Harvey Ward was elected mayor of Gainesville in November of 2022 after serving two terms as a Gainesville City Commissioner.
Mayor Ward is passionate about growing the middle class across our city, empowering east Gainesville, creating a safer, cleaner and more affordable city, and generally telling the Gainesville story more proudly.
Under the Mayor’s leadership the City of Gainesville has approved partnerships to build more than 700 affordable homes and has actively updated the city’s land development code to encourage common-sense housing growth. The city is currently investing more than $100 Million in east Gainesville health, transit, recreation and economic development projects along with our institutional partners.
During Mayor Ward’s time at City Hall the City of Gainesville has placed nearly 2,000 acres inside the city limits into permanent, actively-managed conservation, and recently approved Gainesville’s first Climate Action Plan to set clear carbon emission reduction goals and create strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
A Gainesville native, Mayor Ward is a graduate of Eastside High School, 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 their three daughters attend local public schools.