Christian Caban, Hannah Crow battle for vacant Leon County Commission District 2 seat

When Leon County Commissioner Jimbo Jackson died in May from complications from COVID-19 at the age of 55, it left his District 2 seat open and attracted a crowded field of seven to replace him.

That field was narrowed to two after the Primary, in which Hannah Crow, who works for a Tallahassee public relations firm, led the pack with 26% of the vote. Christian Caban, a restaurant owner, received 883 votes, or 15.9%,. He barley edged out third-place finisher Lynda Bell by 13 votes. That set up Caban and Crow for a matchup in the General Election.

The district covers important pieces of Leon County, including part of the Florida State University campus and Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee Community College and Tallahassee International Airport. It stretches west from that central education hub throughout the southwestern portion of the county.

It contains much of the 32304 zip code, an area with one of the highest rates of poverty in Florida, and residents and leaders have said the district doesn’t get its fair share of investment and services as other sectors of the county.

Each candidate has said they’ll look to expand job creation in the district, bring more investment in infrastructure and parks and curb crime. Much of their debates have centered on their background and ties to the district.

Caban has lived in Tallahassee since 2011, when he came to FSU from Ocala for college. Crow arrived in 2015 from California.

The race is officially nonpartisan, but both candidates have made an issue of the others’ party affiliation.

Caban was registered as a Republican until September 2021 when he switched his affiliation to the Democratic Party. Crow is a Republican and accused Caban of switching parties to pander to voters in Leon, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1. Caban has defended his switch as the result of the extremism in the Republican Party and noted the Commission seat wasn’t vacant when he changed parties last year.

Crow has taken criticism for liking posts on Twitter from conservative activists and celebrities in 2020 slamming restrictions imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19, but has backed away from those views on the campaign trail.

Leon Commission seats are staggered four-year terms. The District 2 winner will serve out the remaining two years on Jackson’s term, which began in 2020, and will be up for re-election again in 2024.