How will our tax dollars be spent? How can we ensure our economy isn’t stuck in neutral? How will our elected leaders keep our community safe and enable students to thrive? The answer is on the ballot this year.
Voters will decide who should lead at City Hall, the Leon County School District and from the judicial bench in the 2026 primary elections.
We consider it our responsibility to help you become as informed as you can be so you can vote with confidence in the upcoming local elections.
Tallahassee City Commission Seat 1 candidates Louis Dilbert, Rudolph “Rudy” Ferguson, Sr. and incumbent Jacqueline “Jack” Porter answer questions during a forum hosted by WFSU, the Tallahassee Democrat and the League of Women Voters on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
To that end, the Tallahassee Democrat is building on our partnership with the League of Women Voters of Tallahassee and WFSU to broadcast our award-winning candidate forums before the primary and general elections this year.
This year, we are excited to join the Capital Region News Collaborative, a media consortium made up of TV, radio, newspaper and digital reporters, editors and anchors that will host the forums.
The forums are made possible through the support of Press Forward North Florida, an initiative of the Community Foundation of North Florida. Press Forward brings together journalists, nonprofit leaders, educators, and community stakeholders to identify needs and create sustainable solutions that enhance civic engagement and strengthen trusted local news for years to come.
The Tallahassee Democrat will be teaming up with the League and Collaborative partners WFSU, WCTV, WTXL, Capital Outlook and Tallahassee Reports to question the candidates.
“It is a credit to our community that voters really do their homework each election cycle,” Tallahassee Democrat Editor William Hatfield said. “With the Community Foundation’s support, more citizens will be able to hear directly from the candidates on the issues that are important to them.”
We’ve invited the candidates for many races in the upcoming primary to meet with us panel style at the WFSU studios. We’re inviting you to watch live in your home or office on Facebook, YouTube or on Tallahassee.com.
The forums will also be livestreamed by all participating outlets and made available on each partner’s web and social media sites.
Mayor candidates talk ICE, transgender kids, property taxes at forum
Candidate forum schedule
(Links will take you to replays of forums that have already happened.)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17
11 a.m. to 12 p.m. — 2nd Judicial Circuit Judge Group 7 — Stephanie A. Cager and Jason Jones
1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. — Tallahassee City Commission Seat 5 — Tifany Hill, Dot Inman-Johnson and Dianne Williams-Cox
THURSDAY, JUNE 18
11 a.m. to 12 p.m. — 2nd Judicial Circuit Judge Group 13 — Rashad Green and J. Lee Marsh
1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. — Tallahassee City Commission Seat 3 — Darryl “Dar Wavemaker” Alfred, Tom Derzypolski, Talethia Edwards, Maxwell “Max” Herrle, PJ Perez and Norm Roche
TUESDAY, JUNE 23
11 a.m. to 12 p.m. — Leon County School Board District 5 — Marcus Bernard Nicolas and James G. Reilly, Jr.
1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. — Tallahassee Mayor — Loranne Elizabeth Ausley, Michael Shawn Foust, Jeremy Matlow and Daryl D. Parks
Remember, the meetings on this list are for candidates that appear on the August 18 primary ballot. If a particular contest doesn’t appear on the ballot until November, we won’t be interviewing those candidates until after the primary.
Forums will be broadcast live at the Tallahassee Democrat’s Facebook page, the Tallahassee Democrat’s YouTube Channel and on Tallahassee.com. They will be archived on our YouTube page under the playlist “2026 Tallahassee and Leon County Primary Election Forums.” The forums will also be aired in replay on WFSU radio at 88.9 FM.
Download our app from the App Store or Google Play to receive text notifications 5 minutes before each forum starts. Or “like” our Facebook page to be notified whenever we go live.
Media partners will also be streaming the forums, archiving them on their sites, and WFSU will be airing the forums on the radio as well.
The Capital Region News Collaborative is a coalition of local newsrooms working together to expand reporting and better serve the region.
Forums will range between an hour in duration or an hour and a half depending on the number of candidates, and fair warning: Some of the races are pretty crowded.
Have a burning question on a city, school or judicial issue you’d like the candidates to address? Submit your query to news@tallahassee.com and we’ll consider it in the mix.
Our election guides to the candidates and issues
Our special primary election guide will be printed and inserted into the paper on Sunday, Aug. 2. You’ll be able to access the same information – and much more – at our 2026 online Election HQ at Tallahassee.com/elections.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee Democrat announces 2026 election candidate forums