices and positions of trust in city hall for CONVICTED FELONS. Yes, they have one now. How about giving that high paid job to an honest person, instead of to a felon who will exhibit the number one trait in return, Total LOYALTY to supporting the Regime.
I read the new mayor’s lengthy rap sheep and I was appalled. Especially the one regarding a minor and all the assaults. This guy definitely has a lengthy felony criminal history, which is on the Alachua County Court clerk website so everybody can see it. People, Check it out and let’s get this guy recalled. We don’t need a multi time felon as the leader of our city.
You are so correct, Appalled. At the clerks site is case 01 2014 CF 002246A. Totally disgusting. He got drunk and drove drunk and beat up an out of town truck driver. What a mean vile person not fit to be mayor.
Oh, wait. That was sitting Mayor Gilbert A Coerper who did that. A felony arrest. The DA squirmed and gyrated and let him off. Alachua County politics at work.
So the 2025 Mayor race in Alachua came down to one of two choices.
Vote for charged violent felon A, or, vote for charged violent felon B.
What a choice the voters had. They picked the lesser of two evils, apparently.
If you hate violent felons, why did you not file a recall petition against Gib 11 years ago? You are such a hypocrite.
Rumor I had it that the city of Alachua paid Gib’s legal fees for being drunk an assault.
I’m sure the lawyer writing articles for the Alachua County today will try this one in his newspaper too.