Mayoral candidates Loranne Ausley, left, and Jeremy Matlow participate in a forum Friday, Sept. 25, 2026.
Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democr
USA TODAY Network, Reuters
Loranne Ausley wants to “hit the reset button” with a new city commission and city manager and “really start leading with progress and not division.”
Jeremy Matlow wants to bring big ideas and a change from “business as usual” while standing up to “extremism in our state and federal government.”
The two candidates for Tallahassee mayor talked about their plans for the city during a Sept. 25 debate hosted by the Tallahassee Democrat and its longtime election year partners, WFSU and the League of Women Voters, along with the Capital Region News Collaborative.
Matlow, who has served two terms as Seat 3 city commissioner, and Ausley, who served a combined 14 years in the state House and Senate, answered questions on issues ranging from Flock and school zone cameras to development and the city-county dust-up over fire service fees.
They also got a chance to weigh in on one another at multiple points in the debate, which was live-streamed from the WFSU studios on Red Barber Plaza and is available for replay on the Tallahassee Democrat’s YouTube page. Early on, they were asked what the clearest difference was between them.
Matlow said his campaign offers “a clear break from the status quo” and that he was the only candidate who could bring change that people are looking for.
“This is a grassroots campaign,” he said. “We’re funded by thousands of small-dollar donors all across our city, and a real energy fired up because they want to see City Hall go in a different direction. They’re tired of the backroom deals. They’re tired of the same developers who are funneling money into campaigns always getting what they want, while we’re seeing our environment be destroyed. They want something different.”
Ausley said there were three “big differences,” including her support for both the children’s services tax, which Matlow campaigned against, and the sale of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare’s hospital to Florida State University for an academic health center.
“We all have concerns about how it happened,” she said of the hospital sale, “but it’s the right thing for this community, and I’m very supportive of that. Third is really the culture of politics and leadership, and you look at social media and the way you can have negative attacks and false personas.”
When asked what they admired about one another, Ausley said of Matlow, the co-owner of Gaines Street Pies, which has multiple locations: “He makes really good pizza.” Matlow said of Ausley, an avid runner who bounced back after she was seriously injured in a 2024 triathlon: “I think she could run circles around me on the track.”
Matlow came in first in the four-person August primary contest with 36% of the vote, while Ausley finished in second with nearly 34%. They are competing in one of three city commission races on Nov. 3 ballots.
Here are excerpts from the forum, which have been edited for space:
Flock and speed zone cameras
Question: Do you agree with the city’s position on Flock cameras and is there any circumstance where you would allow the use of license plate reading or surveillance technology?
Matlow: “I 100% disagree. This is mass surveillance that was never presented to the city commission or to the general public. And what it does is it tracks the whereabouts of everybody living in Tallahassee, whether you’ve committed a crime or not. It knows where you went to church, knows who you hung out with on a Friday night. The people who have access to it is anyone who subscribes with Flock and gets a login password. The local police department has no control of who accesses that data in the end. So I don’t think this should have been set up, where I think license plate readers may be OK. It’s toll booth billing on the interstate.”
Ausley: “This is another example where technology has gotten way ahead of us. We should not – whether they’re Flock cameras or whatever they are – we should not have them without significant safeguards. They are not in place right now, and I agree with the pauses and moratoriums and everything that’s happening.”
Q: Why should school zone cameras, which photograph license plates when triggered by a speeding vehicle, be treated any differently than Flock cameras, which the city recently suspended?
Ausley: “So I don’t know the answer to that question. I know that speed zone cameras in school zones have made a difference in people slowing down. And I think that’s important. But I’m not sure how they connect with the license plate regulation. I’m not sure, but we we need to have safeguards regardless.”
Matlow: “I voted against the policy to put in the speed zone cameras. One, I think they’re unconstitutional. They’re being challenged around the state already. So I do think those need to come down as well. To control speed in school zones, we need to rely on our law enforcement partners having those communications with the motorists, and also redesigning our streetscapes around our schools.”
Q: Would you vote to end the school zone camera program?
Matlow: “Yes.”
Ausley: “Yes. With that information, yes.”
Divorce over fire fees that could force county to set up its own fire department
Q: A contentious divorce … over fire fees saw the city end its fire services agreement and has the county on the cusp of needing to stand up its own department. Should the city and county governments have two independent fire departments?
Ausley: “So no. We have some people talking about consolidation, and now we’re talking about dividing one of the most important services that is provided in this community. The Tallahassee Fire Department does an amazing job protecting the entire county. The city and the county need to come to the table and figure out how to get that paid for, so that everyone can maintain that level of protection.”
Matlow: “We need to fix this situation. If a fire breaks out, it’s not going to stop because it’s at the county line. I mean, it’s just ridiculous to consider having two different fire stations. I’m in support, and I work with … my county commissioner colleagues that want to see us come back together and solve this.”
Tallahassee development divide
Q: What is one recent local project or development that you believe reflects responsible growth and another where it does not?
Matlow: “I think small-scale urban infill. We look at Wallis Street, where we just broke ground on the Community Land Trust, new housing. Fantastic. Drive down Thomasville Road and look where they’re building a storage center 10 feet from somebody’s backyard. Tell me that’s responsible growth. There’s not a chance.”
Ausley: “So we have incredible examples of responsible growth throughout our community, and I agree, what’s happening on Thomasville Road is unsightly to look at right now. But it happened within the rules and regulations that are currently available to everybody, all developers. If we don’t like what’s happening there, we should perhaps change that. But I think it’s important again to go back to my three points: Does it meet … a real need? Are we creating jobs? Are we creating housing? Is infrastructure ready, and is it protecting what makes Tallahassee special?”
Candidate forum schedule: How to watch
(Online links will take you to replays of forums that have already happened or let you sign up to be notified when they are happening.)
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
11 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Leon County Commission District 3: C.B. Lorch and Rick Minor
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
11 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Tallahassee City Commission Seat 3: Tom Derzypolski and PJ Perez1 p.m. to 2 p.m. – Tallahassee City Commission Seat 4 (Mayor): Loranne Ausley and Jeremy Matlow
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28
11 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Tallahassee City Commission Seat 5: Dot Inman-Johnson and Dianne Williams-Cox (incumbent)1 p.m. to 2 p.m. – State Representative District 9: Tracy Robinson (R) and Allison Tant (D)3 p.m. to 4 p.m. – Leon County Commission District 5: David T. Hawkins and David O’Keefe (CANCELLED – Hawkins declined the invitation to debate.)
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 General Election Candidate Forums.”
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 or click the “Notify Me” button on YouTube 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 replays of the forums on the radio on 88.9 FM.
Have a burning question on a city or county issue you’d like the candidates to address in an upcoming forum? Submit your query to news@tallahassee.com and we’ll consider it in the mix.
More about the candidate forums
This year, we are 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, 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 teamed up with the League and Collaborative partners WFSU, WCTV, WTXL, Capital Outlook and Tallahassee Reports to question the candidates.
Our election guides to the candidates and issues
Our special general election guide will be printed in the paper on Sunday, Oct. 18 ahead of early voting. It will cover all the races – local, state and national – on your ballot and will include an analysis of all the amendments facing voters. You’ll also be able to access all that information and more at our 2026 online Ultimate Election Guide at tallahassee.com.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Reset City Hall or break the status quo? Ausley and Matlow debate
Reporting by Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Mayoral candidate Loranne Ausley participates in a forum with her opponent Jeremy Matlow on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democr USA TODAY Network, Reuters 
Mayoral candidate Jeremy Matlow participates in a forum with his opponent Loranne Ausley on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democr USA TODAY Network, Reuters 
The Capital Region News Collaborative is a coalition of local newsrooms working together to expand reporting and better serve the region. Community Foundation of North Fl USA TODAY Network, Reuters 
Mayoral candidates Loranne Ausley, left, and Jeremy Matlow participate in a forum Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democr USA TODAY Network, Reuters
Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect
This story was originally published September 28, 2026 at 5:09 AM.