Tallahassee Commissioner Curtis Richardson survived a contentious challenge by a narrow margin during Tuesday’s general election.
Richardson received 41,948 votes, or 50.72% of all votes cast. His challenger, Dot Inman-Johnson, got 40,769, about 1,200 short.
The results come after a divisive political season from two warring local political factions: on one side the current majority bloc at city hall backed financially by many Tallahassee businesses versus a progressive minority bloc who’s received backing from out-of-state green energy and progressive benefactors.
Inman-Johnson had a slim lead in early and mail-in voting, but votes cast on election day flipped the race towards Richardson. As the flip started to happen, the mood at Richardson’s election night watch party exploded. The commissioners and his supporters sang and danced.
Richardson said he is celebrating election night but is ready to get back to work for Wednesday’s commission meeting.
“I am honored that the voters of this city have given me another opportunity to serve them on the City Commission. I've devoted almost half of my adult life here in Tallahassee to serving this community in various capacities, and so I'm looking forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on the commission staff to continue to move this city forward and to address the issues that the residents have told us are important to them,” he said.
One of the most visibly ecstatic people at his watch party was fellow commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox. As the race started turning in Richardson’s favor, she jumped up and down and exclaimed “come on Jesus, come on Jesus.”
She said she’s proud of the work the commission has done and is glad Richardson is coming back.
“We're moving in our city in the right direction, and I do not want to go back, much like the national theme is, we're not going back. We need to keep moving forward. And this divisiveness that has occurred that I had nothing to do with is dragging us down, and we need to come together and keep moving our city forward,” she said.
After the results rolled in showing she had lost, Inman-Johnson told WFSU she congratulates Richardson, but the race being so close shows her message resonated with Tallahassee voters.
“The community was divided between me and Curtis, because he only won by one percentage, and that indicates that all of the issues that I brought forward that were important to city residents are still just as important. If they don't get off their rear end and address those issues, it might not be a 1% win the next time,” she said.
The contest was the most expensive local race this cycle. Richardson spent almost $250,000 from his campaign account over the course of the race. Two developer-run political committees, Grow Tallahassee and Citizens for Balanced Growth, spent over $218,000 after August’s primary election to back Richardson in the general election. Significant portions of that money came from local developers and registered Republicans.
Inman-Johnson spent $80,000 from her campaign account, but received over $164,000 from Tallahassee Commissioner Jeremy Matlow’s One Tallahassee PC after the primaries. Most of that money came from out-of-state environmental and progressive groups Matlow and his allies have received support from for years.
The 2026 elections will have three seats up for grabs meaning voters will soon have another chance to consider the balance of power at city hall. But for now, most Tallahassee voters have decided to keep the status quo