Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons has joined his fellow sheriffs in Northwest Florida in endorsing Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis for Florida’s First Congressional District.
“I’ve had a number of conversations with Jimmy over the last years,” said the sheriff. “He always shows up at the sheriff’s conferences and always wants to do what he could as the chief financial officer. I’ve had many conversations with him. I think that he will do right by the district. I think that he will help law enforcement. He will help keep our state safe, help keep our community safe, and so I’ll lend my support behind Jimmy Patronis.”
SPECIAL ELECTION NOTE: Patronis jumped into the race for former Congressman Matt Gaetz’s seat after being endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson. He has been endorsed locally by Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves and State Rep. Alex Andrade.
The GOP primary is on January 28. Patronis faces Aaron Dimmock, Kevin Gaffney, Jeff Macey, John Mills, Joel Rudman, Michael Dylan Thompson and Gene Valentino for the Republican nomination.
2025 WISHES FOR ECSO: Sheriff Simmons wants another three-year budget deal with the Board of County commissioners. Why? He said, “To get our compensation where it needs to be.”
“We are as competitive as we can get, but I don’t know that Escambia County residents want us to be in the middle. I don’t know that I want to be the middle,” he said.
“I want to be better. I know that I want our deputies to be compensated based upon workload. We have the largest population in this area in the state of Florida. We have over 300,000 calls, and I know every day and every night that our deputies are out there doing a really good job, and I want them to be compensated for the job that they do.”
Listen to the complete interview:
I completely agree. These officers risk their lives and need more support, training and much higher compensation. FHP pays much more than the sheriffs office.