The Boca Raton election results have officially reshuffled the future of this fast-growing South Florida city. After one of the closest and most closely watched municipal races in Palm Beach County history, Andy Thomson has been declared the new mayor of Boca Raton — edging out challenger Mike Liebelson by just five votes following a dramatic multi-day recount process. At the same time, voters sent an unmistakable message on development by rejecting two major redevelopment proposals by overwhelming margins.
This was not just another local election. The March 10, 2026 vote exposed deep divisions over growth, public land, and the direction of city government — and the outcome will shape Boca Raton for years to come.
Want to keep up with everything happening at Boca Raton City Hall? Bookmark this page for ongoing updates as the new mayor prepares to take office.
A Mayoral Race That Nearly Defied Resolution
When polls closed on Election Day, the margin between the top two candidates was almost impossibly thin. Thomson, a sitting Boca Raton City Council member, held a lead of just six votes over Liebelson, a political newcomer running as a Republican energy executive and self-described outsider. The third candidate in the race, Vice Mayor Fran Nachlas, finished well behind both with 3,967 votes, ending her time on the council.
Under Florida law, any race with a margin of 0.5% or less triggers a mandatory machine recount. The margin here was 0.03 percentage points — well within that threshold. The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections ordered the recount to begin Friday, March 13, at 10:00 a.m. at the county elections office in West Palm Beach.
After the machine recount narrowed the gap even further to just one vote, Florida law required election officials to proceed to a manual review of overvotes and undervotes — ballots where voters either marked too many candidates or left the race blank. That hand review ultimately widened Thomson’s lead to five votes. The final certified totals stood at 7,572 for Thomson and 7,567 for Liebelson.
What Each Candidate Stood For
Thomson, a Democratic lawyer, electrical engineer, and adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University, built his campaign around tax restraint, responsible growth, opposition to handing public land over to private developers, and improving traffic conditions throughout the city. He ran with the support of organized labor and the Florida Democratic Party.
Liebelson ran as a reform-minded outsider aligned with the anti-development sentiment sweeping through Boca Raton’s political landscape. Though not officially endorsed by the Save Boca movement, he drew considerable support from its base. He campaigned on cutting taxes, reducing government spending, and overhauling what he described as a City Hall too cozy with developers.
The race drew unusual levels of attention because both candidates shared opposition to the city’s most controversial development proposals — yet represented opposite ends of the political spectrum. That ideological cross-current made the outcome genuinely unpredictable heading into Election Day.
Recount Controversy and the Threat of a Legal Challenge
Even as the recount process unfolded in public view, tensions ran high. Liebelson sent a formal letter to the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections raising objections to several decisions made during the recount. His team expressed concern about a batch of mail-in ballots added to the count overnight, arguing that the distribution of votes within those ballots appeared disproportionate compared to other mail-in returns.
The Supervisor of Elections pushed back, explaining that the late addition of those ballots was a routine part of the process — reflecting ballots dropped off at polling locations and collected from post offices in the final hours before the deadline.
Liebelson signaled he was considering a legal challenge if the final results held. Whether he ultimately files one remains to be seen. For now, Thomson has been declared the winner and is preparing to take office on March 31, 2026, alongside three newly elected council members: Michelle Grau, Jonathan Pearlman, and Stacy Sipple.
Thomson’s win is historically significant. It marks the first time in more than 30 years that a Democrat-aligned candidate has won the Boca Raton mayor’s seat.
Voters Crush Both Redevelopment Proposals
The mayor’s race was not the only headline from election night. Boca Raton voters rejected two major development referendums by landslide margins, delivering a resounding verdict against the city’s proposed redevelopment agenda.
The first referendum, known as the One Boca plan, asked whether the city should move forward with a public-private partnership to redevelop part of the city-owned government campus. The proposal included plans for a new city hall, a hotel, restaurants, retail shops, and office space. Voters said no — roughly 74% opposed it, with only about 25% in favor.
The second referendum asked voters to approve a 99-year lease of 7.8 acres of city-owned land near the Brightline station to a private developer for a mixed-use project featuring residential units, retail, hotel space, and offices. That measure failed by nearly the same margin, 73% to 27%.
Opponents of both proposals had spent months raising alarms about long lease terms that locked the city into decades-long commitments, increased traffic and congestion, the loss of green space, and what many viewed as an unjustifiable transfer of public assets to private interests. Supporters argued the developments would have modernized Boca Raton’s downtown, created jobs, and built a more walkable urban core.
Voters chose a different path.
Save Boca Takes Control of the Council
Beyond the mayor’s race and the referendums, the election also transformed the makeup of the Boca Raton City Council. All three candidates backed by the Save Boca movement won their council seats decisively, running on a platform of opposing overdevelopment and demanding greater accountability from City Hall. Their victories give the group an outright majority on the dais — a dramatic shift in the balance of power at the local government level.
Voters also rejected a ballot measure that would have funded a new police station through a bond issue. The margin on that vote was closer — approximately 55% against and 45% in favor — but opponents tied it to the broader controversy over public spending and development, and the measure fell short.
Newly elected council member Michelle Grau, one of the Save Boca victors, captured the mood of the evening. “It was a lot of work, but the residents have won,” she said. “We’ve got to build back trust in our city and listen to the residents.”
What Comes Next for Boca Raton
The new council takes office on March 31. The incoming leadership will immediately face pressing questions: What happens to the government campus that voters rejected for redevelopment? How will the city fund a new police station without a bond? And can Mayor-elect Thomson bring together a community that has been sharply divided?
Thomson has said his top priority as mayor will be unifying the city. With a five-vote mandate and a newly empowered coalition on the council, he will need to move carefully — balancing the demands of those who voted for change with the reality that nearly half the city supported a different direction.
The Liebelson camp’s potential legal challenge adds another layer of uncertainty. Until the results are formally certified by the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections, the final chapter of this extraordinary election has not yet been written.
What is clear is that Boca Raton’s voters turned out in record numbers, cared deeply about the outcome, and made their voices heard on every major question on the ballot.
What do you think about the outcome of this election — did Boca Raton voters make the right call? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned for updates as the new mayor takes office on March 31.