Florence wins Palestine Mayoral Runoff Election

Jun. 19—Justin Florence is the newly elected mayor of Palestine. Florence won Saturday's Mayoral runoff election with 56.26% of the votes over Mitchell Jordan's 43.74%.

"I would like to thank my family and my friends for their support, all of my supporters, and all citizens of Palestine that voted," Florence said. "I am very appreciative of all of the support and belief shown to me. I am ready to get to work towards improving our city."

According to the city of Palestine, Florence had a total of 701 votes to Jordan's 545 votes. These are the unofficial canvass totals. The election will be canvassed June 27.

In the May 7 Mayor Election, Jordan received 30% of the vote and Florence garnered 34% leading to the runoff election. Also running for mayor, Alex Nemer received 14%, Ava Harmon had 12% and Vickey L. Chiver came in with 8% of the votes.

District 6 City Councilman Justin Florence was elected to the Palestine City Council in May 2021. District 6 covers a large southeast section of the city that includes Palestine High School, where he teaches health science classes and a dual credit program that offers an emergency medical technician course of study.

Florence is a lifetime resident of Palestine and has a family of five daughters.

Florence completed a bachelor's degree in business and organizational management at Texas A&M University-Commerce and has more than 20 years experience of running his own small business as an emcee and deejay at weddings, proms and class reunions.

Before joining the PHS faculty Florence worked as a paramedic for 22 years at Palestine Regional Medical Center and has one to two years of flight training.

Florence's District 6 City Council seat will now have to be filled by council.