The crowded City Commission Seat 3 race is headed for a runoff – and a recount.
By the end of the night P.J. Perez was on top and a mere 24 votes separated Tom Derzypolski from Talethia Edwards.
According to the Leon County Supervisor of Elections website, all votes have been counted for — including mail-in ballots and early voting — and Perez managed to stay in the lead all night, closing out Election Day with 29.05% of the votes. Derzypolski and Edwards stayed very close behind, until ultimately Derzypolski came out on top, just barely, ending with 26.33% of the vote, and Edwards ending with 26.27%.
See the candidates, their supporters at election night watch parties
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City Commission Seat 5 incumbent Dianne Williams-Cox takes a photo with her supporters at her watch party hosted at Tallahassee Nights Live on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat)
The thin margin automatically triggers a machine recount, according to Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley.
He said the race will go to a recount because the candidates were easily within a half percentage point of one another.
A machine recount could happen as soon as Friday, with a possible hand recount following. It could be next week before there’s official word on who will advance to the November runoff.
“At this point, it’s a very close race and anything can happen,” Earley said, though he added that the results were “kind of unlikely to change.”
Darryl “Dar Wavemaker” Alfred, Max Herrle and Norm Roche closed out the race with 7.34%, 6.14% and 4.88%, respectively.
After early voting results dropped, the Tallahassee Democrat spoke with Edwards and Derzypolski. Edwards told the Democrat that she’s “still feeling very positive” despite the close race.
Tallahassee City Commission Seat 3 candidate PJ Perez awaits results on election night, August 18, 2026.
“I’m most proud (that) this campaign … stuck to our word, stuck to the issues all year long that the people wanted to talk about, so I’m very proud of that,” she said.
Derzypolski told the Democrat that watching results come in is “a nerve-wracking experience.”
“It’s like being a coach and hoping the score goes up but you can’t control any of the play,” he said. “It’s nerve-wracking but exciting.”
Even if he doesn’t stay on top, Derzypolski said he’s proud of the positive campaign he ran and that he stayed focused on the people of Tallahassee.
Six people vowing to change Tallahassee for the better appeared on the ballot: Edwards, a longstanding community activist; Roche, a former Pinellas County Commissioner; Perez, a local teacher; Derzypolski, the founder of a local marketing firm; Herrle, a local progressive political operative; and Alfred Jr., a rideshare driver and local Realtor.
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With this many candidates, experts previously said the outcome of Election Day would be hard to predict, and runoff elections will be likely. Their assessment rang true.
The general election stands to shift the powers on the city commission dais because three of the seats are up for re-election, and only one incumbent is seeking re-election. The two other city races for mayor and Seat 5 are also headed for runoffs, leaving the balance in City Hall still an unknown.
Tallahassee City Commission Seat 3 forum
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Candidates for City Commission Seat 3 Darryl Alfred Jr., left, Tom Derzypolski, Talethia Edwards, Max Herrle, PJ Perez and Nick Roche participate in a forum on Thursday, June 18, 2026. (Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat)
Open seat drew crowded slate of candidates
Mayor John Dailey decided to step down from public office at the end of his term, and City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow, who currently holds Seat 3, opted to leave his post and make a bid for mayor. With a vacant seat, candidates jumped at the chance to run for office without an incumbent against them.
By the end of last August, four people had already filed for Seat 3, and then three more joined the race earlier this year. Alexander Moore was the last person to enter the race on March 26, but he didn’t qualify to make it on the ballot.
While campaigns have been relatively civil, the months leading up to the election started to ramp up with political attacks.
In July, Matlow’s campaign manager resigned from her role after admitting she was behind a social media sneak attack that showed footage of Edwards challenging Orlando police officers after she parked illegally in a disabled spot.
A nearly nine-minute video of officer body-cam footage and emails from Edwards to the police department was posted on Facebook. Edwards’ supporters portrayed it as an orchestrated attempt to mislead voters by the Matlow campaign.
City Commission Seat 3 candidate Talethia Edwards shares how she is feeling as election results trickle in Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026.
Developers, elected officials, local power players help fund crowded race
The race for Seat 3 has generated over $317,000 in campaign donations, with an array of well-known donors choosing sides.
Derzypolski raised the most money, bringing in $116,519. Local development groups like Arbor Properties, owned by Gordon Thames, and NAI TALCOR, owned by Ed Murray, and the Realtors Political Action Committee donated thousands of dollars to his campaign.
Edwards also saw thousands of dollars pour in from Arbor Properties. Aside from the development group, Edwards earned widespread support, including sizable donations from the city’s current voting majority — Dailey and City Commissioners Dianne Williams-Cox and Curtis Richardson — the Florida Police Benevolent Association, Rep. Allison Tant and many other notable Tallahassee names.
Herrle and Perez received donations from lots of Tallahassee residents, while Roche and Alfred mostly donated to themselves or had contributions from family.
Campaign finances at a glance
City Commission Seat 3 candidate Tom Derzypolski, left, with his wife Stephanie talk with friends about his campaign as they wait for election results to update Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026.
Darryl Alfred Jr: Raised $6,375. Spent $4,880.
Tom Derzypolski: Raised $116,519. Spent $73,717.
Talethia Edwards: Raised $84,294. Spent $74,312.
Max Herrle: Raised $33,280. Spent $19,410.
Alexander Moore: Raised none. Spent none.
PJ Andres Perez: Raised $69,430. Spent $39,263.
Norm Roche: Raised $7,256. Spent $5,759.
Each candidate envisions a different path forward
Each of the candidates’ campaigns focused on how they’d keep Tallahassee moving forward, but each person had a different take on the best way to do that.
Roche said he’d focus on talent retention, wanting Tallahassee to be a place young professionals want to stay. Derzypolski said he believes expanding employment opportunities would go a long way. Alfred suggested bringing all the major stakeholders together to collaborate. Herrle says he’d turn his attention toward economic development and infrastructure. Perez would take a consumer-based approach, and Edwards is focused on affordability in Tallahassee.
Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: 24 vote spread means recount, runoff in crowded Seat 3 City Commission race