A climate advocacy organization that provided major financial support to Tallahassee progressive political efforts in 2024 is connected to the city’s 2026 elections through a national group now backing Jeremy Matlow and other progressive candidates.
Federal Election Commission records show the Green Advocacy Project has contributed $200,000 to Lead Locally PAC since 2024 — $100,000 on April 29, 2024, $50,000 on June 12, 2025, and another $50,000 on May 1, 2026.
Lead Locally is now supporting Matlow’s campaign for mayor and has endorsed City Commissioner Dot Inman-Johnson and City Commission candidate P.J. Perez as Tallahassee approaches the November general election.
The financial connection is notable because Green Advocacy Project was a major source of money for Matlow’s One Tallahassee political committee during the 2024 election cycle, when control of the City Commission was also at stake.
The records establish a recurring connection between the same climate advocacy network and Tallahassee politics. They do not establish that Green Advocacy Project’s contributions to Lead Locally were earmarked for Tallahassee or that Lead Locally PAC has made expenditures in the city’s 2026 races.
$200,000 to Lead Locally
Lead Locally PAC registered with the FEC in March 2024 as an independent-expenditure-only committee, commonly called a Super PAC. Federal records list a Los Angeles mailing address and Howie Stanger as treasurer.
The PAC’s fundraising records, including the transactions reviewed by Tallahassee Reports, show Green Advocacy Project contributing $100,000 shortly after the PAC was created and another $100,000 over the following two years.
The scale of the more recent contributions is significant. For the period from January 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, Lead Locally PAC reported total receipts of approximately $105,000. The two $50,000 Green Advocacy Project contributions documented during that period therefore account for about 95% of the PAC’s reported receipts during that timeframe. The PAC reported $140,474 in cash on hand as of June 30.
Lead Locally describes its mission in explicitly political and environmental terms. The organization says it works to elect state and local officials who will stand up to the fossil-fuel industry and support a “just green economy.” It says it has supported more than 240 candidates and helped elect more than 120.
Its website also says its work helps “recruit, train, and fundraise” for candidates seeking a transition away from fossil fuels.
A Familiar Name in Tallahassee
For Tallahassee voters, Green Advocacy Project is not a new participant in local politics.
In 2024, Green Advocacy Project contributed a total of $150,000 to One Tallahassee, the political committee created by Matlow. Green Advocacy Project founder Michael Kieschnick also personally contributed another $25,000 to the committee.
Matlow used One Tallahassee to support progressive candidates, including Inman-Johnson’s unsuccessful challenge to unseat City Commissioner Curtis Richardson. In September 2024 alone, Green Advocacy Project contributed another $75,000 as the general election approached.
The organization’s Tallahassee involvement predates 2024. Campaign-finance reporting previously connected Green Advocacy Project money to political efforts in the city’s 2018 and 2022 election cycles as well.
The newly documented Lead Locally relationship therefore provides another route through which an organization that has financially participated in previous Tallahassee elections is connected to candidates in the current election.
Michael Kieschnick Connection
The connection between Green Advocacy Project and Lead Locally also extends to Michael Kieschnick, the founder and president of Green Advocacy Project.
Green Advocacy Project’s own website identifies Kieschnick as president and a board member and notes that he co-founded and formerly headed CREDO, previously known as Working Assets.
Kieschnick has advocated using local elections as a vehicle for changing energy policy.
In a description of its electoral strategy, Green Advocacy Project said it had provided financial support to groups conducting campaigns for offices including mayor, city council, county council and port commissions. The organization said winning those elections could accelerate a transition to clean energy or block fossil-fuel infrastructure.
Green Advocacy Project describes its broader policy objective as a “rapid transition to a clean energy economy” through increased renewable energy and energy efficiency, restrictions on additional fossil-fuel infrastructure and other policy changes. The organization acknowledges that while most of its activities are non-electoral, it supports electoral efforts under some circumstances.
That strategy helps explain the potential significance of Tallahassee to national climate organizations: unlike most Florida cities, Tallahassee owns its electric utility.
Kieschnick’s connection to Lead Locally is also personal. FEC records shown in Lead Locally’s 2024 contribution data list a $500 contribution from Michael Kieschnick on October 30, 2024, in addition to the $100,000 Green Advocacy Project contribution earlier that year.
The result is a documented series of financial relationships involving the same individuals and organizations:
Green Advocacy Project/Kieschnick – One Tallahassee – 2024 Tallahassee elections and Green Advocacy Project/Kieschnick – Lead Locally PAC – organization backing Tallahassee candidates in 2026.
The existence of those financial relationships does not establish that Kieschnick or Green Advocacy Project directs Lead Locally’s candidate endorsements. It does, however, provide context about the sources financing the PAC associated with an organization now seeking to elect Tallahassee candidates.
Limited Information on Lead Locally Website
Those financial connections are not readily apparent from Lead Locally’s public-facing website.
The site extensively describes Lead Locally’s political mission, endorsed candidates, candidate-training activities and electoral successes. However, the pages reviewed by Tallahassee Reports do not prominently identify the people who lead the organization or provide a physical or mailing address.
The FEC filings provide information not apparent from those pages.
Federal records identify Lead Locally PAC’s treasurer as Howie Stanger and list its address as 1110 N. Virgil Ave. #375, Los Angeles, California. They also disclose the PAC’s contributions and expenditures, including its financial relationship with Green Advocacy Project.
There is no evidence that Lead Locally PAC has failed to make disclosures required under federal campaign-finance law. Its FEC filings are public. However, a voter visiting Lead Locally’s website to learn who is behind the organization would not readily see the Green Advocacy Project funding relationship revealed by the federal records.
Tallahassee’s Electric Utility in Focus
Lead Locally makes clear that Tallahassee’s utility is part of its interest in the mayor’s race.
On its current candidate page, the organization describes Matlow as a “progressive climate leader” and specifically cites Tallahassee’s publicly owned utility. It says Matlow has pushed the city toward renewable energy and would advocate for adding more solar rather than natural gas.
That position closely parallels Green Advocacy Project’s stated objectives.
Green Advocacy Project says it wants to accelerate renewable-energy adoption while preventing expansion of fossil-fuel infrastructure. Its earlier electoral strategy specifically identified electing mayors and city council members as a way of using local government to accelerate the transition to clean energy.
The issue takes on additional significance in Tallahassee because the five-member City Commission effectively serves as the governing board of the municipal electric utility. Commissioners make decisions involving power generation, solar projects, battery storage, natural-gas infrastructure, utility rates and long-term energy planning.
Will Outside Money Follow the Endorsements?
What happens next remains uncertain.
An endorsement by Lead Locally does not mean that Lead Locally PAC will spend money supporting the endorsed Tallahassee candidates. Nor do the FEC records demonstrate that Green Advocacy Project’s $200,000 in contributions was intended for Tallahassee.
The distinction is important because federal Super PAC money and Florida municipal campaign activity are governed by different reporting requirements, and any future spending would have to be evaluated based on the entity making the expenditure and the applicable disclosure rules.
But the history provides Tallahassee voters with context as the November election approaches.
In 2024, Green Advocacy Project supplied $150,000 to Matlow’s One Tallahassee committee, while Kieschnick personally contributed another $25,000. Two years later, federal records show Green Advocacy Project has contributed $200,000 to Lead Locally PAC, while Lead Locally is supporting Tallahassee progressives and highlighting the city’s electric utility as an important reason for electing Matlow.
Whether that support ultimately results in significant outside spending in the 2026 general election will be revealed in future campaign-finance reports.
What is already documented is that the national climate advocacy network that invested heavily in Tallahassee politics in 2024 remains connected to the city’s elections in 2026 — and the policy at the center of that involvement is one of the City Commission’s most consequential responsibilities: the future of Tallahassee’s publicly owned electric utility.
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