Rick Erickson, 63, will be the new mayor for the City of Cape Coral after Lisa Cohen-Adkinson lost in the general election.
According to the Lee County Supervisor of elections as of 9 p.m. Tuesday, all 26 precincts show that Erickson won nearly 52% of the vote while Cohen-Adkinson won just over 48%. The vote difference is 2,840.
John Gunter, Erickson’s soon-to-be predecessor, is not term limited and was instead defeated in the primaries against six candidates where he earned the third most votes.
Gunter was appointed mayor in 2021 to fill the position of Mayor Joe Coviello, who died unexpectedly, serving one partial term, and then elected in 2022, serving one full term.
Erickson is slated to be sworn in as the city's 17th mayor on Nov. 18, is the recipient of a Purple Heart and retired after 32 years in the military as a Green Beret, ranger, and sergeant major.
After retiring and traveling to war-torn areas around the world, he decided he wanted to devote his time and experience to his community.
Erickson has yet to release a statement on his campaign Facebook page about his victory.
On Cohen-Adkinson’s page, she said, “The mayor’s race did not go the way we hoped. I congratulate our new council members and wish them well. They’ll need it. The incoming mayor won with a campaign built on distortions and personal attacks, and you can’t govern from that. Cape Coral residents deserve better, and I’ll be watching every vote. To our volunteers: you ran this race the right way, with clean hands. I’m proud of every one of you. For those that voted for me, thank you for your vote of confidence, I won’t stop fighting.”
Cape Coral is home to about 228,000 residents, according to the city’s website, making it one of the top 10 most populous cities in the state ranked at number seven, according to World Population Review.
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