Sumter County Commission, District 4
One of five county commissioners. Sets the county property-tax rate and budget, funds the Sheriff and fire/EMS, approves land-use and zoning changes, and oversees roads, parks and county services. Elected countywide but must live in the district. Term: 4 years.
Not on the November ballot. The official Sumter County sample ballot has no County Commission contest: write-in candidate Ethan Parks withdrew and incumbent Jeffrey A. Bogue was elected without opposition after winning the Aug. 18 Republican primary (73.04%). Verified Sept. 17, 2026 against the sample ballot and the county candidate roster.
How we verified who is on the ballot
NOT ON THE NOV. 3 BALLOT. Third pass (Sept 17, 2026): the Supervisor of Elections' official 2026 General Election sample ballot contains no County Commission contest, and the county's VoterFocus candidate roster lists write-in candidate Ethan Parks as 'Active-Withdrawn' and Jeffrey Bogue as 'Active-Unopposed.' Bogue therefore won the seat with the Aug. 18 Republican primary (73.04% over Michael Squier) and no general-election vote is held. Earlier passes, relying on July 2026 reporting, listed a Bogue-vs-write-in contest.
Candidates
Report an error ↗One candidate in this race is a write-in. Florida does not print a qualified write-in candidate's name on the ballot. To vote for one you must write the name on the write-in line for this race; a blank or misspelled line may not be counted.
Candidates marked "Withdrew", "Defeated in the primary" or "Did not qualify" are not running in November, according to the Florida Division of Elections candidate list. A name may still be printed on the ballot if the withdrawal came late; such votes are not counted. They are excluded from match results.
Jeffrey A. Bogue
Bogue, the son of a U.S. Army colonel, settled in the Tampa Bay area as a young adult and began a career in fire and EMS, working as a firefighter/EMT, paramedic and trauma flight paramedic; his campaign biography says he is currently director of emergency medical services for AdventHealth. His family bought a 10-acre…
Ethan Parks
Parks qualified as a write-in candidate for Sumter County Commission District 4; his name will not appear printed on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot (voters must write it in). Florida Money Watch's campaign-finance listing shows him as an active write-in candidate with no monetary contributions or expenditures reported. No ca…
Side-by-side on the major issues
Each row is a statement. The chips show how each candidate's stated positions or record relate to that statement. Expand a row to read the evidence and sources. "No public position found" means we could not find a statement or record on the topic, not that the candidate has none.
| Issue | Jeffrey A. Bogue Republican | Ethan Parks Write-in |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes & spendingCutting taxes should be a top priority, even if it means less government spending on services. | Leans disagree· based on record His 2026 record leans toward preserving services over lowering the tax burden: he moved in July 2026 to eliminate the fire assessment fee, then in September 2026 voted with the full board to fully fund Fire & EMS through property-tax millage despite taxpayer objections, saying commissioners are elected 'to make the right decision for the entire county' rather than 'to take a popular vote.' In 2023 he described himself as 'never more conflicted' over a proposed fire-fee increase that was rejected 3-2 (see record). No general statement on tax cutting as a priority was found. | No public position found |
| Property taxesFlorida should eliminate or sharply reduce homestead property taxes, even if local governments must cut services or find other revenue. | Leans disagree· based on record Coded from county millage votes only; no statement by Bogue on the state homestead-exemption Amendment 3 was found. In September 2025 he moved to adopt the Fire/EMS municipal service taxing unit tentative millage (0.8571), and the FY 2025-26 budget he helped adopt kept the general-fund rate at 4.89 mills, which state TRIM rules classify as a 4.75% tax increase. In July 2026 he moved to abolish the county's per-parcel fire assessment fees, and on Sept. 15, 2026, after taxpayers complained that fire-related property-tax bills had risen $1,500 or more, he joined a unanimous vote to fully fund Fire & EMS through a $4.60-per-$1,000 levy on non-Villages property on top of the 4.89-mill general rate. Sources: Sumter commissioners make tough decision on funding for cou… (2026-09-16) · Outpouring of opposition snuffs out county's controversial … (2026-07-29) · 1st Budget Hearing, Board of County Commissioners, Septembe… (2025-09-16) · Sumter County Adopts the Budget for Next Fiscal Year (Octob… (2025-10) · County Millage Rate Information - Sumter County, FL | No public position found |
| Housing affordabilityGovernment should do more to make housing affordable (subsidies, zoning changes, rent measures). | No public position found | No public position found |
| Environment & waterProtecting water quality, conservation land and climate resilience should take priority even if it slows development or raises costs. | No public position found | No public position found |
| Growth & developmentGrowth and development should be slowed or more tightly regulated (higher impact fees, density limits, stronger local control). | Leans agree· stated position In his 2022 campaign Bogue said the county must 'reevaluate the impact fee structure so that there is not the significant disparity in age-restricted (The Villages) communities and those other communities' and must 'better control the growth rate in Sumter County.' No 2025-26 statement or vote on Villages expansion, rural-land rezonings or impact-fee levels was found in search snippets. | No public position found |
| Crime & policingCriminal penalties should be tougher and police funding increased, rather than emphasizing reform and rehabilitation. | No public position found | No public position found |
| VeteransExpanding VA services and veterans' benefits should be a top priority. | No public position found | No public position found |
Where they sit on the map
Each candidate is placed by the average of their documented stances. It is a summary of the table above, not an extra judgment.
How the axes are computed
Each axis is the average of a candidate's coded stances (+2 to −2) on a fixed set of statements, so it comes straight from the documented positions and nothing else. A candidate needs at least three documented statements on an axis to be placed.
Economic issues (toward "Smaller government (lower taxes, less spending)"): Taxes & spending (agree), Property taxes (agree), Health care (disagree), Housing affordability (disagree), Property insurance (disagree), Energy & utilities (disagree), Social Security & Medicare (disagree), Teacher and staff pay (disagree).
Social & legal issues (toward "Conservative side of the statements"): Immigration (agree), Abortion (disagree), Guns (disagree), Education & school choice (agree), Elections & voting (disagree), Crime & policing (agree), Gender identity laws (agree), Marijuana (disagree), Environment & water (disagree), Trump administration (agree), Library and classroom materials (agree), School safety approach (agree).
| Candidate | Economic issues | Social & legal issues |
|---|---|---|
| Jeffrey A. Bogue | not enough data | not enough data |
| Ethan Parks | not enough data | not enough data |
Other issues the candidates have raised
Priorities each candidate has brought up on their own, beyond the major-issue list above.
Jeffrey A. Bogue
- Fire assessment fees vs. property-tax funding for Fire & EMS — Bogue, an EMS administrator, has been a central vote on how Sumter County pays for its fire department. In 2023 he said he had 'never been more conflicted' over a proposed fire-fee increase (rejected 3-2). In July 2026 he moved to 'trash' the fire assessment fees entirely (approved 3-2 after a 3.5-hour hearing), and in September 2026 he voted with a unanimous board to fully fund Fire & EMS through a $4.60-per-$1,000 levy on non-Villages property rather than cut the department.Sources: Outpouring of opposition snuffs out county's controversial … (2026-07-29) · Sumter commissioners make tough decision on funding for cou… (2026-09-16) · Firefighters plead with Sumter County officials not to cut … (2026-09-09) · Sumter Commission splits 3-2 on hot topic of fire assessmen… (2023-08-22) · Sumter County struggles to hire new firefighters after comm… (2026) · Sumter County to consider new fire assessment fee rate - Sp… (2026-07-22)
- Impact-fee disparity between The Villages and other communities — Said in 2022 that the county must re-evaluate its impact-fee structure so there is not a 'significant disparity' between age-restricted (Villages) communities and other communities.
- Code-enforcement fines — Challenged the county's routine practice of waiving code-enforcement fines once violations are corrected, saying at an October 2023 workshop that it made no sense to impose daily fines the county would ultimately waive.
- Road maintenance funding — As a member of the board, adopted the FY 2025-26 budget that retained the 4.89-mill general-fund rate, which the county said was done to increase funding for road maintenance; the board also approved a contract for C-470 intersection improvements in 2026 (board actions; no individual statement by Bogue found).
- Voter-guide questionnaires — The Daily Commercial reported that Bogue did not answer its 2026 candidate questionnaire but posted a candidate profile on the Sumter County Supervisor of Elections website. ClickOrlando's 2026 Voter's Guide for the District 4 primary features Bogue and Squier; its questionnaire text and any Ballotpedia survey could not be read in this sandbox.
Ethan Parks
No additional issues found in public statements as of the last data review.