The candidate qualifying period ended Friday, officially setting the 2024 races for state and local office, including a few that are expected to be fiercely fought over.
In the contest for state Senate District 3, the Democrats are looking to reclaim a seat it had held for years until 2022, when Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, unseated Loranne Ausley.
Daryl Parks, who has amassed a six-figure war chest, andKimblinNeSmith, who has less than $300, will square off in the Aug. 20 Democratic primary, with the winner facing Simon in the Nov. 5 general election.
Other marquee contests include Tallahassee City Commission Seat, with Commissioner Jack Porter facing two challengers, Rudy Ferguson Sr. and Louis Dilbert, and Seat 2, with Commissioner Curtis Richardson trying to fend off three competitors, DotInman-Johnson, DonnaNyackand Bernard Stevens Jr.
Those contests could determine whether control of City Hall remains in the hands of the current voting majority, made up of Mayor JohnDailey, Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox and Richardson, or the voting minority, made up of Porter and Commissioner JeremyMatlow.
Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide
The qualifying period — the time that candidates file paperwork and pay fees for their names to appear on ballots — began at noon Monday and wrapped at noon Friday. It ended on a slightly anti-climactic note, with none of the 11th hour intrigue, including last-minute party changes, that has marked qualifying in past years.
No new candidates waited until the last moment to simultaneously file and qualify for office. DavidWamsley, a candidate for City Commission Seat 1, withdrew on Friday, and AnthonyDeMarco, another candidate for Seat 1, withdrew on Thursday. But both had earlier made it clear they didn’t intend to qualify. MattProsser, a candidate for County Commission District 2, bowed out the week before qualifying.
The Leon County Supervisor of Elections Office, which in years past has buzzed with activity in the final hour of qualifying, was decidedly quiet Friday as the clock wound down. One person called the Elections Office just after noon to ask whether anyone had filed against County Commissioner ChristianCaban. The answer was no.
Caban, along with Elections Supervisor Mark Earley, Tax Collector Doris Maloy, Clerk of Court Gwen Marshall Knight and Sheriff Walt McNeil, all qualified without competition, which means they all will automatically take officeafterthe general election.
Earley, in a news release, said his staff had finished processing all the qualifying paperwork for the local candidates.
“This year we have many candidates and races who will appear on the ballot, so all Leon County voters will have many choices to make this year,” Earley said. “I encourage every voter to use their voice by voting in both the primary and general elections.”
Simon, Parks raise big bucks for Senate District 3 battle
One of the most watched legislative races this campaign will be for Senate District 3. The 13-county district unites Tallahassee ‘s 202,000 residents with 12 surrounding forested and coastal counties.
Results from this city-country marriage are a mirror image of the two partners – with Tallahassee and Gadsden County voting with Democrats by nearly a two-thirds margin and their country brethren backing Republicans by the same.
Democrats held the seat for more than 100 years until incumbent Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, a former Florida State University football star, flipped the district.
The Simon victory coupled with Republican Neal Dunn as the area’s congressman, resulted in Tallahassee being simultaneously represented by Republicans in both theU.S. House and the Florida Senate for the first time since post-Civil War Reconstruction.
In April, Tallahassee civil rights attorney Daryl Parks announced as a Democratic candidate and in the next eight weeks he received 1,358 contributions and raised $237,000.
Parks has another $246,672 in his political committee North Florida Families.
Two years ago, Simon captured 39% of the Leon and Gadsden vote – two points better than previous GOP candidates – and pulled in three-quarters of the vote in the remaining 11 counties to win by six points.
Simon has $460,000 in his Senate campaign account and another $929,000 in the Friends of Corey Simon political action committee.
In two election cycles the Senate Republican Campaign Committee had spent an estimated $10 million to capture the SD 3 seat.
Gadsden County CommissionerKimblinNeSmithalso qualified as a Democratic candidate. Smith reports $226 in his campaign account.
Tant draws surprise GOP opponent for House District 9
Spenser Brass intends to test Rep. AllisonTant, D-Tallahassee, bipartisan support in the race for House District 9.Tantfaced no opposition in 2022 despite the district being redistricted to make a traditionally Democratic seat more Republican.
The 63-year-oldTantis a former chair of the Florida Democratic Party who touts strong bipartisan support for a campaign that lists 633 individual contributions – the most among the six candidates running for a Leon House seat.
Tant, the founder of local non-profit groups KEYS, Independence Landing, and ACE Summer Institute, has $211,000 in her campaign account, and $316,177 in her political action committee People First Leadership.
Brass, a 26-year-old real estate and business executive has yet to file a fundraising report with the Division of Elections.
Shoaf picks up challenger for House District 7
Incumbent Rep. JasonShoaf, R-Port St. Joe, was first elected in 2019 and has since faced token opposition in three reelection campaigns. Live Oak’s Kenneth “Kenny” Beasley qualified to carry the Democratic banner into the fall campaign.
HD7 takes in five southwest Leon County precincts as it winds along the Forgotten Coast from Taylor County at the Big Bend to 100 miles west of Tallahassee at Gulf County.
Perry, with about 7,000 residents, is the district’s biggest town.Shoafhas dominated elections in the district’s more populated counties of Gulf, Taylor and Wakulla.
Shoafis a vice president at the St. Joe Natural Gas Company and reports $36,577 in his campaign account and can count on another $252,539 in his political action committee, Protect Our Florida Values.
Beasley’, aSuwanneeCounty road maintenance worker, campaign slogan is a “Working Man for the Working People.”
He also serves as Vice President of theSuwanneeCounty chapter of the Voter League, and a member of the NAACP. Beasley has $1,990 in his campaign account.
Franklin draws opponent who worked for DeSantis campaign
A former aide to Gov. Ron DeSantis emerged to challenge Rep. Gallop Franklin, D-Tallahassee, for the House District 8 seat late on the final full day of qualifying.
Grace D. Glass is the former Coordinator of External Affairs for Gov. Ron DeSantis and served three months as a scheduling assistant for the Ron DeSantis for President campaign.
Franklin is a pharmacist and university professor first elected in 2022 with a dominant performance in the district’s Tallahassee precincts.
House District 8 takes in all of Gadsden County, the state's only minority-majority county, and most of Leon County south and west sides. It is home to the poorest zip code in Florida, on Tallahassee’s south side.
The district’s poverty rate is 58%, higher than the rest of the state. The per capita income is 35% lower and median household income is 26% less, according to theU.S. Census Bureau.
Glass said she is running to destroy a lot of the narratives that have been created in District 8 under 57 years of Democratic leadership.
“If we just do a comparison between different kind of policies, my future plans and what America has to offer, I think that's going to be a pretty, pretty, pretty strong campaign to run,” Glass told the Tallahassee Democrat.
In his first race two years ago, Franklin pledged to prioritize Florida A&M University as the district’s chief economic engine and to focus education and infrastructure enhancements for the district.
He said he has secured some $60 million for such programs while in office.
Franklin has $38,231 in his campaign account and another $49,580 in his political action committee Fighting for the Future.
Glass has yet to file any campaign finance reports.
Democratic candidates line up to take on Rick Scott
Democratic and Republican August primary voters will have the opportunity to select aU.S. Senate candidate for a November race that may decide which party controls the chamber. Incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Scott has drawn two little-known challengers.
Keith Gross bills himself as the “America-First, the only option” candidate. He said he will lead the fight against the “WashingtonUnipartyof far-left Democrats and spinelessRINORepublicans.
John S. Columbus is running as “a modern millennial Florida-Man,” who is a conservative for the 21st century.
On the Democratic side former south Florida Congresswoman DebbieMucarselPowell is competing with former Florida House Representative Brian Rush of Tampa, businessman Stanley Campbell, and army veteran Joseph Rod.
Who qualified to run for office in 2024:
State Senate District 3
- Kimblin NeSmith(Democrat).
- Daryl Parks(Democrat).
- Corey Simon(incumbent, Republican).
State House District 7
- Kenneth "Kenny" Beasley (Democrat).
- Jason Shoaf(incumbent, Republican).
State House District 8
- Gallop Franklin(incumbent, Democrat).
- Grace Da'nice Glass (Republican).
State House District 9
- Spencer Brass (Republican).
- Allison Tant(incumbent, Democrat).
Leon County clerk of court
- Gwen Marshall(incumbent, Democrat).
Leon County property appraiser
- Akin Akinyemi(incumbent, Democrat).
- Kenneth "Ken" Preston(Democrat).
Leon County sheriff
- Walt McNeil (incumbent, Democrat).
Leon County superintendent of schools
- Joseph Lamar Burgess(no party affiliation).
- Rocky Hanna(incumbent, Democrat).
- Genleah Star Swain(Democrat).
Leon County supervisor of elections
- Mark Earley(incumbent, Democrat).
Leon County tax collector
- Doris Maloy(incumbent, Democrat).
Leon County Commission at-large
- Carolyn Cummings(incumbent).
- David Hawkins.
Leon County Commission District 2
- Christian Caban (incumbent).
Leon County Commission District 4
- Isaac Montilla.
- Brian Welch(incumbent).
Leon County School Board District 2
- Rosanne Wood(incumbent).
- Daniel Zeruto.
Leon County School Board District 4
- Laurie Lawson Cox(incumbent).
- Jeremy Rogers.
Tallahassee City Commission Seat 1
- Louis Dilbert.
- Rudy Ferguson Sr.
- Jack Porter(incumbent).
Tallahassee City Commission Seat 2
- Dorothy Inman-Johnson.
- Donna Nyack.
- Curtis Richardson(incumbent).
- Bernard Stevens Jr.
Leon County judge Seat 4 (Qualified in April)
- CydneeBrown
- Robert Churchill
- LaShawnRiggans
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com at 850-599-2180.
