This story is part of a statewide partnership of 27 nonpartisan newsrooms and universities working to help Florida voters make informed decisions in the 2026 school board elections. Learn more about the Florida Elections Reporting Partnership.
Gordon M. Porter is running against the current incumbent Bill Eddins Jr. for Walton County School Board District 3. The primary election is August 18.
Eddins, 59, did not respond to numerous emails, calls and text messages seeking an interview about his candidacy. He does not appear to have an official campaign website or social media page.
In a candidate statement on VoterFocus, Eddins said he is seeking reelection because he believes he has the skills necessary to serve as a strong board member and to promote transparent government. He also emphasized communication among faculty, parents and students throughout the county.
Eddins said he has a record of fiscal responsibility with taxpayer dollars, both as a school board member and in his professional life. He said he supports academic excellence while preserving extracurricular opportunities that help students become well-rounded.
Porter, 32, was born and raised in Walton County. He and his wife, Genesee, have a five‑year‑old and three‑year‑old.
He was the youngest president of the North Walton Republican Club, and is the current Republican State Committeeman for Walton, acting as bridge between the county and the Republican Party of Florida.
“I’ve been kind of running two parallel careers both in politics and in consulting construction engineering,” he said.
His biggest success has been becoming a senior project manager at a construction engineering firm Building Engineering Consultants Inc., a position he has held for the past two years.
“I’ve gone from basically the bottom rung of the ladder,” he said. “Now I serve as the senior project manager and have been blessed enough to be promoted up the ladder several rungs in that short amount of time.”
He characterized his biggest failure as waiting to marry and have children.
“[What] I learned from that is not being scared to take a risk or two,” he said.
Porter said he is running because he believes Walton County can’t afford to have a school board who won’t make their personal principles and convictions clear and make decisions based on them.
“One of the best quotes I ever heard is that any institution that’s not explicitly right wing or conservative will always trend left,” he said.
He said the school board needs members who say no whenever “the threats come.” An example of a threat he gave was the Department of Health approving certain sex education curriculum. He understands the discomfort of religion in the political arena, but said that without conservative pushback the left will make policy off their ideology.
“Very much what Charlie Kirk had pushed for and advocated for,” he said. “The Christian conservative movement, if they’re not willing to grow a spine and stand strong and not be ashamed of what they believe in, then it’s not going to work out very well for the entire nation.”
Porter said schools should reconsider the Bible’s role in education. He linked the removal of the Bible and school prayer to social problems among teenagers and declining academic standards.
“The proof is in the pudding,” he said. “It’s a hard conversation to have, but I think it’s a conversation worth having.”
Porter said he wants school policies guided by a Christian worldview while protecting teachers’ and staff members’ rights to express any faith.
“They have a First Amendment right to do that,” he said. “I would fight to the death for their First Amendment right to do that.”
If elected, Porter said he would prioritize making Walton County School Board meetings more accessible to the public. He said the district should follow neighboring counties by livestreaming meetings, potentially using the work as a hands-on opportunity for students in school IT programs.
“For most parents and anybody who really has a job, 5 o’clock is not exactly the most opportune time to join a meeting where decisions for your child’s future are happening,” he said.
Porter said Walton County’s fast population growth has created pressure on its schools, though he views the expansion positively. Drawing on his construction-engineering experience, he said he could help the district control costs by identifying unnecessary project expenses early in the process.
He said he wanted to be cautious about promising dates for projects to be completed, arguing that setting deadlines encourages corner-cutting by the builder or more money at the expense of the county.
“In project management, there’s no way to get away from a hard deadline,” he said. “But being smart and careful in how you set expectations with the public needs to be improved.”
On the topic of academics, Porter said the problem is low standards and missing courses that teach life skills. Basic finance classes, paying your taxes, and culinary arts were a few he mentioned.
“We have some agricultural programs and things like that throughout the county,” he said. “I do think we’re not as proficient in that as we should be.”
He said one of his plans is to bring in classical education consultants such as Hillsdale College. He said raising the standard of education and the standard of what kids are capable of is something that everybody on the board could get behind.
“Our goal should be producing a quality education that a child can go through life on and have a rock solid foundation and go to an Ivy League school,” he said.
Porter lost his previous school board race by about a three‑point gap to incumbent Shane Eddins, but remains optimistic this time about winning.
“I really hope so,” Porter said. “You know, the feeling on the ground is very good.”
