Jacksonville Mayoral Election 2023

[Tacachale]

I haven't heard or seen anything, although I haven't watched much regular tv (outside of my cane's final four run) recently. What are they saying?

Race baiting right now. Attacking Deegan for attending Black Lives Matter rallies by showing clips of the one riot that happened here and ostensibly objectional things the national BLM organization has said. Because you know, right wing protesters have never turned violent. It's the same dirty culture war tactics he used on Cumber and Ferraro (and that Cumber gave back to him) that say nothing, but that rile up his base.

[jaxlongtimer]

Below is a link to the Davis ad if you haven't seen it.  Typical Tim Baker hack job.  Associate distasteful and grossly inaccurate sound bites with the opposing candidate.  This from Davis who filed suit over Cumber's campaign for doing the exact same thing to him.  Big time hypocrite. 

Still, nothing on what Davis would actually do if elected mayor other than likely pander to his big developer donors, just like Curry did.  Just follow the money.

https://www.news4jax.com/video/local-news/2023/04/03/republican-funded-ad-goes-after-democrat-mayoral-candidate-donna-deegan-/

Contrast this with the positive ad Deegan is running emphasizing what she would do if elected mayor:

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2023/04/03/differing-campaign-ad-approaches-on-full-display-for-jacksonville-mayoral-hopefuls-deegan-davis/

To the theme of Davis' ad, if you are left wondering about what a candidate stands for, look no further than Davis.

[vicupstate]

Simms, I don't live in JAX and hadn't seen the ads until the link was posted above.

Just as I suspected, it is a BS smear ad. Typical of what the Right does.  I've seen a million of them in my day. Deegan supports a citizens review board which is a reasonable request. 
 

[Tacachale]

^It's an emotional appeal, not a factual one. Davis wants folks talking about his hit piece. I'd rather talk about issues that matter. Davis is just the current figurehead of the crew that's been in charge for years. Under their watch, violent crime is rampant; housing prices and rent are soaring; and cronyism is off the charts. Davis was an active participant in the push to sell JEA, creating the largest corruption scandal in Jacksonville in decades. So far as I can tell he has no ideas for solving our problems, updating our infrastructure or building the local economy. He literally won't talk about what he'll do as mayor; all he's got are negative attack ads.

[Charles Hunter]

Linking her to the Black Lives Matter Riots - the ad selectively shows the violent portions of the events, interspersed with video of Donna saying "I went to all of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations [not sure about the last word]" - A few seconds of riots, Donna's quote, a few more seconds of riots, same Donna quote, lather, rinse, and repeat a few times. Also has a clip of Donna saying she supports a Civilian Police Review Board paired with video of a JSO cruiser being trashed, with her saying the Review Board would be to review police misconduct. The tagline is something along the lines of "She is not on [y]our side" (again, I don't remember the exact wording. Of course, there is Ominous Voice-Over of how BLM supports defunding the police, and how she supports them.

In interviews on the evening news, Davis defended the ad, and Donna

ETA: I typed this before seeing the above comments. I didn't turn the page on my display.

[Charles Hunter]

I hope the Action News moderators at next week's debate can pin him down on some of the real issues.

[pierre]

Davis is very awkward when speaking and was terrible at the debate prior to the first election. Deegan has literally spent her entire adult life being on camera. I'm really interested in how this looks on TV.

[Charles Hunter]

Is it too much to hope the moderators will press for an answer when a candidate tries to bob and weave?

[fsquid]

Is it too much to hope the moderators will press for an answer when a candidate tries to bob and weave?

It's the primetime anchors, so no unless you give them a teleprompter.

[simms3]

Meanwhile, this came out just a few days ago:

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2023/04/04/jacksonville-ethics-commission-decides-against-pursuing-investigation-into-possible-cumber-jea-connections/

Oh really?  But it wasn't just a political stunt job to kill an opponent's chances...it was investigating real matters!

This is a city filled with conservatives who hate what's happened in DC and to our country.  And yet, the same thing is happening to our own city by people who put an R by their name.  Den of thieves...corruption, greed, insatiable desire for power and for money every which way.

[jaxlongtimer]

Watched the mayoral debate between Deegan and Davis tonight.  I may be biased, but I thought Deegan crushed Davis.  Loved her closing statement calling out local corruption and that it is time for a change in City leadership.  She also took head on Davis' attack ad about the Black Lives Matter marches.  Davis failed to even respond on point when asked about the ad.  Just platitudes, no substance.  Just like he is on all other issues.

Anybody else want to weigh in?

[thelakelander]

I missed it. Didn't know that it was tonight.

[JeffreyS]

My take is pretty similar to jaxlongtimer. Davis was a bad liar about JEA and Donna was clearly better. However he did better than I expected.

[pierre]

He never looks comfortable

[Steve]

I thought Deegan did better than Davis, but I think Deegan left some cards on the table:

-her closing statement was clearly trying to articulate "do you want more of the same or do you want change," but it didn't come out well. She could have slammed a million things there like JEA, Lot J, etc. it lacked substance.

-The first half of the debate was dominated by Deegan. After the break Davis recovered a little. That said, he clearly doesn't look comfortable and he sounds like a robot.

-There were a few odd questions where I felt like neither candidate answered, but I also think the question could have been worded better.

Deegan clearly won, but it wasn't a 10-1 demolition after the first half was over.