A Tallahassee firefighter is running for the Leon County School Board

A challenger has emerged for Leon County school board member Laurie Lawson Cox’s seat.

Tallahassee firefighter Jeremy Rogers filed to run against Lawson Cox last Friday. The local Democratic Party has been looking for a candidate to challenge Lawson Cox for the last several months.

Rogers’ work experience is largely in education. He is a public educator with the Fire Prevention division of the Tallahassee Fire Department. Outside his work as a firefighter, he is the founder and operator of the preschool and summer camp Killearn Sunshine Academy as well as the Tallahassee Adventure club.

In an interview with WFSU, Rogers said he is running because he wants to champion increasing teacher pay and fostering a less politically charged school environment for his daughter and other Leon County students.

“I don’t think anybody’s happy with the direction that it’s going. And I just think that the experience that I have, and these different projects that I’ve led, you know, gives me the ability to make these difficult decisions that need to be made, and just getting this stream of politics out of the school system,” he said.

Lawson Cox, a registered Republican, has been a frequent target of criticism from the local Democratic Party, as she was supported by the conservative parent group Mom’s for Liberty when she was first elected in 2022 and attended Gov. Ron DeSantis fundraiser events.

Rogers entering the race seems to have opened a new front for the local reformist faction centered around Tallahassee City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow. Since filing, Rogers has made social media posts criticizing Matlow’s political rivals like Mayor John Dailey for the fire department contract standoff. He also criticized Dailey and others for walking out of a Blueprint meeting last week.

So far, just Lawson Cox and Rogers are filed for the school board District 4 seat, which covers the Northwest section of Leon County.