The night before the primary, the Republican Party of Florida texted Pensacola voters to help Mayor D.C. Reeves, who may be facing a tougher battle than he thought, and possibly Eric Shorter. The mayor’s race is non-partisan, as per the city charter.
- The text calls out Jasmine Brown as a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and Ann Hill, Alicia Trawick and Jermaine Williams as Democrats. The message: “Know Before You Vote.”
Reeves’ fifth challenger, Eric Shorter, must be a Republican or NPA because his photo wasn’t included.
The mayor’s supporters have shared that his internal polling has him at 48%. Will this put him over 50%?
- The City of Pensacola has 37,575 registered voters—42.4% are Republican.
I have asked Mayor Reeves whether he knew the RPOF would be texting this. I will post his reply when I receive it.
167 votes. That was D.C.’s winning margin In the 2022 mayoral primary, only 167 votes, He received 51.1 % of the vote, with only about 39% of the city’s registered voters turning out to vote. He received 7,682 votes, representing only about 20% of all registered voters in the city, and 14% of the total population of Pensacola. That is far from a mandate.
Regarding the upcoming mayor’s race, if any one candidate receives 50% + 1, they win the election outright in the primary. However, if no one breaks the 50% + 1, the two candidates receiving the most votes go to a runoff in the general election in November.
There were four candidates in the ’22 election, (including myself and yes, I know I lost). Currently, there are six candidates for mayor, so it should be harder for any candidate to reach the 50% + 1 threshold. It’s extremely important that city voters show up at the polls for the primary this time around. If you live in the city and are a registered voter, you need to get out and vote in the primary. Even more importantly, you need to get 10 other registered city residents to get out and vote in the primary. Encourage your friends and family members to vote.
In the ’22 election, D.C. raised almost $300,000 dollars for his primary campaign, largely funded by developers. This is the most money ever spent on the mayoral race, a position that only pays $134,000.
The citizens of Pensacola can’t allow the developers to buy the mayor’s office again. The mayor’s race should be decided in the general election in November when there is a larger voter turnout.
Get out and vote tomorrow, August 18th.