2022 Tallahassee mayoral election

2022 Tallahassee mayoral election

August 23, 2022 (first round) November 8, 2022 (second round)
Turnout	30.04% 2.72 pp (first round)
Candidate John Dailey Kristin Dozier Michael Ibrahim Party Nonpartisan Nonpartisan Nonpartisan First round 17,449 45.68% 17,602 46.08% 2,007 5.25% Runoff 34,101 53.16% 30,044 46.84% Eliminated
Runoff results by precinct Dailey:      50–60%      60–70%      70-80% Dozier:      50–60%      60–70%      70-80% No votes:
Mayor before election John Dailey Elected mayor John Dailey

The 2022 Tallahassee mayoral election was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, to elect the Mayor of Tallahassee, Florida. The vote was held subsequently along with the other statewide elections.

As of April 2022, four candidates had filed to run for the mayoral seat including. The candidates were Kristin Dozier, Leon County Commissioner, incumbent Tallahassee mayor John E. Dailey seeking a second term, Whitfield Leland III and Michael Ibrahim.

A first-round primary took place on August 23, 2022, where no candidate received the majority of the vote, thus sparking a second-round runoff between Dailey and Dozier who both garnered most of votes in the August primary to become the main frontrunners in the runoff vote.[1]

Dailey won re-election for a second term.[2]

Background

Following the 2018 mayoral elections, Leon County Commissioner John E. Dailey was elected for the City Commission Seat 4, Mayor post.

Electoral system

All Tallahassee city commissioners, which include the Mayor of Tallahassee, Florida at Seat 4 are elected non-partisan for a four-year term through two-round system. If a candidate winning the most votes at the first round fails to garner enough to have a majority of 50% of the vote share, then a runoff election is held between two candidates who earned the most votes out of all other contestants in the first-round primary.[3]

Candidates

In order to appear on the ballot, candidates were required to file needed papers to the Leon County Supervisor of Elections with a contribution fee of $1,000 per Florida Statute or collect enough petition signatures (1% of registered constituent electorate) as an alternative, with a noon, May 16, 2022, deadline. The qualifying process took place at the Supervisor of Elections Office between noon June 13 and June 17, 2022.[3]

Declared

Candidate		Announced
John E. Dailey	Incumbent Mayor of Tallahassee since 2018 Leon County Board of Commissioners, District 3 (2006–2018)	March 1, 2021 (Website)	[4]
Kristin Dozier	Leon County Board of Commissioners, District 5 (2010–present)	March 3, 2022 (Website)	[5]
	Entrepreneur Owner of The Community Roundtable of Tallahassee 850 (2020–present)	February 22, 2021 (Website)	[6]
	Owner of Tallahassee Tireport, Inc (2015–present) Police Officer and Detective in the Ministry of Interior under the Egyptian National Police (1981–2006)	April 4, 2022	[7]

Endorsements

John Dailey[8]

• Big Bend Police Benevolent Association[9]
• Grow Tallahassee

Kristin Dozer[8]

• Big Bend Chapter AFL CIO
• Climate Cabinet Action[10]
• Democratic Environmental Caucus of Leon County
• Florida Rising
• The Florida Squeeze
• Tallahassee Professional Firefighters

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	John E. Dailey	Kristin Dozier	Michael Ibrahim	Whitfield Leland III	Undecided
Network of Entrepreneurs & Business Advocates[11]	May 24, 2022	170	65.5%	21%	13%	1%	—

Results

First round

2022 Tallahassee mayoral primary election[12]

Candidate		Votes	%
Kristin Dozier		17,602	46.08
John E. Dailey		17,449	45.68
Whitfield Leland III		2,007	5.25
Michael Ibrahim		1,138	2.98
Total votes		38,196	100.00
Voter turnout		30.04%

Runoff

2022 Tallahassee mayoral runoff election

Candidate		Votes	%
John E. Dailey		34,492	53.07%
Kristin Dozier		30,499	46.93%
Total votes		64,991	100.00
Voter turnout		%

References

1. Burlew, Jeff. "Campaign cliffhanger: Kristin Dozier, John Dailey head to runoff after airtight mayor's race". Tallahassee Democrat. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
2. "John Dailey projected to earn reelection, defeats Kristin Dozier in Tallahassee mayoral election". www.wtxl.com. November 8, 2022. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
3. "2022 LEON COUNTY ELECTION INFORMATION SHEET" (PDF). www.leonvotes.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
4. "Campaign Account Documents" (PDF). www.leonvotes.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 18, 2021. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
5. Burlew, Jeff. "Leon County Commissioner Kristin Dozier launches challenge against Mayor John Dailey". Tallahassee Democrat. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
6. "Campaign Account Documents" (PDF). www.leonvotes.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 18, 2021. Retrieved September 18, 2021.
7. "Campaign Account Documents" (PDF). www.leonvotes.gov. June 16, 2022. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
8. "Running list: Endorsements in Tallahassee races begin to pour in with just weeks to early voting".
9. "Big Bend Police Benevolent Association issues endorsements for Tallahassee City Commission".
10. "Kristin Dozier picks up Climate Cabinet PAC endorsement, support in mayor's race".
11. Network of Entrepreneurs & Business Advocates
12. "Summary Results - Election Night Reporting".