(Fort Lauderdale, Florida) Fort Lauderdale voters Tuesday elected Jack Seiler mayor, replacing Jim Naugle who for two decades had been blamed for divisive anti-gay rhetoric.

Two gay candidates trailed despite newspaper ads by the Dolphin Democrats, the county’s LGBT Democratic Party club, which made sure the LGBT community knew Naugle had endorsed Seiler.

Nevertheless, it is doubtful Seiler will be as polarizing as Naugle. He has received an LGBT community award and although he did not reject Naugle’s endorsement, he said during the campaign he supported diversity in the city.

Seiler defeated ex-city Commissioner Dean Trantalis, businessman Earl Rynerson and attorney Steve Rossi. Trantalis and Rynerson are openly gay.

Trantalis was elected to the City Commission in 2003 and has served as Deputy Mayor. Although he is openly gay, Rynerson ran on a conservative platform.

Seiler will be sworn in on March 17, officially ending Naugle’s 18 year grip on the city.

In 2007, Naugle created a stir when he claimed that gay sex is rampant in public washrooms on the beach and called for the city to spend a quarter-million dollars on a replacement toilet that he said would end the problem.

The remarks angered the city’s gay community which launched a “flush Naugle” campaign to flood his office email with “virtual toilet paper.” The police department said there had been only one arrest at the toilet on the stretch of beach known for its gay sunbathers.

Naugle announced he would issue an apology, but instead turned it into another broadside against the gay community.

The conservative Democrat said he was apologizing for what he claimed was underestimating the problem and said that the county had the highest rate of new HIV/AIDS cases involving men having sex with men in the country.

Naugle then suggested the county tourism office should rethink its ad campaigns that welcome gays to the area.

Last year, nearly one million gays and lesbians visited Broward County, spending more than one billion dollars.