Best Day of New Jacksonville Mayor’s Campaign Was the Day Gov. Scott Showed Up to Campaign for His Opponent

Jacksonville is a Republican stronghold, but even with that relatively conservative electorate polls show Barack Obama more popular than Rick Scott. That election in Florida’s largest city was not about Obama or Scott, but there’s no question that Scott’s talk about draconian cuts to school budgets and other services helped elect a Democrat arguing that cuts need to be targeted and strategic. One of the best days for Democrat Alvin Brown came when Rick Scott came to Jacksonville to campaign for the Republican mayoral nominee at a Tea Party rally.

– Adam Smith, political editor for the St. Petersburg Times

GOP/Tea Overconfidence Ends in Defeat

He didn’t write anybody off. He went and talked to everybody, while on the other side, they ran like they had already won it.

— Former Jacksonville, FL mayor Jake Godbold, commenting on the win for the office by Democrat Alvin Brown. The Republican/Tea Party candidate was so favored to win that both he and his party badly miscalculated voter sentiment.

Florida Mayor’s Race Could Be Early Indicator of Tea Party Decline

brownclinton
Former Pres. Bill Clinton campaigns for Jacksonville's possible next mayor, Alvin Brown
Update: After a day of counting absentee and provisional ballots produced a 1,648 vote lead for Brown, Hogan conceded. Jacksonville has its first black mayor and first Democrat in the job since 1995.

Jacksonville Republicans are reeling because the nightmare they were having when they went to bed last night didn’t slip away as they hoped at today’s dawn. No, Democrat Alvin Brown, a former Clinton administration and Al Gore advisor, African-American, and pro-education candidate (not to be confused with bizarre nobody Alvin Greene of South Carolina) was still 603 votes ahead in the mayor’s race, just like he was last night.

As we speak, absentee and provisional ballots are being counted, so anything could happen in what the elections supervisor is calling the closest mayor’s race in Jacksonville history. Anything could happen, that is, except reinstating the conventional wisdom that a Democrat can’t win in Jacksonville – or in Northeast Florida. Apparently he can.

Brown was one of six candidates in the elimination round in March that was expected to easily pick Republican Audrey Moran, who passes for moderate in these parts, and fellow Republican and incumbent Tax Collector Mike Hogan to face off in the final race. Had that played out, Duval County voters would have the familiar Republican Thing One and Republican Thing Two from which to choose, and First Baptist Church (a Jacksonville institution that pulls most of the power strings), the Chamber of Commerce, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver, and a few others could resume running things for another four years.

And then something strange happened.
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