Voters elect Donna Deegan as new Jacksonville mayor
jacksonville, florida – Democrat Donna Deegan beats Republican Daniel Davis – First female mayor of Jacksonville — in the runoff vote on Tuesday.
Just before the final results were announced, Deegan addressed supporters and community members.
“Guys, we made history tonight,” said newly-elected Jacksonville mayor Donna Deegan. “Today is a whole new day for Jacksonville, Florida.”
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Republican Daniel Davis and Democrat Donna Deegan have been vying for the seat since losing the runoff, and have pitched themselves to voters with contrasting views. Because no candidate received 50% of the vote in the first election in March.
Deegan led seven candidates in March with 39% of the vote compared to Davis with 25%, but the runoff is expected to be a close one and every vote counts.
Daniel Davis(R)
104,13048%
(186 / 186)
Since the first election, the campaign has heated up. Offensive ad against Deegan — At the expense of the Republicans on behalf of Davis — went on the air and the reaction from Deegan began. Called the ad “racist”.
Former Jacksonville Sheriff Nathaniel “Nat” Glover non-partisan group spoke in an advertisement paid forsaid he believed ads and others in the Republican Party were dividing the city.
Sheriff TK Waters ran an ad of himself endorsing Republican Daniel Davis and called Deegan’s policies “radical.”
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News 4JAX I spoke with both Deegan and Davis. After a competitive event earlier this month, I asked about police issues at the heart of the campaign, including Davis branding Deegan anti-police and saying Deegan intentionally mischaracterized her.
“He lied and made up about me all through the campaign. [former] Sheriff Nat Glover came out on a commercial today and told me to stop lying,” Deegan said. “It’s time to unite this community. And if someone behaves like that during an election campaign. I would like.”
“Every marketing piece and commercial you’ve seen is in my own dissent’s own words, and there are people working with the Sheriff’s Department and law enforcement to keep our streets safe,” Davis said. said Mr. “There are people who want to hold the sheriff accountable, or there are people who want to hold criminals accountable.
Deegan and Davis articulate opposing positions and differing approaches on most subjects. WOKV Radio Forum In April we both said we would add more police officers to the streetsBut they will also look to prevention and intervention to fight crime.
confederate memorial
Springfield Park now has a Confederate memorial, should tax dollars be taken down? The candidates are divided on this point, and the public is also divided.
Deegan: “I’ve said repeatedly that I would use public money just to get the current mayor to remove the Confederate memorial so people wouldn’t have to walk in front of it, and that time in our history. Frankly, we should be ashamed of that.”
Davis: “I am not going to use my tax dollars to remove the Jacksonville memorial. If you were to spend $1 million to do this, what could you spend that money on?”
police, fire, pension
Because Jacksonville no longer offers pensions to new hires and only offers 401K-type programs, many bypass Jacksonville and look for other cities with better retirement plans. want to be. in a recent forum, both Davis and Deegan have addressed this issue. Both said they did not want to return to the city’s pension plan, but would consider the possibility of switching to the Florida Retirement Plan and paying there.
Deegan: “At some point, we can’t go on with this problem forever. If you want to get the best and brightest thing you can think of, you’ll have to look into it.”
Davis: “I said all the options are on the table. We don’t have a city pension that we want to take home. We want to look at the FRS public pension. That’s proven by the data.” and we want to make sure we get the best and the best.”
for many About the position of the mayoral candidate To see other races on your ballot, Visit the News4JAX Voter Guide.
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https://www.news4jax.com/vote-2023/2023/05/16/deegan-or-davis-duval-county-voters-will-elect-a-new-mayor-of-jacksonville-today/ Voters elect Donna Deegan as new Jacksonville mayor