(TALLAHASSEE) If you have paid attention to the local city commissioner's meetings, you may have noticed a high frequency of two voting outcomes: a unanimous 5-0 and narrow 3-2 votes.
In 2025, Tallahassee’s city commissioners have had 2 documented 4-1 votes, showing how rare it is for anyone to break away from their traditional voting group. Since November 2020, when Jacqueline Porter was elected, all five City Commissioners have been reelected and have remained intact.
Since Porter’s introduction, I have only found 2 cases where a commissioner votes against their designated group. For the purpose of demonstrating party loyalty, I am not including 4-1 votes, which have, unsurprisingly, become a rare occurrence.
In 2021, Mayor John Dailey voted against his traditional majority block, voting with Matlow and Porter to pass a resolution that supported women’s right to abortion. However, it is important to note that the dissenting opinion was not made due to disagreement, but rather because the dissenting commissioner believed the city commissioners did not have the legal authority to pass the resolution at the time.
The second instance occurred earlier in 2025, when Mayor Dailey again voted with Commissioners Matlow and Porter. The three agreed to have Tallahassee’s Police Department come before City Hall to give an update regarding an ICE-related agreement.
Commissioner Jeremy Matlow, Mayor Pro Tem Dianne Williams-Cox, Mayor John E. Dailey, Commissioner Jacqueline "Jack" Porter, Commissioner Curtis Richardson
To emphasize, I have not been able to find a single instance where Commissioner Richardson and the current Mayor Pro-Tem, Williams-Cox, have voted against each other. To their defense, the rest of the commissioners have also remained incredibly loyal to their voting habits.
Currently, Tallahassee City Hall remains divided between two distinct sides: the conservatives and the progressives, both with little wavering in their beliefs. Often, the winning side, the conservative group, consists of Commissioner Curtis Richardson and Mayor Pro Tem Dianne Williams-Cox, who have shown complete loyalty in mixed votes.
Often, Mayor Dailey joins, who has, on rare occasions, split tie-breakers in favor of the progressive side of city hall. Opposing them is the progressive side, which consists of Commissioner Jeremy Matlow and Commissioner Jacqueline Porter. Outside of the unanimous 5-0 votes, Commissioner Matlow and Porter commonly find themselves on the losing end of city hall votes.
The question becomes, how do the voters feel about the voting habits? What one may call predictable, another may say is consistent. Whichever side you may fall on, Tallahassee’s commissioners upheld their traits for over 5 years.
With rigid voting patterns, are the commissioners serving their voters, or proving overly loyal to their political parties? The current division among the commissioners favors conservative voters, as they currently hold a numerical advantage and have two members who are unlikely to vote against each other.
By effectively having a duplicate voter, Tallahassee’s city commissioners have created a voting system like no other city. The question is, does it adequately represent the people, or the majority?
Help me answer the question by emailing me at jason.f@lead4earth.org.
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