Every Tallahassee and Leon County local political office incumbent up for reelection this year is outpacing their challenger in fundraising, according to campaign finance reports released last week.
However, the finances in several of the races are so close the balance could change at any time. This year’s election cycle brings two races that could change the balance of the 3-2 split at Tallahassee City Hall. Frequent member of the majority bloc Commissioner Curtis Richardson and progressive-leaning Commissioner Jack Porter are both up for reelection against challengers who are receiving support from the opposing bloc.
It also features the first partisan superintendent contest in recent history and an expensive showdown for the Leon County Commission’s Northwest district. Each of those contests will likely burn through hundreds of thousands before the November elections, as every competitive city and county election last cycle surpassed that.
But how the local races are spending won’t be clear for several months. The next financial report will come out on June 10th.
With that in mind, here is the campaign finance breakdown of five hotly contested local races this year:
Tallahassee City Commission Seat 1
Jacqueline "Jack" Porter (Incumbent) - $72,762
Rudolph "Rudy" Ferguson, Sr. - $65,542
Louis Dilbert - $20,958
Anthony DeMarco – $0
David Wamsley - $0
The seat one race is the closest fundraising battle among the races highlighted in this article. Incumbent Commissioner Jack Porter has a narrow money lead, but one of her opponent’s fundraising sources suggests Porter could be passed in coming weeks.
Pastor Rudy Ferguson is the favored candidate among the three-elected official bloc that currently controls the commission and feuds with Porter and fellow commissioner Jeremy Matlow. Ferguson has been endorsed by Mayor John Dailey. City Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox gave $250 to his campaign. Porter has continued to receive support from elected officials in the progressive bloc, including a $1,000 donation from Matlow and a $750 donation from Leon County Commission David O’Keefe.
Ferguson has been more successful than Porter at courting the business community. $21,460 of his total stems from businesses, while Porter has only received $2,250 from business donors. She instead has amassed her lead to this point thanks to having more smaller-dollar individual donors.
Porter received donations from 424 unique donors, compared to the 173 that gave to Ferguson and the 228 individuals that have donated to Louis Dilbert’s campaign. Porter’s average donor gave $171.6, while Ferguson’s average donor gave $378.85.
While Ferguson’s fundraising efforts are close to Porter’s, they are trailing far behind the candidate last cycle who sought to unseat a member of the progressive bloc. At this time in the 2022 cycle, David Bellamy had fundraised $200,980 in his unsuccessful race to unseat Matlow. Bellamy is supporting Ferguson, having donated $1,000. Fifteen colleagues of Bellamy at the Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic also gave Ferguson a combined $11,000 on March 25th.
However, Ferguson has not yet received donations from prominent developers and real estate companies in Tallahassee that have historically backed the politicians that are supporting Ferguson, including NAI TALCOR and the Ghazvini family’s Premier Fine Homes. Donations from those companies and their subsidiaries alone could close the fundraising gap between Porter and Ferguson.
Tallahassee City Commission Seat 2
Curtis Richardson (Incumbent) - $79,660
Dorothy Inman-Johnson - $38,462
Bernard Stevens Jr - $250
For the progressive bloc to gain control at city hall this election cycle, is must both protect Porter’s seat while unseating incumbent Commissioner Curtis Richardson. Supporters hope former Tallahassee Mayor, Dorothy Inman-Johnson, can do just that.
Matlow has strongly supported Inman-Johnson, not only giving $1,000 to her campaign but also hosting canvassing events for her and attacking Richardson on social media. Richardson has in turn received financial support from a host of other electeds and their families, including Williams-Cox, Mayor John Dailey’s wife Virginia Dailey and State Attorney Jack Campbell.
Aside from support from politicians, Richardson has received $24,000 from Tallahassee businesses compared to Inman-Johnson’s $1850. Richardson’s total includes $5,000 from NAI TALCOR and $9,200 from members of the Ghazvini family and the businesses they control. Both candidates also have a similar number of donors, with Richardson getting money from 195 donors and Inman-Johnson from 250.
While she is getting outraised by more than 2 to 1, Inman-Johnson is faring better financially than the progressive’s last attempt to unseat a member of the three-commissioner bloc. At this time in 2022, progressive candidate Adner Marcelin had only fundraised about $11,500 in his unsuccessful bid against Williams-Cox. But Richardson is outpacing Williams-Cox’s 2022 fundraising, which was only at about $50,000 at this time.
Leon County Commission District 4
Brian Welch (Incumbent) - $140,733
Isaac Montilla - $84,532
This race for the Northeast Leon County seat has turned into the most expensive race locally this election cycle.
Commissioner Brian Welch has amassed a war chest larger than any other local candidate so far this cycle. He has also had the widest fundraising outreach, receiving money from 475 individuals and businesses.
However, challenger Isaac Montilla is no fundraising slouch. His almost $85,000 total is the third-highest local purse so far. He has also had similar success courting Leon County businesses, bringing in $26,450 from the business community compared to Welch’s $30,500.
Where Welch has amassed his lead is with the individual donor gap. Montilla only has 151 individual donors compared to Welch’s 422. Welch has also consolidated support across the local political divide that has overtaken much of Tallahassee’s City Hall. He received a donation from both Matlow and several development businesses that supported Bellamy against Matlow last election cycle.
Leon County Superintendent of Schools
Rocky Hanna (Incumbent) - $130,835
Joseph Burgess - $38,981
Genleah Swain - $4,415
Incumbent Rocky Hanna appears to be his party's favorite in Democrat-leaning Leon County.
While he has a Democratic challenger in Genleah Swain, support from local party figures have consolidated around Hanna. He has received donations from local figures like Welch and Richardson, as well as Democratic State Reps. Allsion Tant and Gallop Franklin, state Senate candidate and civil rights attorney Darryl Parks, and former Florida Senator Loranne Ausley. That support, plus his outraising Swain almost ten times over should give him an edge in the primary.
Waiting for Hanna in the general election is independent Joseph Burgess, who is trailing the current superintendent in fundraising by about 3 to 1. Burgess hasn’t struggled with getting donors. He has 168 donors to Hanna’s 280. But Hanna’s supporters have been willing to fork over more cash. He’s averaging $467 a donation to Burgess’ $232 average.
Hanna has also fundraised more than any other local candidate from businesses, bringing in $31,250. Burgess has only received $4,350 from the business community.
Leon County School Board District 4
Laurie Lawson Cox - $45,875
Jeremy Rogers - $23,660
While the fundraising totals for this race are smaller than the other highlighted races, the challenger in the race has just started his campaign.
Firefighter Jeremy Rogers entered the race at the start of March, two-thirds of the way into the first quarter of 2024. Despite that, his $11,660 fundraised and $12,000 self-loan outraised incumbent Laurie Lawson Cox’s $20,800 during that quarter. He also has 95 donors so far, compared to the 120 donors she has received money from despite being registered in the race for a year.
Cox, a registered Republican, has been a frequent target of criticism from the local Democratic Party, as she was supported by the conservative parent group Mom’s for Liberty when she was first elected in 2022 and attended Gov. Ron DeSantis fundraiser events. Cox received donations from County Commissioner Brian Welch and former county commissioner Bryan Desloge this election cycle.
Rogers has received support from members of the local progressive faction, including receiving donations from Matlow and County Commissioner David O’Keefe. He was also the first candidate to receive an endorsement from the Tallahassee Professional Firefighters union, which is currently being backed by the progressive faction in a contract standoff with the City of Tallahassee.