City of Pensacola Votes:
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves backed Republican Byron Donalds for Governor and served as the co-chair of his Escambia County campaign with State Rep. Michelle Salzman.
- Reeves came out early for Donalds, announcing his endorsement at a June 2025 press conference: “I consider Byron and Erika Donalds friends. I’ve gotten to know her a lot this year in Leadership Florida, and she’s doing amazing things in education. I think Byron is a great guy who’s earned everything that he’s gotten. Just an impressive family. And yeah, he has my full support. I think he’s an amazing guy and I think he’ll be a great governor.”
Tuesday Night, the mayor attended Donalds’ watch party and posted on Facebook: “It’s been an honor to support my friend Byron Donalds the last 17 and assured that the Florida Panhandle would come through. You did! Let’s go Governor-Elect Donalds!!”
City of Pensacola Turned Blue
City of Pensacola voters didn’t follow Reeves’ lead. Democrat David Jolly beat Donalds inside the city limits—13,203 (55.33%) to 10,658 (44.67%). Jolly received a higher percentage of the Pensacola vote than Reeves did in the August primary (53.24%).
Jolly won 12 of the city’s 20 precincts.
- We have a Red mayor who now leads a Blue city.
Donalds became the GOP gubernatorial candidate largely thanks to President Donald Trump’s early endorsement, though Donalds tried to distance himself from Trump in the weeks leading up to the general election.
- State Rep. Alex Andrade has represented the City of Pensacola during his three terms. On Rick’s Blog Live, he shared that Republican voters didn’t necessarily approve of Trump.
Hofberger Dilemma
Escambia County Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger leaned heavily into being a MAGA politician. She had the endorsements of County Clerk Pam Childers, Sheriff Chip Simmons, State Sen. Don Gaetz, Mayor Reeves and former mayors Ashton Hayward and Grover Robinson. Yet those endorsements have only given her a tentative three-vote margin ahead of NPA candidate Joe Vinson
- Without Pensacola Beach voters, Hofberger would have lost the race. She won that precinct by 574 votes. The rest of her district rejected her—Hofberger 11,908 (48.8%) to Vinson 12,479 (51.2%).
If the outstanding votes and those that need to be “cured” aren’t from Pensacola Beach, it’s likely Vinson will nudge ahead of Hofberger. Andrade believes the yet-to-be-counted ballots give Vinson hope because Hofberger did not do well in the vote-by-mail ballots.
“The vast majority of outstanding ballots that could be counted in that race are vote-by-mail ballots,” he said on the podcast. “Just knowing that the outstanding ballots are majority vote-by-mail, I’d almost favor Joe in the fact that I think he will net more vote-by-mail ballots than Ashley. Whether or not he nets three or four more than Ashley is a question.”
Keeping Hope Alive
We reached out to Hofberger and Vinson. Only Vinson gave us a quote:
“It’s been a roller coaster, but it’s apparently the kind of roller coaster where the passengers get evacuated halfway through,” Vinson said. “It’s nerve-racking and a little funny, but I have confidence in the process.”
- “If I lose by three votes, I’ll be nitpicking every decision I could have made to shore up some other votes,” Vinson said. “In the meantime, I’m keeping hope alive and just having patience.”