Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil kicks off re-election campaign for third term
Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil, who had been publicly tight-lipped on his re-election plans, filed Monday to run for a third term.
In a post on X/Twitter the same day, McNeil said he was excited to run for re-election and that it was his “honor and privilege” to serve. He referenced his “ALLin Leon” initiative, launched in 2019, to fight crime through a collaborative community effort.
“Please support our campaign as we strive for a safer county,” McNeil said. “With everyone at the table and ALLin, we pave the way for a stronger, healthier and safe community.”
McNeil served for a decade as chief of the Tallahassee Police Department, from 1997 to 2007, and later, as chief of the Quincy Police Department. In between, he served as secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections and the Department of Juvenile Justice.
In 2016, he handily won election against three other candidates in the first contest for the post held after the death of Sheriff Larry Campbell two years prior. In 2020, he won nearly three-quarters of the vote against a lone challenger, Tommy Mills.
McNeil, the first Black sheriff to serve in Leon County in the modern era, has yet to draw an opponent.
In January, McNeil declined to say whether he was planning for re-election when asked by the Tallahassee Democrat. He noted that the deadline for candidates to qualify wasn’t until June.
“Right now my priority is focused on fighting crime and other safety initiatives in Leon County,” he said in an email.
During his tenure, McNeil has made it a priority to combat the community’s gun violence problem. In 2021, the Sheriff’s Office at his direction released its “Anatomy of a Homicide” report, which found that most of the city’s murders between 2015 and 2020 occurred in the city and state’s poorest ZIP code, 32304.
He also pushed for creation of the Council on the Status of Men and Boys, which formed in 2022 to help Black youth at risk of gun violence to become productive citizens. The council that same year received a $1.4 million federal grant to begin carrying out its mission.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil kicks off re-election campaign for third term
