More than a year before 2024 election, Tallahassee has seen flurry of candidates file to run

The 2024 primary election may be more than a year out, but a number of local candidates are already launching their campaigns and sharpening their attack lines on their political rivals.

So far, four people have filed to run for Tallahassee City Commission Seat 1, including the incumbent, Commissioner Jack Porter, who’s seeking a second term. Her opponents are Anthony DeMarco, who works in IT and web development, Louis Dilbert, director of Veteran Affairs at Florida A&M University, and Rudy Ferguson, a pastor and neighborhood advocate.

In the race for City Commission Seat 2, a showdown is shaping up between incumbent Commissioner Curtis Richardson and Dorothy Inman-Johnson, a former city commissioner and mayor who filed to run in June. Richardson, a former School Board member and lawmaker, said he plans to announce his re-election campaign soon.

Meanwhile, two people have filed to run for the Leon County judgeship that will open up in 2024 with the retirement of Judge Augustus Aikens Jr. the following year. Cydnee Brown, a criminal defense lawyer, and LaShawn Riggans, deputy Leon County attorney, are vying for the seat.

There’s also early competition in the race for Leon County property appraiser, with incumbent Akin Akinyemi, who’s seeking a third term, facing a challenge from Ken Preston, a former employee in the property appraiser’s office.

None of the races will become final until the candidates qualify to appear on the ballot in June 2024. Here’s a look at the early stage of the local races:

City Commission Seat 1

The three people who have lined up to challenge Porter all said they have been disappointed in her first few years of office. Porter was first elected to the City Commission in 2020 after knocking off appointed Commissioner Elaine Bryant.

DeMarco, who ran against School Board member Alva Striplin in 2022, placing a distant second in a three-person primary, said he volunteered for Porter during her first campaign. He said Porter hasn’t done a “poor job,” but that she hasn’t delivered on campaign promises.

He said he hopes to break the “stalemate” on the City Commission between Porter and Matlow on one side and Mayor John Dailey, Richardson and Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox on the other.

“We’re not getting any forward motion,” DeMarco said. “One of the top priorities is to bring back some compromise.”

Dilbert, who also serves as director of FAMU’s TRIO Educational Opportunity, which helps adult learners get degrees, said if he were elected, he would focus on affordable housing, homelessness and business development. He said he would “create bridges” to get things done at the city.

“While they are doing some great work, I feel in that particular seat, the representative is particularly polarizing,” Dilbert said. “I feel like I can be a better representative of the diverse voices in the community.”

Ferguson, who announced his campaign in May, also said Porter hasn’t accomplished what she said she would in her first campaign. He ran for a County Commission seat last year, placing third in a four-person primary.

“I’m running because our community needs someone who will work with all sides and produce the positive results we so need,” said Ferguson, a pastor known for his work in Griffin Heights.

Porter, who announced her re-election campaign in March, said she is proud of her record and if re-elected would “continue to bring our community together to find real solutions to our most pressing challenges.” She said in a text that there will always be backlash “when you stand up to a powerful status quo, particularly as a woman.”

“We have actively brought people together across party lines and ZIP codes to help lead the charge opposing a proposed property tax hike, wasteful spending and a broken City Hall status quo,” Porter said. “I look forward to continuing to do that in this term and for four more years on the commission.”

City Commission Seat 2

The city Seat 2 race has already seen early fireworks sparked by the tax hike proposal.

Inman-Johnson, who served on the City Commission from 1984 to 1994, blasted it when she filed for office and spoke out against it at a more recent budget workshop.

“People want to have clean water coming from their faucets,” she said after filing to run. “They want the city to grow in a smart way. And they want our taxes protected.”

The tax proposal led to a rare alignment of progressives and conservatives who oppose it and prompted the Leon County Republican Party to enter the fray. The local GOP launched a website critical of Richardson called taxincreasecurtis.com and began fundraising off the issue.

Richardson, who’s seeking a third full term, said he didn’t care to react to the GOP attack, calling it “nonsense.”

He said the city is making progress on reducing violent crime and increasing affordable housing and jobs. Noting his longtime residency on the south side, he also said he would continue to advocate for neighborhoods that have been neglected in the past.

“I think we have accomplished a lot,” he said. “In the city, we’re on the right track. And I am certainly interested in continuing to address the challenges of our community.”

County judge Seat 4

Aikens, the longest-serving judge on the bench in Leon County, plans to retire when his fourth full term ends in early 2025. Now 73, he will turn 75, Florida’s mandatory retirement age for judges, later that year.

The two women who have filed to run for the open seat both have longtime experience as attorneys — and military backgrounds.

Brown grew up in New York City and dropped out of high school in the ninth grade — only to later get her GED and enlist in the Air Force, where she served nine years. She moved to Tallahassee to go to law school at Florida State and has since worked as a prosecutor and defense lawyer. She ran for county judge in 2018, placing third in a three-person race.

“I’ve learned a lot of valuable lessons, and they made me who I am,” Brown said, “A lot of people say you and your career — that’s why you can win arguments. And I said no, I didn’t learn this in law school. I learned this in life. There is a whole lot of stuff I bring to the table before I bring up a juris doctor or a Bar card.”

Riggans, who served five years in the U.S. Navy, worked as a victim advocate in Georgia and a court-appointed child advocate before going to law school. After working as a prosecutor in Okaloosa County, she joined the Leon County Attorney’s Office in 2011 and became deputy county attorney in 2017.

“I chose to run for the county court seat because I really feel that county court is the people’s court,” Riggans said. “And that’s where you get an opportunity to work more closely with people and try to take a more holistic approach to solving some of the issues that we have here in Tallahassee.”

Other 2024 contests

All of the constitutional offices — clerk of court, property appraiser, sheriff, tax collector and superintendent of schools — are on the ballot in 2024.

But so far, only Akinyemi, the incumbent property appraiser, has any competition. County Commissioner Carolyn Cummings, who filed for a second term in May, is facing a challenge from David Hawkins for one of two at-large seats.

Elected officials who have filed for re-election but haven’t drawn an opponent yet include Clerk of Court Gwen Marshall, School Superintendent Rocky Hanna, County Commissioner Brian Welch, School Board member Laurie Lawson Cox and County Judge Monique Richardson.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com and follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: More than a year before 2024 election, Tallahassee has seen flurry of candidates file to run