Ghazvini vs. Matlow in a Final Feud as City Hall Hangs in the Balance — and Leon Turnout Climbs to Nearly 43 Percent
On the last day before the election, Tallahassee's biggest developer and the commissioner running for mayor are giving dueling accounts of a private meeting, the road signs are flashing again — this time with a disclaimer — and more than 79,000 Leon County ballots are already in.
One of Tallahassee's most prominent developers, Steve Ghazvini, and City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow continued to spar on the final day before the Tuesday, Nov. 3 election over a private meeting they held last year, shortly after Matlow filed to run for mayor. The flashpoint is the $200,000 contribution Matlow's political committee, Friends of Jeremy Matlow, received Oct. 19 from the Green Advocacy Project, a San Francisco-area group that supports renewable energy — perhaps the single biggest contribution in Tallahassee history, disclosed in recent campaign finance reports.
The two accounts of the Aug. 28, 2025 meeting do not match. Ghazvini wrote that Matlow "met with us to seek financial and political support" and that "we declined because we fundamentally disagree with his aggressive political positions," adding that "our meeting was respectful and cordial" and that "there was absolutely no conversation about him matching monies." Matlow, in a Nov. 2 text, agreed the meeting was respectful and cordial but said the Ghazvinis "haven't been truthful in their political ads or their recollection of our meeting," and said: "I have never asked the Ghazvinis for financial support."
The Ghazvini-funded electronic road signs backing Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox are flashing again too — urging people to "vote for" her, but now carrying paper signs identifying them as a "paid political advertisement" by Carter Pipe, listing 4708 Capital Circle NW. The signs first appeared in mid-October without saying who paid for them, went dark after Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley raised concerns, and have changed messages several times since.
Underneath the feud, the county is voting at a pace Leon has not seen in a midterm in a decade. Turnout climbed to nearly 43 percent on Monday morning, with more than 79,000 ballots cast by mail and early voting, and Earley predicted overall turnout would hit 65 percent or more — in the neighborhood of 2018, a decade high. As of 10:30 a.m. Monday, Democratic turnout stood at about 50.52 percent against 38.15 percent for Republicans, a reversal from the statewide red wave of two years ago, in a county where Democrats make up nearly 48 percent of voters, Republicans nearly 30 percent and others roughly 22 percent. A progressive slate — Matlow, Dot Inman-Johnson against Williams-Cox, and P.J. Perez against Tom Derzypolski for an open commission seat — is trying to wrest control of City Hall from its establishment-minded majority. Polls open Tuesday at 7 a.m.
