Florida Democrats win Jacksonville mayor’s race, dealing blow to DeSantis
Democrats are projected to flip control of the mayor’s office in Jacksonville, Fla., the largest city in the country with a GOP leader, according to CNN and NBC.
AP projected that Democrat Donna Deegan defeated Republican Daniel Davis to succeed Mayor Lenny Curry (R), who is term-limited. Deegan, who will be the city’s first female mayor, won against Davis in a runoff on Tuesday after the two candidates advanced from a blanket primary earlier this year.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) endorsed Davis back in March.
Deegan worked in broadcast journalism as an anchor at First Coast News and created a foundation, called the DONNA Foundation, in 2003 to support medical providers and patients and survivors of breast cancer after her own battles with the disease, according to her campaign’s website.
She ran on a platform of improving the city’s infrastructure, increasing access to health care for the city’s residents and bringing businesses to Jacksonville that “want to be part of growing a better, fairer, more inclusive city” and “value our increasing diversity.”
Curry has served as mayor since his narrow election to the office in 2015. He was reelected in 2019 by a comfortably majority.
With Deegan’s victory, the largest city in the country with a Republican mayor will be Fort Worth, Texas, where Mattie Parker has served since 2021, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Source: The Hill
