Escambia County Politics
As Escambia County voters take advantage of early voting, District 4 County Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger has returned the mudslinging strategy she used—with the help of the Committee to Protect Florida—that she used two years ago to defeat Walker Wilson by 413 votes in the GOP primary.
- The mailer photoshops Joe Vinson standing the middle of Kamala Harris, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and California Governor Gavin Newsom and states: “Joe Vinson is NOT who you think he is,” and adds “The lifelong Liberal and the Democrat Socialists of America are joined at the hip!”
2024 GOP Primary
In August 2024, the Committee to Protect Florida sent out, as early voting began, a Blackface, race-baiting mailer designed to weaken support for Walker Wilson and pile on the County Clerk Pam Childers’s persecution of Commissioner May. The flyer sent to District 4 voters darkly colored Wilson’s photo and called him out for being friends with Lumon May.
- The Committee to Protect Florida is run by the Tallahassee-based political consultant Mark Zubaly. The Escambia Republican Executive Committee donated $3,700 to Zubaly’s committee on Oct. 16, 2026.
Vinson’s Church vs. Hofberger’s “Values”
The other side of the mailer states: “Joe Vinson is out-of-sync with our values.” It then includes clips from the Unitarian Universalist Church of Pensacola, which have nothing to do with the Escambia County Commission:
- A calendar listing for a Trans Support Group
- Honor Bell giving a talk in March 2026 about safety in a diverse community.
- A statement about how the church views God.
- Grace Resendez McCaffery giving a talk in September 2025 titled “Our Local Immigrant Community Crisis.”
Hofberger’s supporter proclaims: “Joe Vinson’s ideology is a better fit on San Francisco Bay, NOT Pensacola Bay. Joe Vinson is out-of-touch with Escambia County.”
Hofberger may be the first candidate to use an opponent’s church affiliation since the Ku Klux Klan rose to power during the early 1900s and attacked Roman Catholics and Jews. T.T. Wentworth and the rise of the KKK in Pensacola were uncovered in 2020. Read “Who Gets to Tell the Story.”
Zubably’s Santa Rosa Trouble
In 2023, Zubably agreed to pay $50,000 to a Santa Rosa County Commissioner Kerry Smith over a hostile direct mail piece. Smith’s lawsuit alleged inaccuracies in campaign literature that dug up decades old accusations against Smith and tied them to a local tragedy. Alex Andrade represented Smith.
- The mailer, funded by the Zubaly-chaired Nature Coast Conservatives, on one side showed a mugshot from 2005 from a contempt of court arrest in Polk County, and an earlier one from a 2003 battery arrest. The item said Smith was “found guilty several times of domestic violence against his then wife” and “violated probation after being found guilty of domestic violence.” The only citation provided for the accusations was an editorial by the South Santa Rosa News.
Read more.
Meanwhile
Vinson has been touting his endorsements from Andrade, City Councilwoman Teniade Broughton, Former School Board member Patty Hightower, Dianne Appleyard, Former City Councilwoman Jewel Cannada Wynn, Former City Councilwoman Maren DeWeese, Mike & Heather Ensley, Nancy Fetterman, Randy Hammer, Former City Councilman Larry Johnson, Teri Levin, Former City Councilwoman Diane Mack, Buzz Ritchie, Former Mayor Mike Wiggins, Former City Administrator Keith Wilkins and Former City Councilman Dr. P.C. Wu.
- This is a wide swath of the community, which includes people of various faiths.
Vinson is running as NPA – No Party Affliation.
