Bill Bishop makes "No" endorsement for Mayor!

[Cheshire Cat]

The runoff for mayor got a bit more unpredictable today.  Bill Bishop who had garnered 30,944 votes the last election has basically told Alvin Brown and Lenny Curry they must earn the votes of his backers. He knows independent thinkers when he sees them.  He also said he will run for mayor himself in 2019.  So if you are reading between the lines, a vote for Alvin Brown in May will help keep the door wide open for Bishop in 2019. Best endorsement/non-endorsement ever.  In March Brown got 78,713 votes.  Curry got 70,891 votes.  Both of them need Bishops supporters to pull this off and the few votes left over from Omega Allen will not hurt.  She got 4,046 votes.

[Cheshire Cat]

Note, when asked by News4Jax if he had advice for his supporters he said yes.  Demand real answers to real questions and don't accept anything less.  I totally agree!

[coredumped]

Note, when asked by News4Jax if he had advice for his supporters he said yes.  Demand real answers to real questions and don't accept anything less.  I totally agree!

Yep, he was the only one who answered questions during the debates.

Does anyone know if there's going to be another Mayor and/or Sheriff debate? I'd love it if there were.

[Cheshire Cat]

I believe there will be coredumped.  I will share when I know the actual dates and times.

[coredumped]

I believe there will be coredumped.  I will share when I know the actual dates and times.

Awesome! And thanks for all your reporting/involvement this election cycle. It's glad to see citizens involved (and knowledgeable) so much in local politics, too bad more people didn't make informed decisions, or worse yet, just go out and vote!

[I-10east]

http://www.news4jax.com/bill-bishop-not-endorsing/32112072

[Cheshire Cat]

I believe there will be coredumped.  I will share when I know the actual dates and times.

Awesome! And thanks for all your reporting/involvement this election cycle. It's glad to see citizens involved (and knowledgeable) so much in local politics, too bad more people didn't make informed decisions, or worse yet, just go out and vote!

Thanks much! 

[mtraininjax]

Bill Bishop is nothing more than a bad Seinfeld episode, you know a show about.....nothing. Who calls a press conference to tell people, well nothing. If nothing else, he looks more like a joke for 2019.

[sheclown]

Personally, I feel it IS newsworthy.  As a Bishop supporter, I have been waiting to hear his endorsement.

No endorsement speaks volumes.

I appreciate that he didn't use his voters as political capital. 

[MEGATRON]

Personally, I feel it IS newsworthy.  As a Bishop supporter, I have been waiting to hear his endorsement.

No endorsement speaks volumes.

I appreciate that he didn't use his voters as political capital.

No, he used his supporters as an ATM for an election he knew he could not win a month or two ago.  Now, we are forced to go through a runoff due to his failure to remove himself from an election everyone knew he would not win four weeks ago.

[strider]

Or did Bill Bishop actually offer hope that Jacksonville could indeed pull itself out of the grasp of the political machines that has been holding the city back for decades?

[vicupstate]

Bishop was under no obligation to withdraw from the race.  That is B.S. Thanks to him, at least one candidate was not avoiding direct answers to direct questions.  At least one candidate was telling the truth on taxes. Maybe after another term of 'read my lips I won't raise taxes, okay so I lied' leadership, then the citizens will actually wise up. Well, maybe not.

The Seinfeld candidate is Curry. All talk, no substance. At least not any that we can see.

I will say that if Bishop thinks that the GOP will coalesce around him for 2019, he has another thought coming.

Ask Brown if he intends to stay the full term if re-elected. If he says yes, vote for him.  The time and momentum lost in changing horses mid-stream will sap what momentum the city has going.  At least he is the devil you know, and he will be replaced in four years regardless.         

[fieldafm]

Or did Bill Bishop actually offer hope that Jacksonville could indeed pull itself out of the grasp of the political machines that has been holding the city back for decades?

The reality is Bishop got less of the electorate to vote for him than 2011 third place finisher Audrey Moran (21.68% vs 16.76%) and a statistically insignficant 1% more than 2011 4th place finisher Rick Mullaney (15.51% vs 16.76%)... meaning he couldn't come close to seperating himself from a far less formidable slate of challengers.

[Tacachale]

He did better than anyone thought he would (so did Lenny). But yeah, he basically tied the fourth place candidate from 2011, in a much, much weaker field. He's a nice guy and a decent councilman, but come on, he's no Audrey Moran.

[I-10east]

Bill Bishop is nothing more than a bad Seinfeld episode, you know a show about.....nothing. Who calls a press conference to tell people, well nothing.

I'm not gonna lie, I was very underwhelmed with the lack of a 'surprising announcement' that it was rumored to be.