$200,000 Check Lands in Tallahassee's Mayor's Race as City Hall Money Tops $3 Million and Turnout Nears 36 Percent
A national climate group's $200,000 check to Jeremy Matlow's political committee may be the largest single check in a Tallahassee municipal election, the Tallahassee Democrat reported, in a City Hall fight where committees have pushed total spending past $3 million - and Leon County turnout is already near 36 percent with a day of early voting left.
Outside money is pouring into Tallahassee's City Hall races in the final days before the Nov. 3 election. The Green Advocacy Project, a national climate advocacy organization, wrote a $200,000 check dated Oct. 19 to Friends of Jeremy Matlow, the political committee supporting the city commissioner in the mayor's race, according to newly filed campaign finance records reported by the Tallahassee Democrat. The Democrat reported the contribution may be the single largest check ever dropped into a Tallahassee municipal election, eclipsing the $150,000 the same group gave Matlow's One Tallahassee committee in the 2024 cycle.
The money is flowing on the other side as well. Tallahassee United, a committee running mailers, commercials and texts against Matlow and Dot Inman-Johnson, raised $447,750 and spent $414,000, with Ghazvini-family development companies giving at least $175,000, the Democrat reported. City, county, school board and county judge candidates together raised a combined $2.58 million and spent $2.27 million, a figure the Democrat reported easily exceeds $3 million once PAC and party money is counted. Loranne Ausley, Matlow's opponent in the mayor's race, was the top local fundraiser at $587,583 through Oct. 16, ahead of Matlow's $313,374.
Turnout, meanwhile, is running high for a midterm. As of 9 a.m. Saturday, 66,321 of Leon County's 184,523 registered voters had cast ballots by mail or early voting - nearly 36 percent - and Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley predicted turnout would land somewhere around 65 percent, roughly on par with 2018, the Democrat reported. By party, Democrats had cast 56.8 percent of ballots as of Friday afternoon against 47.8 percent of registration, while Republicans, nearly 30 percent of registered voters, had cast nearly 27 percent. Early voting ends Sunday, Nov. 1, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
