A half hour before the Lee County candidate forum began, there were empty tables and only a handful of people setting up in a conference room at Mercola Market in Cape Coral. 

By 6 p.m., the forum, sponsored by 92.5 Fox “Right All Along” radio, had reached a critical mass, with 30-some candidates for political office gathered, and a wall-to-wall crowd of potential voters, looking to learn about their campaign platforms and what they hoped to accomplish in office. 

Some candidates did not show up. But the ones who did had plenty to say about their aspirations for running for office. Cape Coral City Council candidates led the way in terms of attendance, with at least 11 candidates on hand. 

Here’s a look at the Cape Coral City Council candidates who attended—their backgrounds and why they are running. 

District 2 

Dan Sheppard 

Sheppard is the incumbent, and he said he’s running again because he wants Cape Coral to continue its upward trajectory. Sheppard owns Sheppard Landscaping and Palm Source, a palm tree farm. 

“Everyone says, ‘We want a Costco here,’” Sheppard said. “And, ‘We’re tired of dollar stores.’ They all do demographic studies. Dollar stores follow a demographic. You have to implement the magnet for what you want. With all these changes taking effect, I don’t want to walk away.” 

Laurie Lehmann 

Lehmann, a retired nurse, moved to Cape Coral in 2004 and said she is running in part because the city has made too many drastic changes since then. 

“People can’t afford to live in Cape Coral anymore, and that’s not right,” Lehmann said. “There’s wasteful spending by the city, and I don’t like it. I want us to be the Cape Coral that we all moved to. And it’s not that anymore.” 

Craig Unroe 

Unroe works as a technician for a phone company. He wants to reduce taxes. 

“I’m tired of taxes going up, but I don’t see any improvements being made,” Unroe said. “Nobody is doing anything about the street signs displaced by Hurricane Ian.” 

Unroe said he also was concerned by too much development in the city without the necessary infrastructure to support it. 

“Let’s take one step back so we can take two steps forward,” Unroe said. 

District 3 

Derrick Donnell 

Donnell served on City Council in 2007-11 and in 2011-15. He teaches science at Dunbar Middle School and anatomy and physiology at Florida SouthWestern State College. He said he’s running because citizens deserve leadership that will listen to them. 

“That’s the way my temperament is,” Donnell said. “The citizens are really upset. There’s mistrust in government. Let me figure out a way to fix it.” 

Note: Chad Bruening, Daniel Ludlow and Deborah Lee McCormick will be on the August primary ballot and either did not attend the forum or could not be found for comment. Incumbent Tom Hayden will not run for reelection. 

District 4 

Richard Carr 

Carr is the incumbent, having been selected by City Council from 13 applicants following the removal of Patty Cummings last year for living out of district. Carr, a retired police officer, said he’s running in part because he wants to get Jaycee Park back on track. The city voted to redo the park in 2023, but an outcry of community voices and a petition urged the city to reverse course. Citizen groups want to keep Jaycee Park as greenspace instead of the city’s current course of developing it into a food truck park. 

“I’m not a believer in double taxation,” Carr said. “You pay for the park now, and then you have to pay for the park again to use it. A citizen park, it should be free.” 

Jennifer Nelson 

Nelson will run again after being unseated in the 2020 election by Cummings. 

“I miss serving,” said Nelson, executive director of Dress for Success Southwest Florida, a nonprofit organization that helps prepare women for the workforce. “Two years after the fact, people still reach out to me on how I can help.” 

Nelson would like to see council members’ stipend lifted and then decided by the voters in a referendum. 

“I would support that,” she said. “That stipend can be rescinded. If anything, we should have put it on a referendum and given the voters a chance to decide.” 

Bob Sutter 

Sutter is retired from an internet technology job with Northrop Grumman, which had defense contracts with the U.S. Army. 

“I’ve got 40 years of management experience,” Sutter said. “This is my first time running.” 

Sutter wants to improve city safety. 

“There are not enough streetlights and sidewalks,” he said. “We need to get ahead of that curve instead of playing catchup.” 

Note: William Matthews also will be on the August primary ballot and either did not attend or could not be found for comment. 

District 5 

Robert Welsh 

Running to retain his District 5 seat, Welsh said he wanted to finish what he started. 

“I really enjoyed the past four years, helping the city grow and learning about the way things work,” Welsh said. “I really like helping citizens when they have problems.” 

Welsh was the only council member who voted against receiving stipends for also serving on the city’s redevelopment agency board. Welsh, a 2002 Mariner High School graduate, also operates his family’s Print 1 Group printing business. 

Joe Kilraine  

Hoping to unseat in Welsh, Kilraine previously ran in 2020 just as the pandemic began. He wants to focus on water quality. 

“Water is the lifeblood of the government in the Cape,” said Kilraine, who is a retired chemical engineer. 

Charlie Pease 

Also hoping to unseat Welsh, Pease said he cares about the city’s future. 

“The median age is now mid-40s,” Pease said. “I’ve got a child in the school system. With the heavy growth of the area, this is a very important time in our history.” 

Pease, a 2001 Cape Coral High School graduate, earned his undergraduate degree at University of Florida and has an MBA from the University of Michigan. He is the director of Cape Coral Technical College and is overseeing a $25 million expansion project, looking to boost training for blue–collar workers. Pease said he wasn’t happy with the city’s handling of the demolition of the city’s Yacht Club. 

“I disagreed with the lack of transparency and the way that they did it,” Pease said. 

Note: Jason Conzelman also will be on the August primary ballot. He either did not attend the forum or could not be found for comment. 

District 7 

Rachel Kaduk 

Kaduk said she was driving along Northeast 24th Avenue when an epiphany hit her in the form of a pothole. 

“I hit this pothole so big, I thought I lost my tire,” Kaduk said. She called to complain, and she said the pothole since has been filled. But she said she decided then and there to run for office, because the pothole never should have been there. 

“The infrastructure is a problem here,” said Kaduk, who is a loan officer with Sanibel Captiva Community Bank. 

Note: Michael Harper also will be on the ballot. He either did not attend the forum or could not be found for comment. Incumbent Jessica Cosden reached her term limits.