Ballot victory fires up Dems

Deegan wins race to become mayor of Jacksonville

Florida Democrats were crowing Wednesday after one of their own won the Jacksonville mayor’s race in a major upset of a candidate endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Democrat Donna Deegan earned 52% of the vote in Tuesday’s election, beating Republican Daniel Davis.

“Love won tonight, and we made history,” Deegan said in a statement. “We have a new day in Jacksonville because people chose unity over division — creating a broad coalition of people across the political spectrum that want a unified city.”

On Wednesday, the Florida Democratic Party was in celebration mode.

“Success is measured in election wins. In the first elections of the 2024 election cycle, Florida Democrats continue their ascent with massive victories in Florida’s largest city.” a news release said.

“When we work together and do the work on the ground it produces wins,” Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried, who campaigned with Deegan, told the City & State news website.

But Florida Republicans had a different take.

“This is not representative of the entire state,” said GOP state chairman Christian Ziegler. “Municipal races are not indicators of the rest of the state, obviously.”

He blamed the loss on an off-year election with low turnout and a brutal, expensive GOP primary for the mayoral nominee. Millions were spent by Davis’ Republican opponents ripping Davis apart, and they didn’t come together quickly enough after he won, Ziegler said.

“If we had more time we could have turned it around,” he added.

Florida has become a solidly Republican state with its voter registration eclipsing Democratic voter registration for the first time in state history. And in November, DeSantis won reelection by 19 points, Ziegler noted.

Deegan is succeeding Republican Lenny Curry, who was first elected in 2015 and couldn’t run again because of term limits.

Jacksonville, a city consolidated with Duval County, is Florida’s largest with a population of about 900,000.