Teacher PJ Perez has defeated local business executive Tom Derzypolski in the race for Tallahassee City Commission Seat Three.
Perez received 64 percent of the vote, outpacing Derzypolski's by almost 20,000 votes.
He will take over the seat previously held by Jeremy Matlow, who vacated it to run for mayor. Perez says he’s ready to work with other commissioners elected to bring change to city hall.
“We'll be doing a lot of great work around affordability, around public safety, around protecting the environment, around emphasizing the needs of the urban core and the citizens of Tallahassee. And so, those are some of my focuses for sure. And trying to like listen to what the people have to obviously been saying for the past, you know, 8 to 10 years, and they've been desiring of change and hope to be able to provide that for people," he said.
Perez ran as part of a political coalition alongside Matlow and will now be one of three in a new commission majority formed with those two and Commissioner Jack Porter.
Perez says his victory, and the election of Matlow as Tallahassee's next mayor, is a sign Tallahassee voters want a change from the current status quo.
“People are looking for a change, something different, something more honest and authentic. And I think I think the campaign messaging was around you know around that. I'm a first-time candidate. I'm not a political science major. I'm an anthropology major that teaches high school," he said.
Perez will be sworn in as a commissioner on November 16th, during the city commission's reorganization meeting.
