Inweekly: A Way Too Early August Primary Guide

Rick Outzen

1 hour ago

Illustration of multiple hands casting ballots into a ballot box labeled 'Way Too Early August Primary Guide' on a yellow background.

LOCAL NEWS & POLITICS

This Week in Inweekly: Elections Are Closer Than You Think

The May 28 issue of Inweekly is packed—primary voter guide, a UWF Alzheimer’s patent, a $9 million airport grant, bluegrass at The Handlebar, and the civic call to show up in August.

If you think the August primary is just a warm-up act, this week’s Inweekly is here to set the record straight. The new issue hits stands and screens with everything Pensacola and Escambia County need to know heading into what may be the most consequential local election cycle in years—and it doesn’t stop there.

Read the full issue at inweekly.net.

COVER STORY: Your Way-Too-Early August Primary Guide

Escambia County Supervisor of Elections Robert Bender is sounding the alarm. Voter turnout in the August primary has dropped three elections in a row—32.9% in 2020, 29.08% in 2022, and just 24.4% in 2024. Bender wants to see that number in the mid-to-upper 30s, and he needs every eligible voter to understand why the primary isn’t just a preview.

“The primary isn’t just voting for who’s going to represent a certain party in the general. It is electing people to office.”
—Robert Bender, Escambia County Supervisor of Elections

The August 18 ballot includes 14 local races—Pensacola mayor, city council seats, county commission, school board, ECUA, and more—plus a referendum that could return the Superintendent of Schools to an elected position. Many of these contests are nonpartisan, meaning all registered voters have a vote regardless of party.

Voter registration & party change deadline: July 20
Vote-by-mail request deadline: Aug. 6
Early voting: Aug. 8–15
Election Day: Aug. 18

The issue includes the full list of prequalified candidates as of May 22 for every local race—from the crowded Pensacola mayoral field (six candidates so far) to school board and county commission contests.

Qualifying doesn’t close until June 12, so there’s still time to enter.

OUTTAKES: Roosevelt Would Be Disappointed in Us

My column this week draws on Theodore Roosevelt’s 1883 argument that citizenship means active participation in the political life of your community—not just commentary from the sidelines. When three out of four Escambia County adults stayed home in August 2024, Roosevelt would have had something pointed to say about it.

The column is a bracing, direct challenge to voters who know every national talking point but can’t name their school board member or county commissioner. It’s also a practical roadmap: learn the candidates, talk to your neighbors, ask every candidate whether they see public office as a job, a stepping stone, or stewardship.

Read it in full at inweekly.net.

WINNERS & LOSERS: A UWF Patent, a Teacher Award & an Education Commissioner on the Move

Winner of the Week: UWF psychology professor Dr. James Arruda has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for an EEG-based platform that could detect Alzheimer’s disease years before symptoms appear—using standard clinic equipment rather than expensive PET scans or spinal fluid tests. The research spans 29 years. UWF holds a licensing agreement with California-based BIOPAC Systems, and FDA pre-submission is underway.

Also in the winners column: Anna Prindle, a fifth-grade teacher at Holley-Navarre Intermediate, named the inaugural FSU FCR-STEM Innovating Teacher of the Year for her robotics, coding, and 3D printing programs—and a STEAM Night that draws more than 450 participants annually. And Erin Dixon, the Pensacola Children’s Chorus’s new Assistant Artistic Director following a nationwide search.

On the losers side, Anastasios Kamoutsas—the Florida Education Commissioner who engineered the ouster of UWF President Dr. Martha Saunders—is now the sole finalist for the presidency of Polk State College. And Florida’s boating accident numbers ticked up again in 2025, with 51 fatalities statewide and Okaloosa County ranking in the state’s top ten for incidents.

THE BUZZ: $9 Million for PNS, Free Speech Win at PSC & A Billion-Dollar Plant Near Crestview

Pensacola International Airport has been awarded a $9 million federal grant to expand the TSA security checkpoint—adding roughly 8,400 square feet and growing to six screening lanes. Airport Executive Director Matt Coughlin says the airport has now secured about $32 million in total grants toward its modernization program, with another $38 million still being pursued. Construction on the checkpoint is set to begin at the end of 2026. Ramp work starts in July.

Pensacola State College reversed course and agreed to fund printing of Just Opposed, a student-produced magazine, after the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) sent a formal letter challenging the initial refusal as a free speech violation. PSC President Ed Meadows acknowledged the print run falls within the college’s educational mission. One hundred copies will be printed for student portfolios.

In Okaloosa County, One Okaloosa EDC won Florida’s 2026 “Deal of the Year” award for landing Williams International’s $1 billion-plus gas turbine engine manufacturing plant near Crestview—336 jobs at an average salary topping $69,000. It’s among the largest economic development projects in Florida history.

And at the May 21 commission meeting, Commissioner Mike Kohler publicly challenged Commission Chair Ashlee Hofberger over her aide’s continued service on the Contractor Competency Board despite the county attorney’s longstanding advice that employees should not sit on citizen committees. “This is not transparent, open government,” Kohler said. “Everyone knows it.”

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT: Bluegrass, Loud and Proud at The Handlebar

Savannah Evanoff profiles The New Cahoots—Pensacola’s self-described “grass rock” band—ahead of their six-year anniversary show this Saturday, May 30 at The Handlebar. Frontman Michael Garcia, who also books talent at Vinyl Music Hall, leads a five-piece lineup that plays traditional music in a thoroughly non-traditional way: drums, electric guitar, dobro, mandolin, and about 80% original material in any given three-hour set.

The anniversary show features opening sets from Black Creek String Band, Goodbye to Sunshine, and Arrowgrass—all friends from the local bluegrass scene Garcia wanted to put under one roof for a night.

When: 6 p.m. Saturday, May 30
Where: The Handlebar, 319 N. Tarragona St., Pensacola
Cost: $24.45 | Info: thehandlebar850.com

The May 28 issue of Inweekly is out now. Read the full primary guide, candidate list, columns, and every story above—plus more—at inweekly.net. Independent local journalism for Pensacola and Escambia County, every week.