Lisa Bennett wins Winter Garden District 1 seat

WINTER GARDEN  The polls are closed, and results are in: Lisa Bennett ousted incumbent Kent Makin for the city’s District 1 commission seat. 

Bennett won in a landslide, snagging 63% of the vote to Makin’s 22%.

“I was preparing for a run-off so I’m surprised, happy and excited,” Bennett said. “I’ve served in several roles in Winter Garden, but most of the roles I’ve been involved in are with charitable organizations and boards. I just considered it a wonderful opportunity to serve the residents. My father actually said, ‘Why don’t you run for commission?’ So I took that as confirmation and gave it a go.”

Bennett is co-broker/owner of Windsor Realty Group Inc. She had served on the city’s Architectural Review Historic Preservation Board and is a past president of the Rotary Club of Winter Garden. She now will serve as the city’s only female commissioner.

“I did hear from a lot of residents that they looked forward to having diversity on the board, so I’m looking forward to representing that,” she said. “We had some other good female candidates who were running, so I’m just honored to be the one.

“(I’m excited to) work for the residents and meet with them, listen to them and hopefully facilitate good communication with the city and staff,” Bennett said. “The city’s done a great job up until now, and I’m excited to step into that and be a voice for the residents of District 1.”

Makin, a construction manager and Realtor, served two terms as a Winter Garden commissioner in the last six years. In addition to Bennett, Lillie V. Brandon, a retired educator; and Wendy Byrd Jung, an accountant, also ran in the election.

District 1 encompasses historic downtown and stretches from parts of Story Road north to just past Fullers Cross Road, touching East Crown Point Road at the easternmost point and Brayton Road at the westernmost point.

Contact Danielle Hendrix at [email protected].