mid-2023. Education Primary and secondary education Manatee County School District – Public K-12 School district serving all of Manatee County Higher education Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) Bradenton – Private, non-profit graduate school of medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy State College of Florida, Manatee–Sarasota (SCF) – Public, four-year state college, branch campus of State College of Florida Communities Cities Anna Maria Bradenton Bradenton Beach Holmes Beach Palmetto Town Longboat Key Census-designated places Bayshore Gardens Cortez Ellenton Lakewood Ranch Memphis Samoset South Bradenton West Bradenton West Samoset Whitfield Unincorporated places Cedar Hammock Duette Elwood Park Fort Hamer Foxleigh Gillette Lake Manatee Manavista Manhattan Marsh Island Memphis Heights Myakka City Oak Knoll Oneco Palm View Palma Sola Parrish Rattlesnake Key Rubonia Rye Snead Island Tara Terra Ceia Verna Village of the Arts Ward Lake Waterbury Willow Transportation Manatee County has a county transportation service, MCAT. It serves this county, Pinellas County, and Sarasota County. Airports Sarasota–Bradenton International Airport Airport Manatee 48X, a small local airport located near US Highway 41 and SeaPort Manatee. Major Roads Interstates Interstate 75 - The County's major North-South limited-access freeway, with a portion of the Interstate having express lanes between the interchanges with US 301 in Ellenton (Exit 224) and State Road 64 in Bradenton (Exit 220). There is a total of 5 Interchanges for I-75 in Manatee County, with most having at least six lanes in half of the freeway (North of Manatee River) and the other half having at least eight lanes (South of Manatee River) Interstate 275 -The Interstate begins westward from I-75 near Palmetto and has an interchange with US Highway 41 (Tamiami Trail) and begins a concurrency with US Route 19 for the next 13 miles (21 km). Travellers will soon reach the northbound toll plaza for the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge spams throughout Tampa Bay until it reaches St. Petersburg US Highways U.S. Route 19 U.S. Route 41 U.S. Route 301 State and County Roads State Road 64 State Road 70 State Road 684 (Cortez Road) State Road 789 State Road 62 State Road 37 Rutland Road University Parkway Waterways Intracoastal Waterway Manatee River Ports SeaPort Manatee Government Political history Manatee County is part of the strongly Republican Sun Belt. The area became a Republican stronghold following World War II and has remained so since: the last Democrat to win Manatee County was Franklin D. Roosevelt in