Jacksonville mayoral race: Democrat Donna Deegan defeats Republican Daniel Davis
Jack Birle
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Democrat Donna Deegan defeated Republican Daniel Davis in the Jacksonville, Florida, mayoral election on Tuesday.
Deegan was projected as the winner over Davis just after 7:30 p.m. local time, shifting the office back into Democratic control for the first time since 2015. Deegan beat Davis 52% to 48%, with only a margin of 8,680 votes.
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“We made history tonight. It is a brand new day,” Deegan said during her victory speech on Tuesday.
The former television anchor had previously run for Florida’s 4th Congressional District in 2020 but lost to Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL).
Crime was one of the key issues of the campaign, with local news station News4JAX reporting on dueling campaign advertisements featuring law enforcement. The advertisement endorsing Davis featured Sheriff T.K. Waters, while an advertisement criticizing Davis for “dividing” the city featured former Jacksonville Sheriff Nathaniel “Nat” Glover.
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With the loss by the GOP candidate, Jacksonville will no longer be the largest city in the nation with a Republican mayor. The Republican mayor of Fort Worth, Texas, Mattie Parker, will hold that title once Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry’s term expires in July.
Duval County, where Jacksonville is located, has been a swing county in recent years in the Sunshine State. The county narrowly went for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and Andrew Gillum in the 2018 gubernatorial election but also went narrowly for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election and strongly for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in the 2022 gubernatorial election.