- Two Tallahassee city commission seats could be decided if one candidate receives over 50 percent of the vote.
- Both school board seats and the county property appraiser races will be decided Tuesday.
- Watch now to hear a political expert from FAMU help break down the races.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
About 13,000 neighbors voted early, and over 20,000 mailed in those ballots — numbers we're getting as we approach Florida's primary.
I'm Alberto Camargo in the downtown Tallahassee neighborhood.
As you prepare to vote, here are some of the races we're watching closely.
The City Commission has two heated races up for grabs in the primary.
I was able to meet with all three candidates for City Commission Seat 1 — which Jack Porter holds — to ask them what they believe is on the line Tuesday.
"Whether as a city, we're going to be led by everyday people or by a select few special interests who have donated for far too long," says Porter.
"Civility, harmony, respect and decorum," says Rudy Ferguson. "Which I plan to bring back to the office, the sanctity of public office."
"The ability for our elected officials to think independently, and not from a team perspective is at stake here," says Louis Dilbert. "I'm running as an independent candidate — I'm not on anybody's team or whatnot, because I want to be able to work effectively with all of my colleagues to ensure that we get things done for the people of Tallahassee."
City commissioner Curtis Richardson is being challenged for his seat by former Tallahassee Mayor Dot Inman-Johnson, Bernard Stevens and Donna Nyack.
Nyack has been under scrutiny — with accusations that she is a ghost candidate.
I asked Florida A&M University political science professor Chris Daniels to breakdown what that means.
"Sometimes people accuse people of running for office, just to take votes away from the main candidate to have to push the election all the way out to November to make it more expensive, more challenging, and give more time for something to go wrong and have a possible upset in the election."
I did not get a response from Nyack's campaign about this issue.
She has gone on record with other organizations saying that is not the case.
When it comes to what's happening with Leon County schools — another race we're watching: Leon County School Board District 4.
Despite it being a non-partisan race, Governor DeSantis has publicly supported incumbent Laurie Lawson-Cox against Tallahassee firefighter Jeremy Rogers.
As for what that endorsement means for this race.
"Anytime you have the governor of the state or anyone that stature backing you, that gives you a lot of attention, a lot of notoriety, but ultimately its still up to the people of the city of Tallahassee to decide what's best for our community, what's best for our kids."
Both city commission seats will be decided ONLY if one candidate gets over half the vote in the primary.
But with just two candidates, both school board seats and the Leon County property appraiser races should be decided Tuesday.
If you're still looking to vote on Tuesday, visit your polling place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
In downtown Tallahassee, Alberto Camargo, ABC27.
