A $200,000 Check for Matlow Caps a Tallahassee City Hall Money Race Past $3 Million
Newly filed finance records show the largest single check in city election memory landing in the mayor's race in the campaign's final days.
The money race for Tallahassee City Hall passed $3 million in the campaign's final days, and its biggest single moment was a check: the Green Advocacy Project, a national climate advocacy organization, wrote $200,000 to Friends of Jeremy Matlow, the mayoral candidate's political committee, in a contribution dated Oct. 19, according to newly filed campaign finance records reported by the Tallahassee Democrat. The Democrat reported the check may be the single largest ever dropped into a Tallahassee municipal election.
The group is a familiar donor in city politics. It contributed $150,000 to Matlow's One Tallahassee committee during the 2024 cycle, and its new contribution alone eclipses that total. Matlow said in an email reported by the Democrat that the money was meant to counter contributions from the Ghazvini family, prominent local developers who oppose the progressives, to Tallahassee United — the committee behind mailers and texts attacking Matlow and his allies, which raised $447,750 and spent $414,000.
Across the city, county, school board and county judge races, candidates raised a combined $2.58 million and spent $2.27 million, figures the Democrat reported easily exceed $3 million once PACs and political parties are counted. Loranne Ausley, Matlow's opponent in the mayor's race, remained the top local fundraiser with $587,583 through Oct. 16; Matlow raised $313,374. Prediction markets moved toward Ausley in the final stretch — 74 percent on Kalshi and 72.5 percent on Polymarket — though the experts quoted in the reporting cautioned that betting markets are not scientific polls. Voters decide the races on Tuesday.
