Former Pinellas County Commissioner Norm Roche is running for the Tallahassee City Commission seat Jeremy Matlow is leaving open in 2026 due to his Mayoral run.
During his time on the Pinellas County Commission starting in 2010, Roche supported removing fluoride from the county’s water and opposed a tax increase for expanding public transportation. He lost a bid for another term during the Republican Primary for the seat in 2014.
Roche now works at Costco’s membership desk in Tallahassee. He says he became interested in running for the city commission after his nephew left the Tallahassee Fire Department amid a recent standoff between the city and the firefighter union. He wants to bring more businesses and jobs to the city.
“We've got some of the brightest folks coming out of our colleges here, FSU, FAMU, TSC, and we have our folks here in town, and we need to build around that so that these folks can stay here. They can build their lives here, their families here, and grow with Tallahassee and Leon together,” he said.
For the past several years, a 3-2 split at city hall and spats from the dais have captured headlines. The minority bloc has advocated for reshaping leadership at city hall, including ousting city manager Reese Goad. Roche said he thinks the city has been run well, but believes the commission has been distracted by politics.
“From my view of it, you seem to have a couple of moderate, reasonable Democrats, and then you have some that are a little more left progressive leaning. And that's the ideology behind it. It's not one way or the other. You've got to leave your ideology and your political badges, if you will, at the door, sit at the dais and work together for the benefit of the city, period,” he said.
Roche previously ran for the Pinellas County commission as a Democrat but was elected as a Republican. He has now been an NPA for 10 years.
Also currently running for the seat are community advocate Talethia Edwards and
teacher PJ Perez.