While the PNJ has garnered social media attention with its headline, “Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves and Rep. Alex Andrade aren’t speaking,” Mayor D.C. Reeves, at his weekly press conference, said he isn’t asking for specific dollar amounts for the city’s three priorities—Pensacola International Airport, Port of Pensacola and Childcare Access.
- “There’s never been an exact number we’ve ever asked for, both state or federal, that comes in because that was the number we’ve asked for,” the mayor said, citing recent experience where the city requested $21 million in federal funding for the airport expansion and received $4 million.
The two do not get along, but politicians being at odds is nothing new. Neither has put their personal feelings ahead of doing what’s best for the City of Pensacola. Rep. Andrade has fought for funds for several projects inside the city limits, the latest being the Rafferty Center.
Plus, the mayor is not depending on state lawmakers for any funding in the 2026-27 budget.
Mayor Reeves said he would lean on the city’s lobbyists. “That’s what we have lobbyists for in D.C. and in Tallahassee—to help us see if this funding stream’s available and this is not.
- Professional advocates help identify when specific funding opportunities become available and which mechanisms offer the best chance of success.
Pensacola employs professional lobbyists to navigate the complex funding landscape:
- Shumaker Advisors and Ballard Partners in Tallahassee for state-level advocacy
- Ballard in Washington for federal opportunities
Navigating Political Uncertainty
The mayor acknowledged significant uncertainty in the upcoming legislative session, particularly around property tax limitations and other policy changes that could dramatically alter available funding.
- “If we’re starting to talk about taking away property tax, that changes everything drastically,” he warned.
Mayor Reeves was candid about the difficulties ahead. “I think this is going to be extremely challenging from a veto standpoint this session.”
As a reminder, the state law provides that the Pensacola City Council is the – “governing body” – of the City of Pensacola. Thanks mostly to his father, Mayor Reeves is “not” a member of the governing body and exercises none of its legal authority. In 2009, I argued that was a massive mistake. All across the country to include in Florida municipal governments with Mayor-Council forms of government (Charleston, Orlando and even Jay, etc.) the mayor is usually the presiding officer and leader of the city council. (Milton is odd because its mayor is not a member of that city’s governing body.) Why was it done? In 2008, Marcus Pointe resident John Peacock had told me that he was working hand-in-hand with Charter Review Commission Chairwoman Crystal Spencer to centralize political power in the hands of one person, an executive mayor performing the function previously done by the city manager with the difference that the mayor was not accountable to the governing body. In 2009, CRC member Jim Reeves (father of Mayor Reeves, and the force behind the political committee formed in 2019 to elect his son), successfully insisted that the mayor should not be a member of the governing body. Mr. Reeves explained that he did not want the mayor subject to Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine Law. The reason Ms. Spencer refused to let the CRC draft its mandatory final report, and refused to let the CRC hold its mandatory final public hearing, is because she an others did not want to put in writing or try to defend what they were doing. With respect to this issue discussed above, it is the city council that decides the priorities of the city government. Mayor Reeves can make suggestions but the city council is the decider. Former Mayor Hayward works for Shumaker Advisors: https://www.shumaker.com/professional/ashton-j-hayward/