Special Edition: LkldNow’s Voter Guide to the 2025 city elections

Trinity Laurino

Executive Director

On Nov 4, 2025, Lakelanders will choose a new Mayor and two city commissioners. Today Monday, Oct 6, is the last day to register to be able to vote in city elections.

LkldNow’s 2025 Voter Guide is your tool to make candidate research easy and to demystify how city elections and local government work.

We plan to update the guide through the end of election day with any additional information, including run-off election details if needed.

This year’s guide is built on the strong foundation created by LkldNow’s founder, Barry Friedman, plus a new section in which we tackle some of the common questions about how city government works.

Thank you to all the candidates. Once again, we have full participation on our questionnaire from all eight candidates seeking office. For the candidate profiles, we’ve worked to keep the answers true to exactly how the candidates submitted them with only the lightest editing for fit and format.

I hope you find this guide useful as you make decisions on the future of our city. We consider this guide to be core to our mission of fostering community engagement through quality news and information.

On the Ballot

Mayor

Four candidates are running to succeed Mayor Mutz, who is not seeking reelection

District C Southwest

Dennis Odisho and Ashley Troutman vie for the seat currently held by mayoral candidate, Sara […]

District D Southeast

Political newcomer Kim-Marie Noble is challenging incumbent Mike Musick. Click the + to expand each […]

Know Before You Vote: Three Charter Amendments and What They Mean

Questions on the Nov. 6 ballot include redrawing City Commission districts and changing term limits […]

City Elections & Government, Explained

Why Are Lakeland’s City Elections Nonpartisan?

When it comes to city-level elections, there can often be some confusion about the lack of party affiliation for candidates. We dug into the history.

2025 Voting: When, Where, How

To be able to vote in the upcoming city elections, you must be registered to vote by Oct 6. Find your sample ballot, early voting and polling place information.