Alex Smith

By Andrew Meacham

To hear Alex Smith tell it, it almost doesn’t feel like work. The Pensacola native landed a job last year in his hometown, helping people he grew up with, no two days the same.

Smith, 23, is the special assistant to Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves, who took office in November having won 51% of the vote, just enough to avoid a runoff in a four-person race. Smith managed the campaign, and is now the right-hand man for Reeves, 38, a former sports reporter and the city’s youngest Mayor in more than a century.

“He has said, ‘If you asked me (in the past) if I would be Mayor, I would have said oh my gosh, no way,’” Smith said, quoting his boss with an enthusiasm that mirrors his own. He hadn’t planned on getting into government or politics.

The son of two speech therapists who run an outpatient clinic, Smith was originally trying to decide between law and criminology. But he was soaking up details on the evening news, and always turned into Presidential Elections as if they were the Super Bowl. On a family trip to Washington, Smith — a third grader at the time — stunned his dad by identifying three Congressmen walking by them at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

He took courses in criminology and political science at Florida State, ultimately majoring in the latter. Smith interned for Rep. Alex Andrade, and he thrived on the pace and the excitement of the Legislative Session.

“I loved the Session,” he said. “You’ll be watching a committee about one bill, and another bill starts blowing up on your phone.”

On a deeper level, taking phone calls allowed him to connect residents in crisis to services built for that purpose. Experiences like that stayed with him and are why he says, “I think government gets a bad rap.”

Those opportunities led to fulltime work with Tripp Scott, a Tallahassee law firm. He stayed nearly 18 months as a senior legislative director, including chunks of his junior and senior years at FSU.

“It didn’t matter what you threw at him,” said Robby Holroyd, a Tripp Scott governmental relations consultant and a former “30 Under 30” honoree for Florida Politics. “He was able to excel and at a constant level, whatever we gave to him.”

Smith graduated cum laude in 2021, and joined the Reeves mayoral campaign in January 2022. He left Tripp Scott in March to devote all of his time to the campaign, which he was managing, then led the transition team after the victory. He turned down an offer to return to the law firm.

“We made our push to bring him back over here,” Holroyd said. “But I know he’s doing everything he wants to do back in his hometown of Pensacola.”

Smith was the rare star this year who volunteered how uncomfortable he felt being the subject of a magazine story, a sentiment belied by an easy demeanor and verbal fluency.

“I don’t want to be the center of attention,” he said. “My job is to make my boss look good, to make sure he’s pre- pared and is going to have a great day.”

He prefers to credit his parents and his brother for supporting his career decisions. Reeves pushed through the first 100 days as Mayor with the same energy that distinguished his campaign — repainting downtown, expanding the airport and trying to position the area as a hub for rail travel, a move that could attract billions in federal funds.

For now, Smith can hardly believe his luck to be working in his hometown, relaxing on its pristine beaches. There are other places too. Smith enjoys the occasional getaway to Nashville to visit some college friends.

Someone told him not long ago that it’s important to learn when to turn your phone off and just chill, advice he has tried to take to heart.

On the other hand, he got to his current position through his accessibility, so the phone doesn’t stay off for long. People will be calling, Holroyd is sure of it.

“I just have no doubt that he’s going to be doing incredible things as he continues to grow in this process,” Holroyd said. “Whether it’s staying on the official side or coming back over to the lobbying side. He’s going to bring a lot to the table.”