Unlike every other major city Boca Post covers, West Palm Beach is run by a Mayor who is the actual chief executive — not a ceremonial figure. Under the city's mayor-commission charter, the popularly elected Mayor sets the budget, supervises every department alongside the City Administrator, holds a line-item veto, and can initiate investigations into city operations. The five-member City Commission, with one member elected from each of West Palm Beach's five districts, can override a mayoral veto only with a 4-1 vote.
That structural distinction matters in 2026. Mayor Keith James is in the final year of his second four-year term — he is term-limited and cannot run again — which means the March 2027 election will choose only the seventh popularly elected Mayor in West Palm Beach history. The campaign has already drawn outsized fundraising: by January 2026, term-limited City Commissioner Christina Lambert had raised approximately $1 million for the open seat, while Palm Beach County Commissioner Gregg Weiss had raised about $269,000 from his own war chest.
At City Hall, decisions made by the Mayor and Commission reach far beyond municipal limits. West Palm Beach is the seat of Palm Beach County, home to roughly 127,000 residents, the county's main government complex, downtown's Clematis Street corridor, the Brightline station, and the contested Flagler Drive waterfront. Mayor James announced a pause on his proposed downtown waterfront park project in April 2026 after public pushback from residents and property owners along the affected blocks.
Boca Post covers the Mayor's office, City Commission meetings, the West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, the Downtown Development Authority, the city's $300-million-plus annual budget, and the 2027 mayoral race. We work from agendas, adopted ordinances, the City Clerk's filings, and direct attendance at meetings.
For broader regional coverage, see Palm Beach County government. For all West Palm Beach coverage across topics, see West Palm Beach news.
The Mayor and City Commission meet every other Monday at 5 p.m. in Commission Chambers at City Hall, 401 Clematis Street. Agendas posted at wpb.org.
Latest West Palm Beach Government News
Inside West Palm Beach City Hall
The Mayor is the head of West Palm Beach's executive branch and is popularly elected to a four-year term, with a two-term limit. The five-member City Commission represents the city's five geographic districts and elects a Commission President from among its members to preside over meetings. Day-to-day operations are coordinated by an appointed City Administrator who reports to the Mayor.
Keith A. James
Role: Mayor
First elected Mayor on March 12, 2019, and re-elected unopposed to a second four-year term in 2023. A Harvard-educated attorney, James previously served on the West Palm Beach City Commission for four terms beginning in 2011 before winning the mayoralty. He is term-limited and cannot seek re-election in 2027. His current term ends with the inauguration of his successor following the March 2027 municipal election.
Recent Coverage of Mayor James
Joseph A. Peduzzi
Role: Commission President (District 4)
Represents District 4 on the West Palm Beach City Commission. Elected by his colleagues to serve as Commission President, the role responsible for presiding over Mayor and City Commission meetings. As Commission President, Peduzzi signs adopted ordinances alongside the Mayor and the City Clerk.
Recent Coverage of Joseph A. Peduzzi
Cathleen Ward
Role: Commissioner — District 1
Re-elected to a third term in the March 10, 2026 municipal election, defeating frequent candidate Martina Tate-Walker. Ward, 36, represents District 1, which covers West Palm Beach's North End, including Northwood, Pleasant City, and the Broadway corridor. An attorney with the Lippes Mathias law firm, she serves on the board of the Health Care District of Palm Beach County. First elected in 2022 after previously serving as chair of the Northend Coalition of Neighborhoods and on the city's Planning Board.
Recent Coverage of Cathleen Ward
Shalonda Warren
Role: Commissioner — District 2
Represents District 2 on the West Palm Beach City Commission.
Recent Coverage of Shalonda Warren
Christy Fox
Role: Commissioner — District 3
Re-elected to a third consecutive term in the March 10, 2026 municipal election, defeating challenger Roger L. Jackson III. Fox represents District 3 on the West Palm Beach City Commission and was among the candidates with a clear fundraising and endorsement advantage entering the 2026 cycle.
Recent Coverage of Christy Fox
Stephen Sylvester
Role: Commissioner — District 5
Won the District 5 seat by default in the 2026 municipal election after his opponent, Matthew Ferrer, withdrew from the race. Sylvester is a professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University. He succeeds term-limited Commissioner Christina Lambert, who has launched a 2027 bid for Mayor.
Recent Coverage of Stephen Sylvester
Faye W. Johnson
Role: City Administrator (Appointed)
Appointed City Administrator of West Palm Beach. Under the city's mayor-commission charter, the Administrator works alongside the Mayor in coordinating departmental operations — a narrower role than the city-manager position in commission-manager municipalities, because executive authority in West Palm Beach rests with the elected Mayor.
Recent Coverage of Faye W. Johnson
How We Cover West Palm Beach Government
Reporting on the largest city Boca Post covers means reporting on a beat where executive authority sits in one elected office. Mayoral decisions in West Palm Beach — to advance a project, to pause one, to direct a department, to negotiate an acquisition — carry weight that doesn't have a direct parallel in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, or Boynton Beach. Our coverage treats the Mayor's office as a substantive accountability beat, not a ceremonial one.
For commission actions, we work from the published agendas, the meeting itself, and the adopted text of every ordinance and resolution. For the executive branch, we monitor mayoral memos, press communications, departmental announcements, and budget submissions. For the city's redevelopment work, we follow both the West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency and the Downtown Development Authority. We file public-records requests with the City Clerk where the published record is incomplete.
Where information comes from a public record, we identify the record and the date. When we report a commissioner's vote, we cite the meeting and the motion. Where the Mayor exercises veto authority or directs an executive action, we report the action with the same standard of sourcing. Boca Post does not paraphrase votes or attribute positions to the Mayor or Commissioners except where supported by the public record. Corrections are made promptly — see our policies page for more information.
Government coverage is reported by the Boca Post News Desk. About our newsroom →