Cape Coral Mayor’s race

Jul 30, 2026 2 min read

To the editor:

Lest we all forget, on Dec. 12, 2023, the Cape Coral City Council passed stipends (essentially pay raises) of $3,333 a month for council members and $5,000 a month for the mayor without public discussion. The motion passed with all council members including the mayor voting for the measure with the exception of Robert Welsh who voted against and Dan Sheppard who was out of the room and absent for the vote.

Richard Carr, who joined the Council after the vote, rejected the stipend money and never received the funds. Dan Sheppard, who was not present for the vote, returned his stipend on Jan. 17, 2024 and took no further funds.

The stipend was repealed on Nov. 20, 2024 with the help of a new election for council members who ran opposing the stipend. Voting against the repeal were council members Keith Long, Bill Steinke, and Mayor John Gunter.

Those who supported the stipend are all long gone or not running except for our mayor, John Gunter. Having never been able to vote myself a pay raise of $60,000 a year, I took great exception to the stipends and vowed to never again vote for anyone who supported the stipends. So we come to the primary election and John Gunter is back along with five challengers. Dan Sheppard, who did not take the money, is running against him.

The problem here is name recognition. I would guess that Mr. Gunter has to be thrilled to see so many candidates running against him. After all, his name has been in the press since he was initially appointed in January 2021. As the vote is split among the candidates with little name recognition, John Gunter may very well sail right through to another victory.

I personally have not researched all of the candidates but I do know that Dan Sheppard has served faithfully on the council and that he refused the money. He has at least some name recognition.

Let your conscience be your guide here. If you really like the job John Gunter has done, by all means, vote for him. Otherwise, let’s throw out the guy who took the cash.

T.J. Thomas

Cape Coral