Jacksonville, FL Mayor: Democrats are hoping to end Jacksonville’s status as the largest city in America with a Republican mayor, but new campaign finance reports underscore just how tough it will be to win next year’s race to succeed termed-out incumbent Lenny Curry. The nonpartisan primary takes place March 21, and, unless one candidate wins a majority, the top-two vote-getters will advance to the May 16 general.
That’s because the two contenders with access to by far the most money are both Republicans, Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce CEO Daniel Davis and City Councilmember LeAnna Gutierrez Cumber. Davis, whose kickoff was attended by none other than Curry, began raising money all the way back in January of 2021, and the former councilmember finished November with $4.5 million split between his campaign and leadership committee.
Cumber, whom Florida Politics says has the backing of “various anti-Lenny Curry Republicans” in local government, had $2.8 million available. Cumber, whose fundraising efforts also started last year, has emphasized her opposition to Curry’s successful 2021 effort to raise the local gas tax from 6 to 12 cents per gallon, and her PAC has already run digital ads declaring that Davis “led the charge to double the gas tax.” The only other notable Republican in the race is Al Ferraro, a fellow councilmember who only had $240,000.
On the Democratic side, former local TV anchor Donna Deegan leads in fundraising with about $590,000 between her campaign and committee. Deegan, who is a former local TV anchor, entered the race one year after she challenged Republican Rep. John Rutherford in the old 4th District: Rutherford turned her back 61-39 as Donald Trump was taking that constituency by a similar 60-39 spread.
Deegan’s main intra-party rival is state Sen. Audrey Gibson, who has about $250,000 available. Gibson, who is Black, has a history of doing well in heavily African American areas, which could give her a boost in a city where 55% of registered Democrats are Black. The filing deadline is Jan. 13, but it would be a surprise if there were any new notable contenders over the next month.
Republicans seized control of city hall for the first time in a century when Mayor Ed Austin switched parties while in office in 1993, and they've only lost one mayoral election since then. That defeat came in 2011 when Democrat Alvin Brown scored a major upset in an open seat contest, a win that also made him Jax's first Black chief executive. Curry, though, retook this post four years later by narrowly unseating Brown 51-49.
Democrats over the last decade had been gaining ground in Jacksonville, which has been consolidated with Duval County since 1968. Both Sen. Bill Nelson and gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum took the city in 2018 even as they were narrowly losing statewide, while Joe Biden's 51-47 victory two years later made him the first Democratic presidential nominee to carry Duval County since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
In 2022, though, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio took Jacksonville 54-45, while GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis won it 55-44. Both those showings still put Duval County to the left of the state as a whole, though that may not have been much comfort to local Democrats especially as they lost the special election for sheriff 55-45.