Jacksonville City Council President Brosche Considers Run for Mayor

[Tacachale]

Jacksonville City Council President Brosche Considers Run for Mayor: 'I Have a Lot to Think About'
By MARK WRAY • MAY 2, 2018
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Jacksonville City Council President Anna Brosche
Jacksonville City Council President Anna Brosche
DAILY RECORD

Listen Listening...0:48 Listen to the story airing on 89.9 WJCT-FM

City Council President Anna Lopez Brosche acknowledged that many supporters have urged her to run for mayor, and said  she is "keeping all options open" when it comes to her political future in Jacksonville.


Jacksonville City Council President Anna Brosche appeared on First Coast Connect Thursday morning.
CREDIT KEVIN MEERSCHAERT / WJCT NEWS
Brosche spoke about JEA, tensions between her and Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry as well as the road ahead when her term ends in June on Wednesday's First Coast Connect.

After her term as Council President ends on June 30, she said she'll be "seeking clarity" in terms of what her next step will be.

...

http://news.wjct.org/post/jacksonville-city-council-president-brosche-considers-run-mayor-i-have-lot-think-about

[Tacachale]

Interesting comments from AG Gancarski:

As Anna Brosche mulls challenge, Lenny Curry hauls in $250K more for re-election bid

A.G. GANCARSKI
6 mins ago
Informed sources confirm that Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry raised more than $250,000 in April, his second straight month of strong fundraising after a $1.5 million March.

The breakdown: $46,000 for the campaign (bringing its total raised to just over $300,000) and $206,000 for the "Jacksonville on the Rise" political committee (pushing it over $1.45 million raised or transferred from other committees).


All told, Curry is positioned by the end of May to clear $2 million raised.

...

Additionally, Jacksonville City Council President Anna Brosche is mulling a run for mayor, with a decision to be made this summer, after her term as Council President wraps in June.

While she is "focused" on her "responsibilities as Council President and some important initiatives launched recently," Brosche notes that once her term ends, she will have "the opportunity to get clarity on [her] next steps."

A Brosche/Curry matchup would bristle with drama, were it to happen.

The dislike between the two leading Republicans in City Hall is palpable, as they have clashed on issue after issue, with each showing a propensity to hurl pejoratives at each other through the media.

If a challenge were to manifest, one could expect Curry to call in every marker possible, with an eye toward as decisive a victory as possible.

A party familiar with the thinking of Curry's political team asserts that Brosche will lose her next campaign, no matter what she runs for.

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/262681-as-anna-brosche-mulls-challenge-lenny-curry-hauls-in-250k-more-for-re-election-bid

[Tacachale]

Another interesting piece from A. G. Gancarski. He suggests that the mayor's operation will work to defeat Brosche in a City Council re-election, and suggests she capitalize on her current status as someone who can go head-to-head with Curry to challenge him for the mayor's office.

Run, Anna, Run
Give the people what they want
via coj.net
Posted Wednesday, May 9, 2018 11:44 am


FOLIO VOICES
story by A.G. GANCARSKI

Last week, we reviewed the prospects of Connell Crooms, a mayoral candidate who's bound to change the way this city talks about social justice issues.

In that column, I made an error. I posited that Jacksonville City Council President Anna Lopez Brosche wouldn't be interested in running in 2019.

Not for the first time, or the last, I was wrong.

As if wanting to give the lie to my column, Brosche went on First Coast Connect as papers were being dropped off hither and yon (though mostly hither) and all but said she was exploring a run.

Though "focused" on her "responsibilities as council president and some important initiatives launched recently," Brosche will have "the opportunity to get clarity on next steps" when her term ends in June.

I'm not a consultant yet—still a few more stages of Hell to get through from here to there. However, here's some free advice for Brosche.

Run the dadgum race. Time is running short.

...

How can you not run?

They will BURY you if you run for re-election. The knives will come unsheathed for you, no matter how underwhelming the opponent might be, and checks will be cut against you. You won't have the team to keep up with what will be done, both directly and through committees and through passthroughs of passthroughs.

And if you somehow win re-election, what then? I'll tell you what. It's going to look like it will in July, when Bowman moves you to the small office and the edge of the dais. But that's not all bad. It puts you closer to the green room.

You might as well run against Lenny Curry because, either way, you're running against him anyway.

In doing so, you will render yourself heroic, at least in the eyes of many of those who were on the fence about Curry and have yet to see anyone successfully stand up to that machine.

...

It's not easy to go up against a mayor with a machine that's Big City and ruthless in every way.

Take that case to the people. You may as well. After months of disrespect, you have no alternative.

Curry is the boss in the video game. Do you have enough tokens to crack the code?

...

http://folioweekly.com/stories/run-anna-run,19720

[jaxnyc79]

I hope Brosche disrupts and then pulverizes the good ole boy network in Jax...all the alliances, all the assumptions.

[Steve]

I hope Brosche disrupts and then pulverizes the good ole boy network in Jax...all the alliances, all the assumptions.

Well, if she wants to do that then don't make ridiculous comments about the administration "monitoring" her computer without evidence. It sounded awful and amateur hour.

[Elwood]

You mean amateur like trying to sell the city utility under ratepayers noses and then claiming to know nothing about it? Yea....

[jaxnyc79]

I hope Brosche disrupts and then pulverizes the good ole boy network in Jax...all the alliances, all the assumptions.

Well, if she wants to do that then don't make ridiculous comments about the administration "monitoring" her computer without evidence. It sounded awful and amateur hour.

Yea, that probably wasn't necessary, but then again, that sort of accusatory rhetoric is straight out of a Donald Trump playbook - I don't think Brosche is going after the Trump voter, but I do believe politicians around the country are studying his tactics.  Establish your base of supporters, and then fan the flames of their passsions by presenting yourself as under siege by the opposition.  Brosche does appear to be playing the victim a bit, but she probably has to in order to build an intensity of grassroots support to overcome the Curry and Establishment and Good 'Ole Boy machinery. 

[Tacachale]

The real thing she (or anyone serious) would need would be money. It's hard to see who of the money people would support someone besides the sitting mayor. To me, the more interesting thing would be if she runs for re-election in the Council, that Curry's operatives would field a challenger (who would be very well funded).

[Steve]

You mean amateur like trying to sell the city utility under ratepayers noses and then claiming to know nothing about it? Yea....

Not saying that the JEA thing was a good move by Curry. I think it was a bad move to be clear. But, Curry's JEA actions have nothing to do with Brosche's "monitoring" claim, other than they were the two people involved.

[Steve]

The real thing she (or anyone serious) would need would be money. It's hard to see who of the money people would support someone besides the sitting mayor. To me, the more interesting thing would be if she runs for re-election in the Council, that Curry's operatives would field a challenger (who would be very well funded).

I agree - Curry will be VERY difficult to beat by another Republican. The biggest issue: Brosche hasn't made a name for herself on issues, just on political bullcrap. Whether her allegations are true or false, it's irrelevant - what does she stand for that's different than Curry?

While Trump definitely banged the "any publicity is good publicity" drum to the point the drum broke, he also mixed in what he was going to do. Some of it made sense, some of it was crazy. It was at least something, and it was enough to gain a base of supporters.

[Tacachale]

The real thing she (or anyone serious) would need would be money. It's hard to see who of the money people would support someone besides the sitting mayor. To me, the more interesting thing would be if she runs for re-election in the Council, that Curry's operatives would field a challenger (who would be very well funded).

I agree - Curry will be VERY difficult to beat by another Republican. The biggest issue: Brosche hasn't made a name for herself on issues, just on political bullcrap. Whether her allegations are true or false, it's irrelevant - what does she stand for that's different than Curry?

While Trump definitely banged the "any publicity is good publicity" drum to the point the drum broke, he also mixed in what he was going to do. Some of it made sense, some of it was crazy. It was at least something, and it was enough to gain a base of supporters.

Curry would be difficult, if not impossible, to beat by anybody. He's got the money and a list of accomplishments, and hasn't pushed away his base and core donors, as Alvin Brown did. The Democrats haven't even suggested a serious candidate, let alone one that could actually win.

Brosche has definitely made a name for herself on stuff like the JEA and the HRO. She's definitely more of an "issues" person than Curry was when he won the mayoral election in 2015, or even than he is now. However, some of the issues (like Confederate monuments) will push some of the base away. Also, unlike 2015 Curry, she wouldn't be running against a historically weak candidate.

[Steve]

Brosche has definitely made a name for herself on stuff like the JEA and the HRO. She's definitely more of an "issues" person than Curry was when he won the mayoral election in 2015, or even than he is now. However, some of the issues (like Confederate monuments) will push some of the base away. Also, unlike 2015 Curry, she wouldn't be running against a historically weak candidate.

I guess, perhaps. But, she hasn't done as good of a job getting herself into the news for it. It's tough for a city council person.

I feel like she'd have a better chance in 2023 though.

[Tacachale]

Brosche has definitely made a name for herself on stuff like the JEA and the HRO. She's definitely more of an "issues" person than Curry was when he won the mayoral election in 2015, or even than he is now. However, some of the issues (like Confederate monuments) will push some of the base away. Also, unlike 2015 Curry, she wouldn't be running against a historically weak candidate.

I guess, perhaps. But, she hasn't done as good of a job getting herself into the news for it. It's tough for a city council person.

I feel like she'd have a better chance in 2023 though.

She's been all over the news about most of this stuff, that won't be her problem. Her problem would be the money, and the strength of the competition.

[Snaketoz]

If Curry has any vulnerabilities it would have to be crime.  He beat Brown over the head with it in the last campaign, but it seems to me that the crime rate may be even worse than when Brown was in office.  Money talks and Curry has the finances.

[Josh]

If Curry has any vulnerabilities it would have to be crime.  He beat Brown over the head with it in the last campaign, but it seems to me that the crime rate may be even worse than when Brown was in office.  Money talks and Curry has the finances.

Yes. They brought this up on First Coast Connect a few weeks ago. Curry's main campaign promise was to lower the crime rate (despite it apparently having been at a 50-year low), and since he was elected the rate of violent crime has increased in the city.

Any time Curry speaks he always harps on the small-government belief that government's only responsibility should be safety. Doesn't seem to be working too well for him.