2026 mayor race: As speculation swirls, we talked to John Dailey, other possible candidates

USA Today

27-01-2025

2026 mayor race: As speculation swirls, we talked to John Dailey, other possible candidates
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Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey assesses city response to winter storm
Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey assesses city response to winter storm
There's no shortage of politicians whose names are being bandied about as potential candidates for Tallahassee mayor in 2026.
Chief among them is the mayor himself, John Dailey, who after serving three terms as county commissioner and winning two hard-fought mayoral contests has been said to be wavering on whether to seek a third term.
Dailey, who leads the 3-2 majority on the City Commission, hasn't made any official announcements about his political future. However, he signaled through an aide last summer that he indeed plans to file again.
'He is running,' Dionte Gavin, Dailey's chief of staff, told the Democrat in August. 'And the mayor is clearly focused on moving the city forward. He's leading the charge.'
Dailey gave absolutely no indication that he might not run again on Thursday, when he talked with reporters outside City Hall.
'We're doing great work,' he said, 'and about a year from now, I'll sit down with the family, we'll have a great conversation, we'll figure out what our next move is going to be, whether it's re-election or not, and we'll make announcements from there.'
Last summer, the rumor mill was in overdrive about not only whether Dailey would run again but also who might have ambitions to succeed him, from sitting city and county commissioners to former legislators and members of Congress.
'The larger rumor is that he's not going to run,' said Gary Yordon, a veteran political consultant and former Leon County Commissioner. 'I don't believe it. He seems to enjoy the job. And you know, it's kind of a look in somebody's eyes when they've had enough. I haven't seen that look.'
Others, even some of his closest supporters, aren't so sure. Just before the new year, Gregory James, a pastor and nonprofit CEO, posted a photo on Facebook of him and former U.S. Rep. Al Lawson at a local Waffle House. He told Lawson that the mayor's position would 'look good on you' and asked him to consider a run.
James, a Dailey backer, said in an interview that he hasn't spoken with the mayor about his plans. But he said 'it's been floating around that he's not doing it anymore.'
'If our city is going to keep moving forward, there has to be a viable candidate that's going to run,' said James, who ran for a state House seat in 2022. 'I see (Lawson) as that.'
The list of potential mayoral candidates is long if Dailey leaves the seat open and up for grabs. It's much shorter if he decides he wants to stay put, perhaps limited to candidates with only outside chances.
No one has filed to run for any city or county office in 2026, let alone the mayor's race.
More than a half dozen others have been mentioned as possible candidates, including Bill Montford, former school superintendent and state senator, and Loranne Ausley, former state representative who succeeded Montford in the Senate but lost to Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, in 2022.
Montford, who gave $500 to Dailey's 2022 campaign, did not return a phone call. Ausley was seriously injured last year in a bicycle accident and returned home earlier this month from a spinal cord and brain injury rehab center in Atlanta.
Here are other names that have come up as potential mayoral candidates:
Leon County Commissioner Christian Caban
Caban, first elected to County Commission District 2 in 2022 and re-elected last year without opposition, didn't rule out a run for mayor in a text to the Democrat. He said he was 'humbled' by the support of community leaders who believe 'that we could serve our community at a higher level.'
'It means our brand of community focused leadership is being noticed and appreciated, which is truly gratifying to hear,' Caban wrote. 'Having just been reelected to serve District 2, my current focus is on continuing to deliver wins for our neighbors so we can make Leon County and Tallahassee the best place in the state to live, work and raise a family.'
Since taking office, Caban has played an outspoken role on the commission and the Blueprint board and has been highly visible during disasters, standing beside Gov. Ron DeSantis during a press conference on Hurricane Idalia in 2023.
Caban, managing partner of Wolf Hospitality Group, which owns Recess, Clyde's and Costello's and the Governor's Inn, also has more than $125,000 parked in his political committee should a mayoral opportunity arise.
Former Congresswoman Gwen Graham
Graham, an attorney, served in Congress from 2014 to 2016, earning a reputation as one of its more bipartisan members. She opted not to run for re-election after redistricting divided her district in two, one a GOP-friendly 2nd District and the other a minority-access District 5.
The daughter of the late Florida Gov. Bob Graham, she ran for Florida governor herself in 2018 but was edged out by then-Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who went on to lose the general election to DeSantis. She later served on the city's Independent Ethics Board.
In 2021, she was nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate as assistant secretary for legislation and congressional affairs in the U.S. Department of Education.
Graham, who recently exited the department ahead of the arrival of President-elect Donald Trump, is back in town but declined to comment for this story.
Former U.S. Congressman Al Lawson Jr.
Lawson, a former Florida A&M University basketball star and Florida State University basketball coach, spent a combined 28 years as a Democrat in the Florida House and Senate.
In 2016, he was elected to Congress after the 5th District was redrawn to include Tallahassee. Six years later, after the minority-access district was erased through redistricting, he lost to Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Panama City, in a redesigned GOP-friendly 2nd District.
'I have been asked by a lot of business leaders in the community whether I might consider running for mayor,' he said. 'They thought that I could really bridge the gap in the commission that is so divided and could get something done because I have a history of being able to work with Republicans and Democrats all through the years.'
But he said the legal challenge over redistricting is still pending before the Florida Supreme Court. He also said he supports Dailey and hasn't 'really given it serious consideration.' He said he told James at the Waffle House that, 'It wasn't on my radar.'
Leon County Commissioner Nick Maddox
Maddox, a former FSU and professional football player, won re-election to his fourth term as one of two at-large county commissioners in 2022, fending off several challengers in the process.
He serves as CEO of Family Promise of the Big Bend, which provides shelter and services to people experiencing homelessness. An ally and friend of Dailey, he also has long been said to have his eyes on the Mayor's Office.
However, Maddox said in an email that he has no current plans to run for mayor.
'I have been informally approached by people suggesting I should consider running for mayor of Tallahassee,' he said. 'I may consider one day, but for now I am happy in my current job and look forward to all the important work we are doing at the county.'
Tallahassee City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow
Matlow, who won a nearly 12-point re-election victory in 2022, is up for a third term in 2026. Part of the City Commission's progressive minority and a vocal critic of City Hall management, he expressed interest in running for mayor in an unpublished 2023 interview with the Democrat but never made any subsequent announcements.
Last year, after an election that saw his lone commission ally, Commissioner Jack Porter, easily win but other progressives lose that were backed by Matlow and his One Tallahassee political committee, he announced he was quitting X, formerly Twitter, and the Democrat. He recently declined to speak to a reporter, referring to a column he wrote accusing the Democrat of right-wing bias.
Ryan Ray, Matlow's aide and chair of the Leon County Democratic Executive Committee, did not comment on whether his boss at the city might run for mayor. However, as DEC chair, he offered remarks in a text, referring to a City Commission candidate who was accused last year of being a GOP plant.
'It's unclear whether the Republicans will support a Democrat for mayor again, or perhaps run another spoiler candidate like Donna Nyack,' Ray said. 'In any case, I'm confident a strong Democrat will be elected mayor in 2026.'
Leon County Commissioner Rick Minor
Minor, first elected to the County Commission District 3 seat in 2018, has been mentioned for years as a potential mayoral candidate. In 2022, he handily defeated two challengers, winning a primary outright and avoiding a runoff.
He worked as chief of staff under former Mayor John Marks, was an advisor to Charlie Crist and others and served as chair of the Leon County DEC. He has been critical of the current direction of the local Democratic Party, saying it needs to be more inclusive of Democrats of all stripes.
Minor told the Democrat in an email that 'at this point,' he's planning to run for a third county commission term in 2026.
'I love the job, and I think District 3 voters are really happy with the work we're doing,' he said. 'However, some people have suggested that I run for mayor if it's an open seat. Regardless of who runs, the community wants their next mayor to be focused on building bridges, not walls.'
Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor
Proctor, first elected to the County Commission in 1996, has long been an outspoken advocate for District 1. While he's never shown much interest in another political job, he didn't dispel gossip about a possible mayoral bid when asked by Yordon last year on the talk show he co-hosts, 'The Usual Suspects."
'It's a good rumor,' Proctor said. 'I love the rumor.' He went on to say that Tallahassee is 'bigger than where we are now' and that the capital city was 'in a quagmire.'
Proctor endorsed Dailey in 2022 but said he now aligns more with Matlow and Porter. In an interview with the Democrat, he put his chances of a mayoral run at 'low to medium, not high, because I love my district.' However, he said he's so upset about a lack of city sewer and other services in his district that he's considering it.
'We shouldn't have to put our sewage in the backyard, in a big old concrete block and everybody else's sewage is being put in a pipe and going to be disposed of in a state-of-the-art, 21st Century way. That galls me, and it's enough to run for mayor.'
Leon County Commissioner Brian Welch
Welch, a Chiles High School social studies teacher, went from political unknown to unseating long-serving District 4 County Commissioner Brian Desloge in a shocking 2020 upset.
Last year, Welch, a Democrat serving in the county's most conservative district, trounced a well-funded GOP-backed candidate by more than 20 points. Welch raised even more, taking in a quarter of a million dollars in his individual account, second only to City Commissioner Curtis Richardson among local candidates.
Welch told the Democrat that while he has considered running for mayor, he's 'not interested.' He said he's 'very happy' serving in his current role and that were he to run for mayor, he'd have to quit his job as a a full-time teacher.
'The mayor of Tallahassee is a very important position — you have the ability to have a huge impact on improving the community,' Welch said. 'So in that regard, obviously it's attractive to anybody that's already serving. But for me, there would be significant drawbacks to doing that at this time.'
Contact Jeff Burlew at [e-mail] or 850-599-2180.