Democrat Andy Thomson won the election for mayor of Boca Raton, Florida, by the narrowest of margins.
After a machine recount, Thomson defeated Republican Mike Liebelson by one vote.
Thomson will be Boca Raton’s first Democrat mayor in over 30 years.
🚨NEWS: Democrat Andy Thomson has won the Boca Raton mayoral race by just ONE vote.
🔵 Thomson — 7,568
🔴 Liebelson — 7,567With 100% of votes in, Thomson becomes the first Democratic mayor of Boca Raton in over 30 years.
One vote decided the election. pic.twitter.com/c1A4UrnEgC
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) March 13, 2026
Florida Politics explained further:
Boca Raton City Council member Andy Thomson has been declared the winner of the city’s razor-thin mayoral race after a recount confirmed he defeated political newcomer Mike Liebelson by only five votes.
Thomson finished with 7,572 votes to Liebelson’s 7,567.
The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections (SOE) confirmed the outcome of Tuesday’s election after a machine recount and a subsequent manual review of ballots.
Ahead of the recount’s conclusion, Liebelson signaled the possibility of legal action, raising concerns in a letter to the SOE about vote-by-mail ballots added after polls closed and warning that a formal challenge could follow if the final results confirm his loss.
Florida Politics contacted Thomson, who succeeds outgoing Mayor Scott Singer, and Liebelson for comment and will update this report.
The ultra-close race drew attention throughout the week as successive vote counts narrowed the margin between the candidates.
Initial results released Tuesday night showed Thomson leading by just six votes. Because Florida law requires an automatic machine recount when the margin is less than or equal to 0.5% of the vote, election officials began that process Friday morning.
After the machine recount, the margin tightened further, leaving Thomson ahead by only a single vote.
“The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections has completed the recount for the Mayor’s race. Following that process, Andy Thomson has been confirmed as Boca Raton’s newly elected Mayor,” the City of Boca Raton stated.
“The City’s new Mayor and Council Members will be sworn in at an Organizational Meeting on Tuesday, March 31, 2026,” it added.
The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections has completed the recount for the Mayor’s race. Following that process, Andy Thomson has been confirmed as Boca Raton’s newly elected Mayor.
In addition to the mayoral race, Boca Raton voters elected three members to the City Council… pic.twitter.com/vhT0FuTmo7
— City of Boca Raton (@CityBocaRaton) March 13, 2026
Republican Fran Nachlas finished in third place with approximately 20.77% of the vote.
Boca Raton, FL mayor (Trump +13)
🟦Thomson 39.62% (7,568)
🟥Liebelson 39.61% (7,567)
🟥Nachlas 20.77% (3,967)Machine recount finds Andy Thomson has won the Boca Raton mayoral race in Florida by just one vote.
Apparent flip for the Democrats.
Link to results:… https://t.co/gppZhG2mcf pic.twitter.com/y7UUpsk0Tl
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) March 13, 2026
More from The Palm Beach Post:
Liebelson said after the recount that he wasn’t sure he will accept the results. He spoke of a “dump” of 109 mail-in ballots late in the election and wondered aloud if that might have “skewed” the result to Thomson.
“The people of Boca deserve to have honest elections, and we had a situation where 109 vote-by-mail ballots were dumped in,” said Liebelson, who said he would “sleep on it” when asked if he was planning a legal challenge.
In response to Liebelson’s comments, Link said: “I believe that our election process is very open, transparent, fair and accurate.”
Thomson’s victory came after he emerged as a skeptic of the One Boca project that called for giving a developer a 99-year-lease to 7.8 acres near the Brightline station downtown for a boutique hotel, a grocery store and 947 residences. The city said the money it received in return would pay for a new City Hall, a community center and a police substation.
Voters soundly rejected a ballot question that would have cleared the way for One Boca, with 75% opposing it. They also voted in three new City Council members who questioned the project and who called on the city to grow at a slower pace, and rejected a $175 million bond issue to build a new public-safety complex.
Thomson, a 43-year-old attorney, and Liebelson, a 70-year-old retired chemical engineer, ran for mayor on slow-growth platforms against Deputy Mayor Fran Nachlas, who supported One Boca. She finished third in the balloting, about 3,600 votes behind Thomson and Liebelson.
Thomson said he wanted the city to move away from public-private partnerships like it had with the Terra-Frisbee group for projects on the scale of One Boca.
“We don’t need to be giving away land for a developer to build on it,” Thomson said shortly after the elections office certified the vote totals. “We can rebuild our facilities ourselves.”
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