For the first time in living memory, November’s Election Day in Pinellas County will see just one race on the ballot, as citizens of Seminole will be invited to trek to one of two lonely polling places to choose their mayor.

It’s a classic small town story – a political institution of three decades’ standing versus a political newcomer who feels the government has lost touch.

For Seminole, a bedroom community of just 13,000 hugging Long Bayou in western Pinellas, the race is David vs. Goliath: Mayor Leslie Waters is a long-time figure in Pinellas politics and an institution in the city, having held office in the community since 1998 and serving as Seminole’s chief executive since 2013.

Marcus Barber, a Navy veteran and local businessman challenging her, has never before run for office. Waters has outraised Barber by nearly three times, $25,000 to $8,500; each candidate has spent about $8,000 on expenses thus far. The yearly salary for Seminole mayor is just $11,000.

It is also personal for both candidates. 

Waters is running in her first contested election since the death of her husband of 47 years, Al, in 2021. “Al was my biggest supporter and biggest fan,” she said. She credited him with being the first to encourage her to run for office in 1997.

Waters touts her record in three terms as Seminole’s chief executive and even longer on City Council; she lists as her chief accomplishments that Seminole is debt-free and has not had a property tax increase in the last 17 years. “Seminole is a fiscally conservative city,” she says. 

She also celebrates more than 300 parks and recreation programs and 22 other events that attract tens of thousands to the community each year, and promises to focus on a new fire station in Bay Pines and a recreation center in her next term.

Waters’s campaign literature boasts endorsements from a who’s who of Pinellas Republican leaders, most prominent Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, along with the entirety of the current Seminole City Council.

Barber, whose website proclaims,  “He’s not a politician, he’s our neighbor,” doesn’t list any political endorsements. 

“Going after mayor is not something I’ve ever planned,” said Barber, noting that he only seriously began to consider the prospect following the hurricanes in 2024. He says the City Government was not a presence in post-storm recovery efforts he and others participated in.

“After two days I went back and said, ‘Where’s everybody from City Hall?’” Barber recalled. “They basically shrugged me off. It was frustrating that I never once saw anyone from City Hall.

“[The next time] I saw Mayor Waters and she said, ‘Hey Marcus, what are you up to?’ … I said, ‘Looks like I’m running for mayor.’”

Barber is critical of what he describes as chronic under-investment in Seminole’s water, sewer and roads. “There’s a lot of infrastructure problems people don’t see,” he said. “If you want to fix a storm drain, but you’re only budgeted for half of it… are you really budgeting for the task altogether?”

While he would not say definitively that he would seek to raise the City’s millage rate, levying additional property taxes, Barber believes the desire to keep the rate low at any cost is behind special assessments that have had to be levied on Seminole residents for critical public works projects. Noting that Seminole has by far the lowest millage rate in Pinellas County, he believes that the City’s current leadership chills debate about these issues.

“Council meetings are too choreographed,” said Barber flatly. “People are complaining.”

Waters declined to directly address Barber’s criticism. “I learned years ago and campaigns ago to keep focused on my own business and my own campaign efforts,” she said. 

However, she told Poliverse that she is keeping a robust campaign schedule, hosting multiple sign-waving events, one of which recently drew 13 volunteers. She has also been putting up flags, with others, for Seminole’s Fields of Honor event. 

Barber, meanwhile, goes into Election Day with confidence. “I think we’re going to win. I think it’s going to be a solid victory,” he said. “Most people are tired of not being listened to.”

Seminole voters can cast their ballots Tuesday, Nov. 4, at Seminole United Methodist Church – 5400 Seminole Boulevard (Precincts 254, 255, 303, 305, 307) and Seminole Community Library at St. Petersburg College – 9200 113th Street (Precincts 302, 309, 314, 315, 316, 318, 347, 348). Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.