Jacksonville Elections 2027

[Jones518]

I strongly oppose Ron Armstrong and his campaign.

Much of his messaging comes across as vague, misleading, inconsistent, and designed to provoke outrage rather than encourage thoughtful/ educational discussion. At times, he reminds me more of a blogger, a podcaster, a Charlie Kirk more than someone offering a clear vision for Jacksonville's future.

I attended one of his campaign events and was surprised by the level of armed security present. For an event with roughly 30–40 attendees, there appeared to be more than 10 armed security personnel. By comparison, Mayor Donna Deegan's campaign announcement at the Garden Club was attended by only two JSO officers. It makes you question, what are he and his campaign managers putting out, that angers people so much that you receive "threats".

While every candidate has the right to determine their own security needs, it is concerning when a candidate for mayor feels the need for such a large armed security presence at a relatively small campaign event.

I was also troubled by a Facebook post Ron shared on February 25 in which he suggested that Muslims are "taking over" New York City and expanding their influence across America through the construction of mosques. He further implied that this trend is spreading to Jacksonville. In my view, rhetoric that portrays an entire religious group as a threat promotes fear, and division rather than understanding and respect.

He has made it clear that he opposes any investment in downtown....he doesn't understand how funding and how certain funds can only be spent and allocated for specific purposes...

I can name a number of things I disagree with Ron and his campaign about.


Jacksonville deserves leadership that brings people together. We need leaders who focus on solving problems, building community, and uniting residents..not fostering division, fear, misinformation, and hostility toward our neighbors. I truly hope and pray he does not become Mayor.


I'll take anyone over Ron or the Eric badazz guy 😂...Donna Deegan (hopefully), the soon to be announced GOP candidate - Wyman Duggan, anyone...

[acme54321]

The guy is a kook.  Yesterday he was complaining about Hogan's Creek in Springfield and how the park is neglected and no one does anything about it.  Today he's complaining about the waste of the Emerald Trail, the very project that will fix what he was whining about the day before.  You can't make it up.

[Charles Hunter]

Qualifying for the Special Election to fill Terrence Freeman's At Large Group 1 vacant seat.
Very short qualifying time. less than 24 hours, when you only count the hours the SOE's office is open.

JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville City Council and Mayor Donna Deegan passed a resolution (2026-474-A) on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, approving a Special First Consolidated Government Election to be held on Tuesday, August 18, 2026.
 
The Special Election will be held to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Councilman Terrance Edward Freeman, At-Large Group 1. Freeman resigned his Council position to run for an elected position in the Florida Legislature.
 
If no candidate receives a majority of the votes of the Special First Election on August 18, according to the resolution, then the two candidates with the highest vote totals shall participate in a Special General Election to be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.
 
Supervisor Holland shared the number of petitions needed to qualify for candidacy for City Council At-Large Group 1 is 1,855.
 
The qualifying fees are as follows:

    $3,408.24 for partisan candidates
    $2,272.16 for candidates with no party affiliation.

Qualifying begins at Noon, June 11, 2026, and ends at Noon, June 12, 2026.

[copperfiend]

In case anybody wonders what an Armstrong administration would consider the role of government.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A video posted on Facebook by Jacksonville Republican Mayoral Candidate Ron Armstrong is raising questions about how – and whether – Jacksonville Fire and Rescue resources should be used for events that are not fires or emergencies or sanctioned by the city.

Armstrong owns the Grounds of Grace coffee shop in Arlington.

In the video you hear Armstrong say, "When you can't fill a baptismal tub, what do you do? You just call the firefighters, and they fill it up for you."

Video of JFRD filling baptismal tub outside Jacksonville mayorial candidate's shop raises questions

[Jankelope]

In case anybody wonders what an Armstrong administration would consider the role of government.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A video posted on Facebook by Jacksonville Republican Mayoral Candidate Ron Armstrong is raising questions about how – and whether – Jacksonville Fire and Rescue resources should be used for events that are not fires or emergencies or sanctioned by the city.

Armstrong owns the Grounds of Grace coffee shop in Arlington.

In the video you hear Armstrong say, "When you can't fill a baptismal tub, what do you do? You just call the firefighters, and they fill it up for you."

Video of JFRD filling baptismal tub outside Jacksonville mayorial candidate's shop raises questions

To me this just feels like a big publicity stunt that we are all participating in lol. Like it's getting picked up by local news because of it's absurdity but all of that is good for his "anti-establishment" branding.

[Charles Hunter]

Qualifying for the Special Election to fill Terrence Freeman's City Council At-Large (Group 1) seat closed at noon today (Friday, June 12).

As of 12:30, the SOE list the following candidates:
Democrat - Mone' Holder
Republican - Deborah Wesley - website: https://deborahwesley.com/
Libertarian Party of Florida - Addison Patrick aka Addison Liberty Patrick - website: https://addisonlibertypatrick.com/

Two candidates are listed as "Withdrawn"
Issac Daniel East - Democrat
Ivan Terrell Mote - NPA

ETA, also from the SOE, the Republican, Deborah Wesley, is the only one with money in their campaign account. She has spent $7,054 of the $81,563 in contribuitons.

The SOE does not include links to campaign websites (at least not on the list of candidates page). I could not find one for Mone' Holder. Addison Liberty Patrick's site says "Platform Coming Soon." It says she appears at City Council frequently, and there are clips from some of her appearances.
Deborah Wesley is endorsed by Sheriff T.K. Waters, and identifies herself as "Commander Wesley" at JSO. A conservative supporting law enforcement and families.

Let the games begin!

[jaxlongtimer]

A Democrat replaces a Republican on the City Council today!  Hoping this reigns in some of the partisanship as the Council will have a harder time getting a super majority to override the Mayor and more.  Also, hoping it bodes well for next year's elections to do more of the same.

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/politics/elections/jacksonville-city-council-group-1-at-large-results/77-82ee1bae-5cf5-4593-9624-25ec43c52974

[Zac T]

A Democrat replaces a Republican on the City Council today!  Hoping this reigns in some of the partisanship as the Council will have a harder time getting a super majority to override the Mayor and more.  Also, hoping it bodes well for next year's elections to do more of the same.

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/politics/elections/jacksonville-city-council-group-1-at-large-results/77-82ee1bae-5cf5-4593-9624-25ec43c52974

Republicans should be concerned headed into 2027 that she won by 6.5 points despite Dems and Reps casting nearly the same number of ballots. NPA's are clearly breaking toward the left and that will be crucial in a general election

[Steve]

I do think this is a noteworthy race, but I'm not ready to read into it either way. I'd love to see a number of how many NPA (or those registered with a party besides Republican or Democrat) voters turned out yesterday.

The top of the ballot races were the Rep/Dem primaries for Senate/House/Governor, followed by CFO/Ag. If you weren't registered as one of those then your entire ballot was the City Council race and the two judge races, and I have to believe many of the NPA folks simply stayed home.

What's fascinating to me is that in the Governor's race, Jolly is clearly distancing himself from Nixon, with his comments about DSA and Socialism, emphasizing the Capitalist that he is, in his speech last night. Hats off to Nixon though for defeating the well-funded carpet-bagger in Vindman. Jolly is taking on Donalds, who honestly there wasn't a lot of energy around any of the GOP Gubernatorial candidates. Could it be that Republicans just aren't enthused with any of them, or was it a matter of, "Just tell me which Republican to vote for in November." I think Donalds will keep the GOP base enthused enough to vote for him - honestly any of them likely would have except Fishback who came with more baggage than a Kardashian going on a yearlong trip.

Now I think the electorate will vary a little bit in the local races in the spring compared to the mid-terms. I'm wondering if one party makes a big impact in November, does the opposite party get a springboard to March/May (similar to how the opposite party tends to get a boost after the White House flips)?

[Zac T]

I do think this is a noteworthy race, but I'm not ready to read into it either way. I'd love to see a number of how many NPA (or those registered with a party besides Republican or Democrat) voters turned out yesterday.

The top of the ballot races were the Rep/Dem primaries for Senate/House/Governor, followed by CFO/Ag. If you weren't registered as one of those then your entire ballot was the City Council race and the two judge races, and I have to believe many of the NPA folks simply stayed home.

What's fascinating to me is that in the Governor's race, Jolly is clearly distancing himself from Nixon, with his comments about DSA and Socialism, emphasizing the Capitalist that he is, in his speech last night. Hats off to Nixon though for defeating the well-funded carpet-bagger in Vindman. Jolly is taking on Donalds, who honestly there wasn't a lot of energy around any of the GOP Gubernatorial candidates. Could it be that Republicans just aren't enthused with any of them, or was it a matter of, "Just tell me which Republican to vote for in November." I think Donalds will keep the GOP base enthused enough to vote for him - honestly any of them likely would have except Fishback who came with more baggage than a Kardashian going on a yearlong trip.

Now I think the electorate will vary a little bit in the local races in the spring compared to the mid-terms. I'm wondering if one party makes a big impact in November, does the opposite party get a springboard to March/May (similar to how the opposite party tends to get a boost after the White House flips)?

To answer your first question, NPA's accounted for 7.4% of votes in Duval County or a little over 11k. Holder's margin of victory was 9k so enough NPA's voted to have made a reasonable difference in the race

[Steve]

Here's my point
648,838 Registered Voters
243,983 Democrats
237,891 Republicans
142,814 NPA
24,150 Other

150,880 Voted in this election
69,127 Democrats
68,801 Republicans
11,169 NPA
1,792 Other

% Electorate:
45.82% Democrats
45.60% Republicans
7.40% NPA
1.19% Other

% Voted
28.33% Democrats
28.20% Republicans
4.58% NPA
0.73% Other


My point is NPAs made up 7.4% of the electorate yesterday, yet only 4.58% of all NPAs voted, compared to over 28% of the Dem/Rep registered voters. Now that isn't shocking - like I said, the major draws in this race were part of closed primaries.

But, compare that to 2024 when 87,235 NPAs voted out of 145,296 registered NPAs (just over 60%), or even in the 2022 midterms where 48,359 registered NPAs voted out of 151,381 registered NPAs (just under 32%).

My point is trying to equate the NPA impact on a special election City Council Race (when nearly every other race on the ballot was a closed primary) to what might happen in November or Spring 2027 isn't statistically material. I do agree they had a measured impact in this City Council race though. Honestly this data right here was the basis of the argument as to why local elections were separated out from Presidential or the Midterm cycle.

Other random thoughts: I'd personally be in favor of moving our local elections to be in the fall of the year after the midterms vs. the Spring and having the local officials take office on 1/1 of the following year. Pick one year and they get a 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 year term to readjust. Not only is the fall a more natural election cycle, you get away from the hangover of the recent midterms. Plus it would eliminate the ridiculous budget cycle where the Mayor takes office on 7/1, only to have to present a budget two weeks later.

[thelakelander]

I was one of the NPAs to early vote at EWU. I went just for council and the two judge spots. I was in and out within seconds. I was more shocked seeing students dressed in hoodies and sweaters on campus.

[Charles Hunter]

Steve - a quibble,

If you weren't registered as one of those then your entire ballot was the City Council race and the two judge races, and I have to believe many of the NPA folks simply stayed home.

In three of the School Board (= 6 City Council) districts, there were also School Board races, each of which will go to run-offs (on the November ballot?). I would like to see turn-out numbers by party/NPA/other by district, to see if the SB races increased the NPA/Other turn out.

Were your turn-out comparisons to the 2022 and 2024 races to the General or the Primary?

[fsu813]

A Democrat replaces a Republican on the City Council today!  Hoping this reigns in some of the partisanship as the Council will have a harder time getting a super majority to override the Mayor and more.  Also, hoping it bodes well for next year's elections to do more of the same.

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/politics/elections/jacksonville-city-council-group-1-at-large-results/77-82ee1bae-5cf5-4593-9624-25ec43c52974

Republicans should be concerned headed into 2027 that she won by 6.5 points despite Dems and Reps casting nearly the same number of ballots. NPA's are clearly breaking toward the left and that will be crucial in a general election

Two notes on this:

The new city council rep has to keep on campaigning for herself...because she's simply filling in for an empty seat, her next election is just 7 months from now.

Politics is fickle. So much depends on the specific circumstances of each race, difficult to make generalizations.

[Steve]

Steve - a quibble,

If you weren't registered as one of those then your entire ballot was the City Council race and the two judge races, and I have to believe many of the NPA folks simply stayed home.

In three of the School Board (= 6 City Council) districts, there were also School Board races, each of which will go to run-offs (on the November ballot?). I would like to see turn-out numbers by party/NPA/other by district, to see if the SB races increased the NPA/Other turn out.

Were your turn-out comparisons to the 2022 and 2024 races to the General or the Primary?

I can pull that - it's a good question with regard to the School Board races. The data is on the SOE site; just buried a bit. The other thing that it could show is the 4.5% of the NPAs is an average across the city. Well, averages are just that - if I put one foot in boiling water, and one foot in freezing water, well "on average" I should be comfortable. Tying back to this....was the NPA percentage higher in reliably Dem Districts or across the board?

To answer your other question, it was the 2022 and 2024 generals. My point was mainly that the 4.5% of NPAs that voted (and could have swayed the City Council race) isn't necessarily an indicator of how NPAs will vote in November. Given it was only 4.5% of the voter base that came out, anything could have explained that - something as simple as Mone' Holder's GOTV campaign was just simply stronger than Deborah Wesley's.

Really to do this right, you should go down to the precinct level. Take District 7 - Jimmy Peluso's district. Last I looked (which was a few years ago), it has Durkeeville (Reliably Dem) Springfield North to 20th Street (Reliably Dem), Downtown (Dem), Riverside (Dem but not as strong as Springfield), Avondale (leans GOP) and Ortega (Reliably GOP).