Dade’s elected part-time coroner, Johnny Gray, who has successfully run as a Democrat five times, pulled it off again even in these pachyderm-dominated days, defeating Republican contender Danny Hall 3,154 to 2,611 in Tuesday’s general election.

In Dade, the coroner position does not require a medical degree, just a general knowledge of medicine; and Hall and Gray have similar backgrounds as paramedics. Hall had served as the county coroner from 1989-’93, and Gray started his tenure as deputy coroner under him.

Campaign issues were few and far between in the coroner’s race, illustrating the sometimes-nebulous role of political affiliation in local politics.