Jeremy Matlow beat Loranne Ausley for Tallahassee mayor by 1,365 votes. Voters also renewed the school sales tax and added a mill for teacher pay. Unofficial results.
City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow will be Tallahassee’s next mayor. He beat Loranne Ausley by 1,365 votes in Tuesday’s runoff, according to unofficial results from the Leon County Supervisor of Elections.
Matlow took 37,063 votes, or 50.94%, to Ausley’s 35,698, or 49.06%. All 134 precincts had reported, along with every early vote and mail ballot, in the Supervisor of Elections results last updated at 11:26 p.m. Tuesday.
Voters also approved both school tax questions by about two to one. And they rejected, by 60.5% to 39.5%, an advisory straw ballot question on consolidation.
The results are unofficial until the county canvassing board certifies them.
City Commission
Three of the five City Commission seats were on the ballot. The mayor holds Seat 4.
| Race | Winner | Votes | Share | Runner-up | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayor (Seat 4) | Jeremy Matlow | 37,063 | 50.94% | Loranne Ausley | 35,698 |
| Seat 3 | P.J. Perez | 44,427 | 64.21% | Tom Derzypolski | 24,764 |
| Seat 5 | Dianne Williams-Cox | 35,638 | 51.70% | Dot Inman-Johnson | 33,292 |
Matlow holds Seat 3 now, so Perez will take the seat Matlow leaves. Matlow succeeds Mayor John E. Dailey. Williams-Cox, the Seat 5 incumbent, kept her seat by 2,346 votes.
Neither city race was close enough for a recount. A machine recount is ordered when a race is decided by half a percentage point or less, the Supervisor of Elections has said. The mayor’s race was decided by 1.88 points.
How Matlow won
The mayor’s race split by how people voted. Ausley led among Election Day voters and mail voters. Matlow won early voting by 2,116 votes, more than enough to cover both.
| Vote type | Matlow | Ausley |
|---|---|---|
| Early voting | 16,255 | 14,139 |
| Election Day | 12,555 | 12,797 |
| Vote by mail | 8,253 | 8,762 |
| Total | 37,063 | 35,698 |
School taxes: both pass
Leon County Schools asked voters two separate questions. Both passed easily. We set out what each one does in our guide to the two school tax questions.
| Question | Yes | No | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renew the half-cent school sales tax for 15 years | 79,834 (67.79%) | 37,941 (32.21%) | Passed |
| Add 1 mill of property tax for four years, mostly for pay | 77,542 (66.24%) | 39,525 (33.76%) | Passed |
The sales tax renewal starts Jan. 1, 2028, when the current tax ends. The extra mill runs from July 1, 2027, through June 30, 2031, under the county’s ballot resolution. Property owners will first see it on the 2027 TRIM notice, the district has said.
County Commission and School Board
| Race | Winner | Share | Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|
| County Commission, at large, Group 2 | Nick Maddox | 95.15% | write-in votes, 4.85% |
| County Commission, District 3 | Rick Minor | 73.44% | C.B. Lorch, 26.56% |
| County Commission, District 5 | David T. O’Keefe | 69.09% | David T. Hawkins, 30.91% |
| School Board, District 1 | Alva “Striplin” Smith | 94.83% | write-in votes, 5.17% |
County charter amendments and the straw ballot
Leon County voters decided five charter amendments and one straw ballot question. The titles below are the ones on the results page. The full ballot wording is on the Supervisor of Elections ballot questions page.
| Question | Yes | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Charter amendment: Ordinances | 46.39% | Failed |
| Charter amendment: Street Naming | 62.94% | Passed |
| Charter amendment: Human Dignity | 65.44% | Passed |
| Charter amendment: Outdated References | 72.20% | Passed |
| Charter amendment: Affirmation | 64.76% | Passed |
| Straw ballot: Consolidation (advisory) | 39.49% | Rejected |
The straw ballot is advisory. It does not change how the city or county is governed.
How Leon County voted on the state ballot
These are Leon County’s votes only. Statewide results come from the Florida Division of Elections.
- Governor: David Jolly (D) 66.89%, Byron Donalds (R) 31.90%
- U.S. Senate: Angie Nixon (D) 65.15%, Ashley Moody (R) 33.83%
- U.S. House, District 2: Amanda Marie Green (D) 68.01%, Austin Rogers (R) 31.99%
- State House, District 9: Allison Tant (D) 64.89%, Tracy Robinson (R) 35.11%
- Amendment 3, homestead tax exemption: 45.20% yes, 54.80% no in Leon County
Turnout in Leon County was 68.27%. That is 125,981 ballots from 184,523 registered voters.
What it means for you
- The new mayor and commissioners are not in office yet. Until they are sworn in, Dailey remains mayor and Matlow holds Seat 3. Our who to call at City Hall page lists the current commission.
- School tax changes are not immediate. The extra mill first shows on property tax bills mailed in fall 2027. Our property tax guide explains how the bill is built.
- The figures can still move slightly before certification, as any remaining provisional and overseas ballots are counted. Final, certified results will be posted by the Supervisor of Elections.
- More on voting in the county is in our Leon County voting guide.
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