District 4 County Commission
A right-wing outlet that ignores Escambia all year suddenly cares about D4 race, right as challenger Joe Vinson launches his campaign. Who’s paying?
A digital right-wing-leaning news outlet that focuses heavily on Florida state government and national political affairs is suddenly interested in the Escambia County District 4 race.
- Hmmm. The Floridian writes rarely anything about the northwest edge of the state, unless DeSantis is handing out checks (Aug. 12) or Patronis passing out challenge coins to the Blue Angels (July 22). In fact, those are the only two posts concerning Escambia for all of 2026. Scanning the Panhandle page, I found that The Floridian had only one Escambia-related article in 2025. It, too, involved Patronis.
What got The Floridian’s attention? Joe Vinson, an independent running against Republican incumbent Ashlee Hofberger. And the article is published the same day Vinson is having his first major fundraiser, which is hosted by a Who’s Who of District 4 that respect the challenger’s long-time commitment to Pensacola history and his late father, Federal Judge Roger Vinson, who was considered one of the most conservative judges in the country.
Few Facts, No Interview
The article, “Is Independent Escambia County Candidate Joe Vinson Really a Democratic Socialist,” is opinion-driven and doesn’t substantiate a Democratic Socialist connection beyond inference from an unidentified press release.
The author asks whether Vinson is a Democratic Socialist party member posing as an independent to “secretly get their agenda across in the November election.” He cites his membership in the Unitarian Universalist Church, listing him as “Development Director” when the actual role is leadership development and listing the church’s “ultra-liberal policies.”
- Then he infers Vinson is for defunding the police and other DSA policies.
- There is also a weird attempt to link him to the new GOP bogeyman, Angie Nixon, who won the Democratic nomination to face U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody.
- And, of course, it ends with: “Republican Ashlee Hofberger is running against Vinson for District 4. The general election is Nov. 3.”
Why should The Floridian care about a county commission race? I shared the post with a veteran conservative powerbroker. His response: “Pay to Play.”
- Who would pay for this hit piece?
Of note, Republican voters in District 4 are less than 50%! “And” even Republicans love the Library so many must be ticked off at Hofberger’s dismissal of the city/county Library Board. Has anyone carefully reviewed Hofberger’s campaign finance reports for 2025 and 2026? A lot of very rich and powerful people and businesses are funding Hofberger. I bet District 4 voters would like to know who they are and what they expect in return. A big ethical mystery is why Hofberger has taken so much money from people and businesses directedly tied to the OLF-8 project to include Chad Henderson and Ashton Hayward. Someone in the media should review all of her campaign finance reports to independently identify all related to Hofberger’s vote on OLF-8. And, if Kohler recused himself because he had an OLF-8 conflict of interest, why didn’t Hofberger do the same? She knows who is funding her campaign and what they want? (I bet they meet in secret too.) Kohler should ask the County Attorney to give an opinion on Hofberger’s voting on OLF-8. Kohler also recently mentioned “Barbie furniture” that Hofberger bought for her office using taxpayer dollars. What was “that” about? One campaign donation to Hofberger even appears to have come from what state records describe as a not-for-profit corporation. Is that legal? Another campaign contributor is described as “Ashlee ACE Unlocks.” Does Hofberger read her own campaign finance reports before submitting them? When Hofberger came to my door during her first campaign, I was shocked by her wholesale ignorance of county government. She didn’t even know there were state laws about county government. I’m tired of Hofberger endlessly saying she didn’t know this or that, etc. I’m also tired of Hofberger letting County Administrator Moreno openly bypass her as chair to include with respect to the Library and Bay Center Interlocal Agreement. On the upside, many good people have donated to Vinson’s campaign. I will too.