{"id":432694,"date":"2026-10-20T04:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T04:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/432694\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T04:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T04:24:08","slug":"fort-myers-mayor-silent-as-naacp-demands-resignation-at-city-hall-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/432694\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Myers mayor silent as NAACP demands resignation at City Hall | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 Members of the NAACP were cut off as they continued to push for the resignation of Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson following allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by several young men.<\/p>\n

The demonstration outside the city council building Monday marked the third protest organized by the Lee County NAACP since the allegations were first brought to public attention. Members circled City Hall before going inside to share their demands during public comment, which was cut short by council members before they could reach the microphone.<\/p>\n

RELATED: ‘Public’s voice silenced’: Walkout abruptly ends Fort Myers City Council meeting amid Mayor misconduct claims<\/a><\/p>\n

The allegations involve several young men who came forward with claims of unwanted sexual advances and misconduct. Mayor Anderson has repeatedly denied the allegations, calling them “taken out of context” and “completely false.”<\/p>\n

“The mayor has been too quiet regarding this,” said James Muwakkil, president of the Lee County NAACP.<\/p>\n

Mayor Anderson did not acknowledge the protests at the meeting and remained silent on the matter as he left the council chambers. The Lee County NAACP is also asking for an independent review of the claims.<\/p>\n

“This is a traumatizing experience, yet the state attorney’s office, FDLE, city council, the legal community, who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, have so far not lived up to that,” Muwakkil said.<\/p>\n

The initial police report was referred to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which closed the case without filing criminal charges. The decision has prompted some officials at the NAACP to push back against the protest.<\/p>\n

“I’m getting some pushback from the state and management regarding what we’re doing here today,” Muwakkil said.<\/p>\n

Dominic Hendricks, one of the individuals who has come forward with allegations, says he appreciates the show of support from the community.<\/p>\n

“My main goal is putting pressure along with the community members and everything today,” Hendricks said. “I don’t expect change overnight, but I do expect change eventually.”<\/p>\n

Hendricks says he is upset that Mayor Anderson has retained his seat on the council and his position as mayor. Meanwhile Anderson has resigned from four other board positions, including the FGCU Alumni Association, Valerie\u2019s House, United Way and Foundation for Lee County Public Schools.<\/p>\n

Muwakkil says he won’t stop pushing forward.<\/p>\n

“I’m basically doing what I am supposed to do, what I’m born to do, and I’m going to do this with or without the NAACP,” Muwakkil said.<\/p>\n

The allegations and the response from city leaders has created uncertainty among voters. Early voting in Lee County is now open and election day is around the corner, with council members Teresa Watkins Brown and Terolyn Watson along with Mayor Anderson on the ballot for re-election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 Members of the NAACP were cut off as they continued to push for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,90583,162314,28,897,157982,24131,1375,17011,13703,167005,6272,130101],"class_list":["post-432694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-cities-in-the-united-states","tag-dominic-hendricks","tag-florida","tag-fort-myers","tag-geography-of-florida","tag-kevin-anderson","tag-mayor","tag-myers","tag-naacp","tag-randall-p-henderson-jr","tag-state-attorney","tag-thomas-edison"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}