Cynthia Garris is poised to become the first Black person to serve as mayor of St. Augustine in the city's 461-year history. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on July 2, 2026 at 10:46 am
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Cynthia Garris made history when she was elected in 2022 as the first Black woman to serve as a city commissioner. She’ll make history again when she is sworn in Dec. 7 as the city’s first Black mayor.
It’s a race that would have been on voters’ ballots during this year’s election but has already been decided — Garris was the only candidate at the candidate qualification deadline.
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Speaking with Jacksonville Today, Garris reflected on her wide-ranging career, her roots in the area and her thoughts on being the city’s new mayor.
Above all, Garris credits her faith for her career and electoral success.
“It’s really not about me,” she says. “It’s about being selected to be that individual that God has prepared me for such a time as this.”
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From city commissioner to madam mayor
Cynthia Garris first ran for public office in 2000. At the time, she had moved back to St. Augustine, the city where she was born, and was working for the Clerk of Court’s Office. While working there, Garris worked in nearly every department she could, she says.
But there were policies Garris wanted to see changed at the office.
“So if you don’t like something, then change it,” she says. “So I ran for office.”
Her bid for the clerk of court was unsuccessful, as was her first run for St. Augustine City Commission in 2002.
It wasn’t until 20 years later, after Garris had retired from a 13-year career with the city of St. Augustine, that she secured a seat on the commission.
Garris believes her time working across multiple city departments, including as a parking attendant, a custodian and the facilities coordinator, helped her better understand the ins and outs of St. Augustine.
Similarly, Garris says her four years as a city commissioner helped her better understand what the mayor’s responsibilities are.
“I wanted to know how the commission operates,” Garris says. “I wanted to see how they combine the information, because knowledge is power, and when you know how everything operates, then you can function better than guessing at different things, so I’ve learned a lot in the four years.”
So she made the decision to run for mayor, but not without some convincing. When a close personal friend suggested Garris run for mayor, she says she questioned him.
“He said, ‘Because if you don’t run, we might never have a person of color in that seat,’” Garris remembers.
She doesn’t take it lightly that she will be the first Black person to hold the office of mayor in a city once described by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as “the most lawless community in which we have ever worked.”
Black people have held a number of roles in City Hall dating back to the 19th century, but St. Augustine has never had a Black mayor.
Local historian David Nolan says racially-motivated gerrymandering after the Civil War and into the 20th century reduced Black voting power. He also points to the local history of racist violence.
“In 1902 Black councilman John Papino was shot during a City Council meeting by the white City Marshal Charles “Bossy” Benet — who was never held to account for it,” Nolan says. “Papino survived his wounds, but that was the act of terror that put an end to Black political officeholding here for the next seven decades.”
More than 100 years later, Garris says a particular honor following her de facto win of the mayor’s seat is when she was congratulated by Lincolnville resident Cora Tyson, a 103-year-old Black woman who once fed and housed King and other activists during the Civil Rights Movement.
“She just said that she never could imagine this happening because it’s 461 years, and we have never had a person of color be the mayor,” Garris says.
‘Cynthia listens’
Garris initially had an opponent in her mayoral bid, fellow City Commissioner Barbara Blonder, but Blonder dropped out of the race and no one filled her place to challenge Garris.
Now, as mayor-elect, Garris says issues like traffic conditions, potential property tax cuts and making sure residents feel properly represented at City Hall are top of mind.
One change she wants to see is city commissioners’ responses to public comments.
St. Augustine’s City Commission meetings begin at 5 p.m. on Tuesdays, and while members of the public can petition elected officials early in the meeting, city commissioners often don’t respond until the end of meetings, sometimes around 8 or 9 p.m.
Garris, whose slogan for her short-lived campaign was “Cynthia listens,” wants to change that.
“I think we’ll be more inviting to come to a commission meeting,” she says. “I think people will leave the room feeling like it mattered that they showed up.”
The new mayor sees herself as pro-business, and she believes that by supporting St. Augustine’s small businesses, the city will support its residents, too.
And while Garris says she has met many of her constituents during her time on the City Commission, she’s looking forward to getting to know everyone as the city’s new mayor.
“I love people. My sign says for the people, and that’s all people,” Garris says. “I think that we’re going to be a better community because they already know me. I’ve been everywhere in my four years as commissioner, so they just get to know me a little deeper.”
Garris and the two new St. Augustine city commissioners will be sworn into office Dec. 7.
