Wellington election results: Napoleone elected new mayor; village annexes 257 acres

Valentina Palm, Palm Beach Post
Updated ·2 min read

WELLINGTON — Two-term council member Michael Napoleone is Wellington's new mayor after defeating newcomer Bart Novak in the village election Tuesday, according to preliminary results from Palm Beach County's Supervisor of Elections.

Napoleone, a lawyer and a village resident for more than 20 years, received almost 80% of the votes in the Tuesday, March 19, election. He will succeed longtime mayor Anne Gerwig, who left office because of term limits.

"I am honored and grateful that our residents put their faith and trust in me to help lead Wellington forward as their next mayor," Napoleone said.

"The future of Wellington is bright."

Michael Napoleone
Michael Napoleone

A majority of voters also approved the annexing 257 acres of unincorporated land along Southern Boulevard and Seminole Pratt Whitney Road into the village. The annexation marks the first time Wellington's boundaries will ever extended north of Southern Boulevard.

Palm Beach County election results: See how your community voted

The two other Village Council seats on the ballot will be decided in an April 2 runoff election as no candidate received 50% of the total votes cast.

For Seat 1, Amanda Silvestri and Bob Margolis appeared to be headed for a runoff.

Silvestri, who owns an insurance agency with her husband, secured 31.45% of the votes and Margolis, a former Wellington mayor, got 26.39%. Candidate John "Jay" Webber trailed close behind with 25.53% of the votes.

For Seat 4, the village will elect its first Hispanic council member in a runoff between Maria Antuña and Shelly Albright.

Antuña, the CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce won 31.18% of the vote total while Albright, the youth programming director for St. Peter’s United Methodist Church, received 30.79% of the ballots.

The election results are expected to be certified in the next several days.

Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Palm Springs and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Wellington election results: Michael Napoleone elected new mayor