Unofficial results show Hagen Brody and Jen Ahearn-Koch likely received the most votes ever in a race for the City Commission.

SARASOTA -- Former Planning Board member Jen Ahearn-Koch and attorney Hagen Brody will represent the entire city as the Sarasota City Commission's next at-large members.

Brody secured the most votes in the runoff election that ended Tuesday night, with almost 74.6 percent of voters casting one of their two votes for him, after largely avoiding the controversies that pitted Ahearn-Koch and businessman Martin Hyde against one another in recent weeks.

Ahearn-Koch soundly defeated Hyde for the second at-large seat -- receiving votes from 59.5 percent of ballots cast, well over Hyde's 36.5 percent -- following a divisive and sometimes vitriolic battle over her comments about sanctuary cities and questions about his temperament.

Total voter turnout crept over 23 percent, topping other citywide elections in recent years, and unofficial results show Brody and Ahearn-Koch likely received the most votes ever in a race for the City Commission.

Brody, who will be the youngest member on the commission at 35, said after the win that he hopes to move on from the frenetic campaign to the complicated issues facing the city. This the first elected position for the former prosecutor.

“To have the voters reinforce their trust in me and the issues that I have been discussing and we have been discussing over the last several months actually inspires me even more to address some of these lingering issues,” Brody said. “I’m looking forward to it because over the course of the campaign I’ve been thinking about implementation … Overarching all the issues we’ve been talking about, I think it’s important to re-establish the public trust in the City Commission as an institution that can address these issues.”

Ahearn-Koch, 52, a co-founder of the STOP! development control group, echoed the same sentiment and stressed she is ready to move past the testy campaign.

She and Hyde traded barbs over the past two weeks in particular that had little to do with issues facing the commission in the nonpartisan race. Hyde and the local GOP blasted comments Ahearn-Koch made in March about whether Sarasota should become a sanctuary city and Ahearn-Koch seized on Hyde’s connection to the Republican Party and reports that shed light on his contentious divorce and interactions with local police.

“City issues are city issues and people want to focus on what affects them, so when you try to distract them from it, they recognize it,” she said. “Our electorate here, they are so smart and so engaged … This whole election result is a testament to the fact that Hagen and I do our homework.”

Hyde, 51, regrets nothing about the race, he said. He feels he sufficiently challenged the usual conversation around City Hall, and his blunt and bombastic style has consistently rankled those already established in local political circles.

“It’s better to get thrashed than to get beat by 26 votes,” he said. “It’s a pretty strong message people didn’t care for me as a candidate and didn't care for the issues I brought up. It doesn’t leave a lot of room for doubt. I don’t harbor any grudge or any resentment toward any of it.”

Hyde also becomes the latest candidate to lose a bid despite raising the most money, following Eileen Normile and Richard Dorfman. Through April 25, Hyde raised a record $74,600 -- already above the $70,581 raised by Mary Anne Servian in 2007, even without the final campaign finance report -- that is almost more than Brody and Ahearn-Koch's fundraising combined.

Most of Hyde's contributions came from his own funds and loans to his campaign and he stands by the high financial and emotional cost of the campaign, he said.

“I spent the price of a fancy kitchen or a modest boat, so what?” Hyde said. “I found out something. I enjoyed the journey. Was it worth it? I could argue it was for sure in life experience … I’ll make the money back.

“I don’t regret the money, I don’t regret the time, I don’t regret the energy, I don’t regret any of it,” he continued. “Regrets are for suckers. What would be the fun in playing a game you knew the outcome of? Nobody would watch that.”

Hyde is already suggesting he’ll run again, though not for the City Commission.

After a hard-fought, eight-month campaign, Ahearn-Koch and Brody will get no break. The commission’s next meeting agenda will be published this afternoon, they will be sworn in Friday and they will take their new seats at the commission's meeting Monday.

The special swearing-in ceremony ceremony for the four-year terms to the commission’s two at-large begins at noon Friday in City Hall.

They will replace outgoing commissioners Suzanne Atwell and Susan Chapman, who are expected to deliver some final remarks after Mayor Willie Shaw’s State of the City address.