City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow and his progressive colleagues are once again using the divisive issue of abortion in an attempt to win control of the city commission, even though the city has no jurisdiction over abortion. Matlow, who created a political action committee – One Tallahassee – to help fund local progressive candidates, is supporting Dot Inman-Johnson over current City Commissioner Curtis Richardson. If Richardson loses, a progressive majority will assume control of the city commission. How does abortion play into the election? Back in October, 2021, a resolution came before the Tallahassee City Commission supporting a woman’s right to choose. The resolution passed 3-2 with City Commissioners Williams-Cox and Curtis Richardson voting against the resolution. Williams-Cox and Richardson voted against the resolution, not because they are against abortion -they are both pro-choice, but because they did not view abortion as a local issue. At the time of the vote, Commissioner Williams-Cox stressed her dislike of how “conflated the issue had become.” She said she could not support the resolution, though she believes in a woman’s choice to make the decision regarding her own body. “We are out of our lane here,” she said, “we should not be dealing with this issue. This is an issue for the legislature.” During her campaign for re-election in the 2022 cycle, Williams-Cox was attacked for her decision, not by her opponent, but by her colleague Commissioner Jack Porter, on behalf of her opponent, Adner Marcelin. Porter sent out campaign text messages that indicated that the no vote on the resolution was a factor in Porter deciding to target Williams-Cox. The text message sent to voters, which begins with Hey This is Jack Porter, states in part: “it was when I watched her vote against a resolution protecting a woman’s right to choose…that I finally decided to be part of the solution…..Adner has my full support.” Williams-Cox went on to win the election. Now the progressives are using the same tactics against Richardson. One Tallahassee published a campaign video on social media which implies that Richardson’s decision not to entangle city commission business with abortion politics voids his lifelong support of pro-choice policies. The video featuring a young African American female accuses Richardson of turning his backing on a woman’s right to choose. The actions by Matlow and the progressives are consistent with other misleading tactics employed to confuse voters. For example, currently, progressives are supporting the rollback of tax increase in an attempt to appeal to conservative voters but have offered no detailed plan on what expenses would be cut.