VERO BEACH — Voters rejected City Council incumbents Bob McCabe and Honey Minuse from a crowded ballot Tuesday, choosing John Carroll, Linda Moore and Tracey Zudans to serve in the next term. 

It was a close race among most of the eight candidates. The top five came within 400 votes of one another. 

Mayor Robbie Brackett did not seek reelection because he ran for the state House District 34 seat.

Zudans, an advertising consultant, a former member of the Indian River County Hospital District and wife of former Mayor Val Zudans, received the most votes: 15.5% of the total. Her campaign raised $20,615, the most out of any candidate, more than double Minuse, who raised the second most at $8,600. 

Despite her finances, Minuse came in fourth, falling behind Carroll by about 200 votes.

Moore, a political newcomer, is co-owner of the Kilted Mermaid restaurant in downtown and was a part of the Three Corners Steering Committee. Her campaign raised $8,322, the third-most out of all eight candidates. She came in second with 14.7% of the vote. 

Carroll, a civil engineer who’s served on the city Planning and Zoning and Code Enforcement boards, and who is husband of former Vice Mayor Tracy Carroll, took the third seat with 14.4% of the vote. 

City Council terms are two years, with an annual salary of $10,800.

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Both McCabe and Minuse were elected in 2020, and are completing their first term. McCabe’s campaign raised $5,730 — sixth-most out of all candidates. He, too, fell short by about 200 votes.

“I’m disappointed,” McCabe said Tuesday night. “The issue of the day was clearly Three Corners, and the commercial development of it, which I still feel very concerned about.”

McCabe was the one city councilman to vote against the city’s Three Corners master plan.

Minuse, too, said she was disappointed by the results.

“I’ve been involved in so much work for the city, and now it’s cut off, and that’s unfortunate,” she said. “But I accept it, and that’s our political scene.”

Carroll’s campaign contributions, on the other hand, were among the lowest — $4,748, outraising only Brooke Steinkamp.

The rest of the eight-candidate field — Ken Daige, Taylor Dingle and Steinkamp — each received less than 12% of the vote. 

Where do the winners stand?

Regarding the Three Corners development, all three winners said they were supportive of the city’s master plan, and said it should be followed closely.

Each said they were against the Vero Beach Preservation Alliance’s referendum to limit expansion of the city marina and parks — which a judge invalidated Tuesday night — and each said they were supportive of reevaluating the city storm water utility.

Zudans said she was against the utility entirely, while Carroll and Moore said they would prefer tax incentives for people who mitigate storm-water runoff on their properties.