2023 Jacksonville mayoral election

The 2023 Jacksonville mayoral election was held on March 21, 2023, with a runoff held on May 16. Incumbent Republican mayor Lenny Curry was term-limited and could not seek a third term in office. Seven candidates filed to run, including four Republicans, two Democrats, and an independent. Jacksonville mayoral elections use a blanket primary system where all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, appear on the same ballot.

Nonprofit founder Donna Deegan, a Democrat, and Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce president Daniel Davis, a Republican, took the top two spots in the primary election. Because no candidate surpassed 50% of the vote, Deegan and Davis advanced to a runoff. Candidates eliminated in the initial primary included city councilors Al Ferraro and LeAnna Cumber, both Republicans, and former state senate minority leader Audrey Gibson, a Democrat.

Deegan defeated Davis in the runoff, becoming the first woman ever to be elected Mayor of Jacksonville and the first Democrat to be elected since Alvin Brown in 2011. About 217,000 people voted in the runoff election, for a turnout of 33%. Deegan's win resulted in Jacksonville losing its status as the most populous city in the United States with a Republican mayor; that instead became Fort Worth, Texas.

Background
Jacksonville became the most populous city in the United States with a Republican mayor when Democrats flipped the mayorship of San Diego, California in 2020. Republicans had held the mayorship of Jacksonville continuously since 1993 with the exception of one four-year period when Democrat Alvin Brown served as mayor following his upset victory in the 2011 election. However, the consolidated city-county of Jacksonville and Duval County has historically been more Democratic-leaning than other counties in the state. In 2018, the Democratic nominees for governor and U.S. Senate both narrowly carried Jacksonville even as they lost statewide; in 2022, although the city voted for the Republican nominee in the gubernatorial and Senate contests, it still voted to the left of the state as a whole.

Campaign
The two leading Republicans were backed by different factions of the business community; Daniel Davis aligned himself with the network of developers, CEOs, and elected officials who backed incumbent mayor Lenny Curry and who traditionally hold great influence over city elections, while LeAnna Cumber was backed by a more conservative group of outsiders. Florida Politics commented that Cumber had the support of "various anti-Lenny Curry Republicans" in local government. Cumber heavily criticized Curry's effort to raise the Jacksonville gas tax, while Davis avoided taking positions on specific city issues and instead made broad appeals for unity. Al Ferraro was considered to have the most conservative platform of any candidate but lacked the fundraising and endorsements of Cumber and Davis, though his position improved over time due to well-received debate performances and improving polling numbers.

The campaign between Cumber and Davis was heated, with Davis running ads labeling Cumber a "fake conservative" because she donated to Democratic politicians in the past and Cumber running ads claiming that Davis "voted to make it easier for criminals to cover up sexual assaults against children," criticizing him for voting to let DACA recipients get driver's licenses, and accusing him of contributing to rising crime rates in Jacksonville. Both candidates also ran ads accusing each other of supporting the privatization of JEA, the city's publicly-owned electric utility, though they each denied that they would sell it if elected mayor. In February 2023, the city council began investigating ties between Cumber's husband and a company that attempted to buy JEA. Cumber claimed the probe was orchestrated by allies of Davis to help him win the mayoral election.

In comparison, the two Democrats largely avoided criticizing each other and both ran on their own strengths, with Donna Deegan running a positive TV ad focused on her life story. Audrey Gibson is a longtime fixture of Jacksonville politics and had a reputation for working across the aisle during her time in the state legislature. Additionally, she was considered to have an advantage because 55% of registered Democrats in Jacksonville are black and she has a history of performing well in heavily African-American areas. However, Deegan has a great deal of name recognition from her time as a television journalist and the frequent public appearances she made during her mayoral bid. She prioritized small donors and was the only candidate to qualify for the ballot via petition rather than paying a fee. Deegan raised significantly more than Gibson, though her fundraising was still considered lackluster in comparison to Cumber and Davis.

Declared

 * LeAnna Cumber, city councilor
 * Daniel Davis, president of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, former state representative, and former president of the Jacksonville City Council
 * Al Ferraro, city councilor
 * Frank Keasler, consultant

Withdrew

 * Matt Carlucci, at-large city councilor (endorsed Deegan)

Declined

 * Ron Salem, at-large city councilor

Declared

 * Donna Deegan, breast cancer nonprofit founder, former First Coast News anchor, cousin of former mayor Tommy Hazouri, and nominee for Florida's 4th congressional district in 2020
 * Audrey Gibson, former Minority Leader of the Florida Senate

Did not qualify

 * Theresa Richardson

Declined

 * Kimberly Daniels, state representative and former city councilor
 * Brenda Priestly Jackson, city councilor (ran for an at-large council seat)

Declared

 * Omega Allen, former chair of the Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Trust Fund Advisory Committee and candidate for mayor in 2015 and 2019

Did not qualify

 * Darcy Richardson, businessman, Reform nominee for Governor of Florida in 2018, and Alliance nominee for vice president in 2020

Fundraising
As of December, Cumber and Davis held a wide lead in fundraising; Davis led with $4.5 million on hand while Cumber had $2.8 million. Al Ferraro lagged behind with $240,000. Among the Democrats, Donna Deegan had the most cash on hand with $590,000, while Audrey Gibson followed with $250,000.

Endorsements
In March 2023, flyers were distributed at polling places in northwest Jacksonville that listed candidates purportedly endorsed by former U.S. Representative Corrine Brown in the Jacksonville primary elections. The flyer recommended a Democratic candidate in every race except the mayoral race, where it recommended Republican LeAnna Cumber. Brown, a Democrat, claimed the flyers were fake and said that she had not endorsed any candidates yet, though she said there were "very qualified Democrats in the race for Mayor."

Results
The Republican candidates combined for roughly 51% of the vote, while the Democrats combined for 48%. This was the highest first-round combined vote share for Democrats in a Jacksonville mayoral race since the 1995 election.

Endorsements
Endorsements in bold were made after the first round.

Polling

 * Donna Deegan vs. LeAnna Cumber


 * Donna Deegan vs. Al Ferraro