Rick's Blog

What does new Pensacola council look like?

Mayor Mike Wiggins
City Council At Large District 9: Megan Pratt
City Council District 1: P. C. Wu
City Council District 2: Sam Hall
City Council District 3: Maren DeWeese
City Council District 5: John Jerralds
City Council District 6: Jewel Cannada-Wynn

Two moms with young kids are going on board. Wiggins takes the reins and will have to prove he can build consensus and drive the issues better than his predecessor Fogg.

RUNOFFS:
Standard political wisdom is that an incumbent must have 45 percent of the vote in the primary or general election to win a runoff. With such a large turnout in the general election, it’s not certain whether that rule will apply for the city council runoffs. Larry Johnson should win. Townsend will be close. Mack should win, but we need to see where Nobles votes came from.

City Council District 4
Larry B. Johnson 45% vs. Marty Donovan (I) 37%

City Council District 7
Ronald P. Townsend (I) 42% vs. Jacci Shumaker 35%

City Council At Large District 8
Diane Mack 12,157 47% vs. Jack Nobles (I) 33%

Shumaker and Mack are big surprises. However, Mack campaigned very hard.

Environmentalists like Johnson for his work on the tree ordinance. He’s pro-maritime park and wants to open the Port to mixed-use. Developers and the Port lessees backed Donovan, who is very anti-park.

Nobles did nothing, except hit up his friends and family for money. He is seen as the behind-the-scene force on why little ever gets done in the city. Major supporter of keeping the port industrial and has blocked any RFPs for mixed-use. Fought to keep bottle clubs open until 5 a.m.

Buehler was backed by developers, real estate and business community. Where will his support go? Mack has softened her initial opposition to the Community Maritime Park. However, this community is tired of continually fighting to get the park built. CJ Lewis, Wendell Rich, Jeff Humbles, Marty Donovan and Robbie Andrews were all anti-park. None of them won. Donovan is in a runoff. Nobles has been very pro-park.

Will Pensacola think it has enough change already and return the incumbents – Donovan, Townsend and Nobles? The Community Maritime Park and the Port of Pensacola are in the balance.

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