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Jesse Nelson recall, Lynn Haven, Florida (2025)
| Jesse Nelson recall |
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| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| Signature requirement |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2025 Recalls in Florida Florida recall laws Mayoral recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Mayor Jesse Nelson is underway in Lynn Haven, Florida.
Recall supporters
The recall petition lists the following as grounds for recalling Nelson.[1]
| “ |
Mayor Nelson has actively opposed oversight and auditing measures that would safeguard the city treasury. Mayor Nelson has publicly opposed hiring or appointing an independent city clerk to audit city spending and contracts, and he has failed to enforce basic city financial reporting requirements set forth in the city’s charter.[2] |
” |
Recall opponents
Nelson responded to the recall effort, saying:[3]
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I am not opposed to oversight and auditing measures or reporting in relation to the city’s finances. Actually, I enacted some of the measures we implemented in the past four years.[2] |
” |
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Florida
Florida allows the following grounds for recall: malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, and conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude.[4]
From the time that the recall petition is approved for circulation, signatures must be collected within 30 days. The number of signatures required depends on the number of registered voters in the jurisdiction. A minimum of 50 signatures are required in jurisdictions with fewer than 500 registered voters. In jurisdictions with 500 to 24,999 registered voters, a minimum of 100 to 1,000 signatures are required, or 10% of registered voters, whichever is higher. In jurisdictions with 25,000 or more registered voters, the number of signatures required is 1,000 or 5% of registered voters, whichever is higher.[5] The officeholder then has a chance to file a defensive statement. In the second round of signature collection, organizers have 60 days to collect signatures equal to 15% of registered voters from the officeholder's district.[5]
Organizers started the recall effort against Nelson on August 16, 2025. A previous effort failed due to errors made during the initial round of signature gathering.[6]
Recall context
- See also: Ballotpedia's Recall Report
Ballotpedia covers recall efforts across the country for all state and local elected offices. A recall effort is considered official if the petitioning party has filed an official form, such as a notice of intent to recall, with the relevant election agency.
The chart below shows how many officials were included in recall efforts from 2012 to 2024 as well as how many of them defeated recall elections to stay in office and how many were removed from office in recall elections.
See also
- Ballotpedia's Recall Report
- Recall campaigns in Florida
- Political recall efforts, 2025
- Mayoral recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The Panhandle Press, "An effort to remove Lynn Haven Mayor Jesse Nelson has been put on hold," August 7, 2025
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Panama City News Herald, "Lynn Haven mayor recall moves forward again; lawyers make an appearance," September 19, 2025
- ↑ The 2023 Florida Statutes, "100.361 Municipal recall." accessed October 16, 2023
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The 2020 Florida Statutes, "Fla. Stat. Ann §100.361," accessed August 24, 2021
- ↑ ABC 13, "Lynn Haven residents second attempt to recall mayor moves forward," September 12, 2025
