Meet the Candidates 2026: Gainesville mayor faces political newcomer

Unlike the elbow-bumping, nine-challenger showdown from four years ago, the 2026 Gainesville mayoral race comes down to just the incumbent, Mayor Harvey Ward, seeking what would be his final term on the commission, and challenger Evan Moon with his first foray into politics.

The Gainesville City Commission had four of its seven seats open for this election cycle, potentially allowing a reshuffling of seats like the one that happened four years ago.

Commissioner Bryan Eastman ran unopposed and will continue to serve without heading to the ballot. Commissioner Ed Book announced he would step down after a single term, so one of three District 2 challengers will join the dais.

Commissioner Casey Willits faces a familiar challenger in DeJeon Cain as well as an unfamiliar one in James Gardner for District 3.

Mainstreet Daily News provided each of the candidates for office with the same questions. We’ve run the answers below as received. The District 2 and District 3 candidates had their answers in separate articles.

We will begin with a short biography of each candidate followed by the questions and answers.

Mayoral Seat

Harvey Ward

• Occupation: I currently work full-time as Mayor of Gainesville, but my prior career was in non-profit management and fundraising.
• Previous experience in elected office: I was elected as a Gainesville City Commissioner in 2017 and served two terms representing District 2 before being elected Mayor in 2022, where I have served since.
• Public service other than elected office: Before public office, I served on a variety of local boards, including Elder Care of Alachua County, the Hippodrome Theatre, the Early Learning Coalition and others.

Evan Moon

• Occupation: I work at Walmart, in the Deli, in the back, doing the work others in my position have elected not to. If you can catch me leaving the restroom with very clean hands, make an inquiry, and I shall not leave you until you are holding in your hands what you came to me for. Then, I shall follow up, asking if that works for you; any opinions are then given. Next, I test the waters and return to my dwelling where I plot to take over the city – filling it with buses to interconnect our people reliably, a multi-pronged plan to reward good stewardship of housing paired with incentive structures for ACTUALLY affordable housing, even a new fairground to save our city from being a C-ranked market when the students dissipate from sight.
• Previous experience in elected office: None. Oh wait, I was always in student government. If allowed, I would run for everything. Then, students would fill out their ballots with my name only… Left a predicament.
• Public service other than elected office: I worked at the Butterfly Museum making the flowers bloom in the mornings, and collections in the afternoons. Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, who probably wishes they could hire me. Civic Media Center, writing up snippets on their zines. Also, oddly enough, I am good with kids. When not taking summer jobs in the sciences, I would work day care at FGCU, Peace Camp with the Coalition of Peace and Justice, even at what was once called Westside Park. I can be rowdy, though. I have my own philosophy, and think it helps the kids to stay active, but pay special attention to when they are tired, and ask them what they want – that inspires them. You don’t need to have prior experience in a non-profit nor in other forms of community service to take interest in serving your community. When I was small (more so than I am now), my parents would gather our neighborhood, explain sustainability, organic gardening, compost. Then, we would pick up trash on the side of the road, in the sun. That was tough on smaller me. I would receive one DeConna ice cream as a thank you for my services. It didn’t seem fair to me. You know, in Gainesville, we used to have prisoners pick up trash for us in the city, to save money. Legalizing slavery doesn’t make it right, just harder to fight. Some of us have a very different sense of justice. Luckily, in 2019, five voted on the Commission, including then Mayor Lauren Poe, to end the practice.

What do you hope to accomplish as part of the City Commission?

Ward: I’m proud of the work we’ve done the past four years. We’ve built clinics and parks and streets and more than 800 affordable homes. We’ve invested in the arts and worked with Bread of the Mighty food bank to care for our neighbors when the federal government dropped the ball on SNAP benefits. Looking forward, we will continue to invest, with our partners, tens of millions of dollars in east Gainesville. I believe we can build another thousand affordable homes and conserve another thousand acres of land in our city. We will continue to deliver results for working families across Gainesville.

Moon: I have been listening to our residents. I have a vision for the future. We require services to the underserved, as well as a reminder that we are a community. People want to see projects completed. Follow through, especially for the already underserved, is crucial. This will mean prioritizing accessible, frequent, reliable public transportation. I would like to provide new fairgrounds to bring business into town, year-round. Perhaps the County can partner with us in this. Either way, this needs to get done. I want to expand on our ability to maintain current properties, while growing our percentage of new units which are ACTUALLY affordable. This will drive costs down, if not flatten somewhat, this mounting inflation.

What recent votes from the current City Commission have you disagreed with, if any, and why?

Moon: Clearly, I would like to revisit the budget. I DO believe in completing projects. The future must look different. People are hurting financially. Each year, post covid, the burden grows for working members of our community, as those retired are too stretched. We must make transportation a greater calling. I’d like a binding master plan with the University. Until this, RTS is in our court. Once we align our ducks, we should prepare a budget which grants access to locations which provide free food as well as parks, community centers, and libraries for all week long – especially weekend accessibility. I remind everyone the summer is hot. We need buses.

Ward: Earlier this year we voted to support an enormous bond issuance (a public loan) at the request of the GRU Authority. We acted as good faith partners with them, and I’m not sure that good faith was returned. I’m not saying my vote on that issue was necessarily in error, but I will certainly approach future such requests differently.

How should Gainesville prepare for the November homestead tax exemption vote?

Ward: First, we should not act as if it is a foregone conclusion. Even the governor – who forced the issue in the first place – has said he will not campaign for it, and the ballot language is in court.

Regardless, the City will run a variety of budget simulations over the next several months. Make no mistake, removing another seven percent of the City of Gainesville’s general fund budget will bring pain to our neighbors. Fire trucks will not be as responsive or as well-maintained. Parks will close. Streets will take longer to repair. If this passes, it WILL affect your quality of life in this community. We’ve been down this path before. We know how to adjust. We will if we have to.

You can bet that I will hit the campaign trail hard to spread the word about why we should all vote against this sloppy, poorly-considered amendment.

Moon: Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst. But, in reverse order. The County saddles quite a lot on its own. If we have joint ventures, we must be prepared to complete them. If there are to be cuts, not that we won’t look for grants, we want to first prop up the already underserved. The working poor must be promoted. If we want to be fortified from possible state overreach, we must first have our own house in order. Target programs that will sustain those that need them most, prioritize them, then realize that cuts don’t mean elimination. We are in this together.

How will you approach the relationship between the City Commission and the Gainesville Regional Utilities Authority?

Moon: Gainesville must remain a hard target for state and federal overreach. Ideally, the city should be in control of its own utility. Nevertheless, we should not lose the plot. We want our constituents served, transparently, effectively, efficiently. People don’t want their costs going up. That matters to me. Especially when everyone is being squeezed financially. I asked Ed what he thinks, and he asked for morale. So, let’s thank our very neighbors that serve us, employed at GRU. Togetherness! Isn’t it wonderful? We are joined, Gainesville, GRU. We should keep the courts and the state honest. That being said, infighting we cannot afford.

Ward: I will continue to manage this unique, legally problematic relationship the same way we manage our relationship with the county, the school board, the airport authority, etc. When we have a request or a comment for these other entities, we exchange public letters between bodies, and we occasionally have joint meetings. Over the past several months I have sent multiple such letters to the GRUA at the direction of the commission, and every one has been ignored. This is a curious relationship at best. Regardless, I have maintained cordial, and even warm relations with both chairs of the Authority, and will continue to do so.

Keep in mind that the issue of GRU governance, despite what some would have you believe, remains in Florida Appeals Court. Going forward, I will also continue to work with legislators and the new governor’s staff to plead the case for my neighbors.

Why are you the right person for this seat?

Ward: Representing my neighbors as Mayor of Gainesville brings me great joy, as well as the weight of responsibility. Every day when I walk up the steps of City Hall, I am reminded of the trust my community has placed in me, and every day I give my best to be worthy of that trust. We have delivered for working families across Gainesville – safer streets, more accessible health care, more affordable places to live, more conservation land, free RTS for seniors and youth, and so much more. Voters can, and should, judge me by the record we’ve built together. My commitment is to deliver more of the same, to always have an open door and a listening ear and to ever be mindful of the trust my neighbors have placed in me.

Moon: Fun fact! I talk A LOT. But, one of my hobbies is listening to people. I DO read the comments. I have been hearing the concerns of our residents. There MUST be follow through on TIMELY, reasonable, effective action plans – ESPECIALLY if those involve our poor. Make yourself heard, and you will not be alone. I have curtailed my answers so as not to be too divisive, because my focus will be on filling in the gaps in our community to start. If you can believe you are heard, you can participate in this with me. If I am running, YOU are running too. I have foreseen a dire period. The rich can just stay rich (not by buying up all the housing as a tax write-off, I would hope); the poor don’t have to get poorer. Let’s build each other up, so we may be fortified for what storms may come. Post covid, kids went back to school; we thought their test scores would go back up, and that WE would come out of our echo chambers. Neither one happened, and it won’t without some leadership. Divide and be conquered. I am warning you, this is not just about back-to-back hurricanes, nor data centers forced on us by a new governor, nor how ICE conducts itself. We must be dignified, internally and externally. We shall build back our community, or nothing at all. Let’s put the Hog back in Hoggetowne. Vote Moon.