On “Rick’s Blog Live,” I sat down with Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves and three of his opponents in the Aug. 18 election—Alicia Trawick, Jermaine Williams and Eric Shorter.
Jasimine Brown wasn’t able to come on the show, but she agreed to do a “We Don’t Color with the Dog” podcast the following day.
Ann Hill declined to do the BLAB interview: “I truly appreciate the opportunity. At this time, our campaign is focusing on written interviews and candidate questionnaires. I believe they allow me to provide the most complete and thoughtful explanations of my positions, and they reflect the style of communication I have valued throughout my career in journalism and public service.”
I asked if she would do a separate interview last Thursday, similar to what I did with Brown, and didn’t get a response.
D.C. Reeves
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves talks about why he’s seeking a second term under the city’s strong-mayor charter. Reeves discusses the proposed 11 p.m. curfew for minors following the July 4th weekend shooting, his plan to tackle affordability through workforce development and higher-paying jobs, the regional competition for shipbuilding talent tied to the Birdon deal, and why he believes the city’s “strong mayor” system has driven rising citizen confidence since 2010.
Alicia Trawick
Mayoral candidate Alicia Trawick makes her case against incumbent Mayor D.C. Reeves. The disaster recovery consultant discusses her 13,000-doors-knocked campaign, why animal services and reliable trash pickup have become surprise top priorities, her plan to chase FEMA and state grants for stormwater flooding mitigation, her cautious take on the proposed downtown minors’ curfew, and why she says the city isn’t pursuing available funding to close affordability gaps for developers building attainable housing.
Jermaine Williams
National Peer Specialist of the Year and community organizer Jermaine Williams makes his case in the Pensacola mayor’s race ahead of the August 18th primary. Williams talks about leveraging his mental health and social work background to tackle the city’s affordability crisis, unhoused population, and public safety concerns, pushes back on the mayor’s proposed curfew ordinance, and pitches his “Pensacola Launch Initiative” to bring remote work opportunities to local residents.
Eric Shorter
Colonel Eric W. Shorter, a Pensacola native and retired military officer, lays out his “vertical economic initiatives” platform, including turning the Port of Pensacola into part of the National Strategic Defense Initiative, pushing for a guaranteed share of local jobs from the Birdon shipbuilding project, and tapping ECUA land for development. He also talks affordable housing in Brownsville, a proposed youth curfew, downtown parking woes, and why he says his outsider status and military leadership set him apart in the race.
Jasmine Brown
Jasmine Brown talks about her path from FPL rate-hike organizing to city hall. She lays out her top priority — affordable housing on public land — and argues Pensacola’s storm-recovery dollars should have gone to damaged homes instead of downtown port repairs. On the proposed youth curfew, Brown points to research showing curfews alone don’t reduce crime and pushes instead for violence interruption programs and after-hours youth resources. She closes by contrasting her door-to-door campaign with what she calls the “movers and shakers” approach favored by incumbent Mayor Reeves.
Thanks for broadcasting the first four interviews above yesterday on BLAB-TV. The interview process was very fair and very insightful. Both my wife Yvonne and I scored it the same way: 1) Trawick; 2) Reeves; 3) Williams; and 4) Shorter. Trawick is very thoughtful. If Reeves were a fighter pilot his call sign might be “Jumping Bean.” He’s all over the place. People who know him at the Pensacola County Club and Pensacola Yacht Club tell me the same. No one believes his claim sent to all city households in November that the City of Pensacola has the fourth lowest per capita crime rate in the nation. Hogwash. Whenever Reeves gives a press or media interview he seems detached from facts. And, front-line city staff tell me they’re tired of being told the city is “broke” when they bring a problem to a department head and are told the city cannot do anything. Reeves now mostly seems to justify his reelection effort based almost solely on the Haas Center survey. Statistics can be very deceptive. There are about 55,000 people living in the city. As of June 30th, there are 37,402 active voters in the city. The 2025 Hass Study issued this past May reports as a key finding: “66 percent of residents believe the City is moving in the right direction.” That seems impressive until you read that the Haas Center sent out 20,777 surveys to “households” (not active voters) and only 1,815 households provided valid responses. That means just over 5% of households think the city is going in the right direction. Not good. It gets worse if you translate the 1,815 responses versus the 37,402 active voters. For the survey, only about 3% of active voters said the city is going in the right direction. The rest said the wrong direction or didn’t bother to respond. The better method would be for the city to send a detailed response to each city voter to be sent back with a pre-paid postage envelope. And, given that so few city employees actually live in our community (City of Pensacola) a smart move would be for the city council to appoint a group to come up with the questions to be asked and independently oversee the process.