DeSantis Appoints Neil Rainford To Sarasota County Commission Seat

SARASOTA, FL — Neil Rainford will fill the Sarasota County Board of County Commission District 3 seat left vacant after Commissioner Nancy Detert died in April.

He was appointed to the seat on Friday by Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to a news release from the governor’s office. Rainford will be sworn in Tuesday.

Detert, who was vice chair of the commission, was found dead in her Venice home on April 5. She was 78.

• Also Read: Commissioner Nancy Detert Dies At 78: Sarasota County

She was first elected to the Sarasota County Commission in 2016, winning re-election in 2020.

The Republican also served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1998 to 2006 and the Florida Senate from 2008 to 2016, and sat on the Sarasota County School Board from 1988 to 1992.

Rainford, who lives in Sarasota, is a senior project executive at Mullet’s Aluminum Products, Inc. He is currently appointed to the Sarasota County Planning Commission and was previously elected to the Sarasota County Charter Review Board.

He joined the Republican Executive Committee in 2018 and has been elected to serve as secretary twice, in 2020 and 2020, according to the Republican Party of Sarasota County website.