Harvey Ward was elected mayor of Gainesville in November of 2022 after being first elected to the Gainesville City Commission in March 2017 and re-elected in 2020.
Mayor Ward is passionate about growing the middle class across our city, empowering east Gainesville, creating safer and more effective transportation infrastructure and generally telling the Gainesville story more proudly. Under the Mayor’s leadership the City of Gainesville has approved partnerships that will build more than 200 affordable homes, and the city plans to invest more than $40 Million in east Gainesville health, transit, recreation and economic development projects along with our institutional partners. The City of Gainesville has also affirmed a contract that will bring nearly 75 megawatts of solar energy production into our community’s energy resources as well as a plan that will place more than 1,100 acres inside the city limits into permanent, actively-managed conservation.
Mayor Ward is a native of Gainesville and a graduate of Eastside High, Santa Fe College and the University of Florida. He has worked in the Gainesville non-profit community for decades, formerly serving as Executive Director of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Foundation and in several leadership capacities at WUFT-TV/FM. Harvey is married to Gillian Lord-Ward, and they have three daughters who attend Gainesville public schools.