Maddox sets stage for Senate run in 2020
Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox filed paperwork Thursday saying he intends to run for the state Senate seat held by Sen. Bill Montford in 2020.
Maddox also qualified to run for re-election to his City Commission seat later this year, after bowing out of a contentious race for Leon County Schools superintendent.
Montford, D-Tallahassee, will be term-limited out of office in 2020. He is running unopposed for his Senate seat this year.
Maddox, under state statutes, must offer to return the unspent portion of the $215,000 he raised for the superintendent's race to donors. He spent more than $61,000 on the schools campaign.
On Wednesday, he notified the Leon County Supervisor of Elections Office in writing he was designating the leftover money to a District 3 Senate bid in 2020.
"By this letter I officially re-designate my 2016 Leon County Superintendent of Schools campaign account to a campaign for Florida Senate, District 3 to be held in 2020," he wrote in a signed letter.
Maddox could have faced difficulty trying to funnel his donations from the superintendent's race into the city contest. The superintendent's race has a limit of $1,000 per donation, while the city has a maximum of $250 because of a voter-approved charter change in 2014.
He called the financial scenario a "complex nightmare" but didn't comment directly on his likely Senate run.
"I look forward to continuing to serve our city for four more years," he said.
The move was hardly a surprise to insiders. "Tallahassee worst kept secret," tweeted Matthew Isbell, a Democratic consultant.
Maddox, in the letter, said about 62 percent of his donations from the superintendent's race remained after expenses.
"My campaign will send the required notifications to all contributors with the necessary 'Request for Return of Contribution' ... form should they wish reimbursement," he wrote.
He told the Tallahassee Democrat the vast majority of donors have said they don't want their money back. He previously indicated he will start a fundraising effort from scratch for his city race.
Earlier this week, two well-funded candidates for Seat 1, Gloria Pugh and Rick Minor, dropped out of the commission race after Maddox re-entered it. Gary Gayle, Luther Lee and Bruce Strouble, three relative unknowns with little campaign cash, have qualified to run for the seat.
The qualifying period for local and many state offices ends at noon Friday. Candidates must pay a fee or hand in verified voter signatures for their names to appear on ballots.
Maddox, an attorney and a Democrat, was elected to the City Commission in 1993 and served as the city’s first leadership mayor from 1997 until 2003. After unsuccessful bids for attorney general and agriculture commissioner and a brief run for governor, he again won election to the City Commission in 2012.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @Jeff Burlew on Twitter.