The field for City Commission seat three has already begun to take shape. So far, four candidates have filed to run. Those four are community advocate Talethia Edwards, teacher PJ Perez, political consultant Max Herrle and current Costco employee and former Pinellas County Commissioner Norm Roche.
Edwards and Perez have had campaign launch events over the past two weeks, while Herrle and Roche haven't had theirs yet. Here's what I saw at those launch parties.
Talethia Edwards’ Launch Party
Edwards held her launch party at Early's Kitchen on South Monroe Street. In attendance was recently announced mayoral candidate Darryl Parks. The party also featured several local political players like Grow Tallahassee’s Bugra Demirel.
Her event was kicked off with her receiving an endorsement and an introduction from Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey,
John Dailey: Through the good, the bad, the ugly. This woman has never left my side…. When we have hurricanes, when we have tornadoes, when as a community, we're dealing with the tough issues that we deal with each and every day, Talethia Edwards has never left this community alone. She has always been in the streets. She has always been a fighter. She has always been a leader. Now she's going to take it to the next level
During her speech, Edwards expressed her connection to Tallahassee.
Talethia Edwards: 25 years ago, I came to Tallahassee a first-generation college student from Miami. I thought I was coming here just for an education, but I found something much bigger, like the canopy oaks that stretch wide and strong this city gave me roots and shade. Like the red clay hills, it shaped me, steadying my steps, even when the path was steep. This city girl found more than a campus. I found a place to call home.
She says her experience working in the community, as well as founding the greater bond neighborhood association, is what qualifies her for the job.
Talethia Edwards: I spent most of my time in the trenches, listening, leading, building coalition and solving problems, and now I'm ready to bring that same spirit to the city. Yeah, my heartbeat has been to make sure no one is invisible and no one is left behind. And while this is where the work began. For me, I understand that it takes a well rounded focus leader to service the over 200,000 citizens in this community.
PJ Perez’s Launch Party
A few days after Edwards's launch, Perez held his own watch party at his friend Matt Cooper's house in Midtown. It was attended by political players in Tallahassee progressive movement, like City Commissioner Jack Porter. Ryan Ray, the chair of the Leon County Democratic Party and aide to city commissioner Jeremy Matlow, introduced Perez at the event.
Perez leaned into his lack of political experience and emphasized his experience as a teacher, four of his former students at sale High School performed a song that he coached them are Mars Lovell was one of them.
Mars Lovel: He was one of the most engaging, and I don't know, all around esthetic and kind teachers I've ever met in my whole life. He was probably one of the only classes that I had where I got an A for every quarter. But that's just how great of a teacher he was. He's a great man, and he is there for the community, so, like he was there for us, and he'll be there for you.
In his speech to the crowd, Perez positioned himself against the current three Commissioner majority block at City Hall. He made jokes about Daly's endorsement as well as what he called development sprawl in Tallahassee.
PJ Perez: I don't know if you noticed, but Mayor Daley isn't here. He's not going to give me money. That's okay. They can work without him, right? …… So, this is kind of what we've been seeing with this pro-growth models, a lot of vape shops, lot of mattress stores, car washes. Can y'all think of anything else gas station join? So, I think we're we hit our limit, and I think we're good on those.
He also messaged against Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency projects, including the 20 some million dollars to do Campbell stadium renovations and the Northeast Gateway project.
PJ Perez: Imagine if we had those hundreds of millions of millions of dollars that we could spend on things like making our community centers more robust. Think about after-school programs. Think about mentorship programs. Think about the pipeline of people from FAMU or FSU that have invested in trying to give people, not just the students, but also people in the community with workforce and skill developments, wellness programs and.
What can you expect from WFSU's Campaign coverage?
So what's next with these elections in Tallahassee? The primary elections are on August 18 of next year. That's a long way away, and we're going to be doing a lot of reporting between now and then.
WFSU will be working on asking all candidates in local races to come into the studio for an extended Q&A where you can learn more about them, and so we can ask them some of the most pressing questions about the policy issues important to residents of Tallahassee.
WFSU also hosts candidate forums each election cycle where we invite all the candidates to come and field the same questions about Tallahassee is most pressing issues.
What questions do you want me to ask these candidates throughout this election cycle? Shoot reporter Tristan Wood an email at tristan@wfsu.org with your questions, or DM him on his Instagram.