Jacksonville Mayoral Election 2023

[fsu813]

He has more money but he seems to have a severe identity problem with the general public.  Cumber has grabbed more big headlines in the last 2 years than he has and staked out some firm positions.  Davis seems to have trouble outlining what he stands for.  I think sometimes he just comes across more as a vapid "pretty boy" than a person of substance.  I wonder also how comfortable he is with Baker's divisive "burn down the city" style of campaigning which is sure to turn off some moderate establishment types that want the City to be more unified.

Remember the stage of the election, the defacto primary. Appealing to reliable R voters is the goal here, not a broad message appealing to all. Once the intraparty war is over in round 1, the messaging should change quite a bit.

At least that's what appears to be happening at this point.

[Tacachale]

One thing I don't understand is why Davis thinks it's a good strategy to make an issue of JEA. He had his own involvement and has surrounded himself with the people behind the sale. Why make that more of an issue that it already was going to be? Does he think people will really buy that his hands are clean on this? Does he just think he can weather the backlash if he can get past Cumber?

[vicupstate]

One thing I don't understand is why Davis thinks it's a good strategy to make an issue of JEA. He had his own involvement and has surrounded himself with the people behind the sale. Why make that more of an issue that it already was going to be? Does he think people will really buy that his hands are clean on this? Does he just think he can weather the backlash if he can get past Cumber?

His hands aren't clean, but if the perception is that Cumber's isn't involved with the deal, then he might very well lose to her.  By making sure she looks dirty too, he removes it a a reason to vote for her over him, and at this point that is all he cares about. One Republican and one Democrat will make the runoff.  He wants to be sure that Republican is him. Having an R after his name will likely win him the General.

[jaxlongtimer]

^ There was a townhall forum yesterday.  All the major candidates were there except Davis.  This is not the first forum I understand he has skipped.  I wonder if he thinks he can run a "Wizard of Oz" campaign:  Hide behind a curtain and just let Tim Baker's nasty attack and non-issue addressing ads and flyers speak for him.

[Florida Power And Light]

City Council events Today?.......

[jaxoNOLE]

Davis' apparent sense of entitlement and dirty politicking are repulsive, and I'm usually R-leaning.

So I'm curious on the opinions here...

The consensus seems to be Deegan will easily lock up a runoff spot but doesn't have a shot to win outright in March. So for a voter who is in the "anyone but Davis" camp, is the strategic vote for Cumber to hope for a Cumber-Deegan runoff? I fear Cumber and Davis are both in Khan's pocket, but Cumber at least hates the U2C. Deegan is by far the most articulate speaker and has an impressive platform, but no legislative record to speak truth to her positions.

Personally I'd like to see a Deegan-Ferraro runoff, but oh well. At the local level, I have no party loyalty, and would happily vote for Deegan over Davis if it came to that.

Down-ticket, I'm generally anti-incumbent, regardless of party.

[Charles Hunter]

^ If you want to see a Deegan-Ferraro run-off, vote for Ferraro.

[jaxoNOLE]

^It seems like he is a distant third in the R field, no?

[Charles Hunter]

^It seems like he is a distant third in the R field, no?

And, if you believe the Davis-PAC ads, Ferraro is a Tax-And-Spend-Librulllll

[Florida Power And Light]

For the first time in decades....... I am inclined to not vote. Skip It. Joining so many other folks that could vote, but don’t.
Pretty much disengaging with Jacksonville.

[jaxlongtimer]

The Davis campaign suing over a misleading political ad is practicing the ultimate hypocrisy.

He hired Tim Baker to run his campaign and this is the same type of nasty MO that Baker has used in campaigns he has managed.  You only have to go back to Nick Howland's recent campaign that he managed in which he took out of context a debate quote by Tracy Paulson that implied she was for defunding the police when she was actually saying just the opposite.  Although totally inaccurate and unfair, all the TV stations ran it and it likely assured she lost the election.

Davis knew going in what type of down-and-dirty campaign he was signing up for so he shouldn't complain when the tables are turned.  As they say, when you sleep with dogs, you get fleas.

Daniel Davis sues TV stations, calling 'Dirty Daniel' ad defamatory

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2023/02/09/davis-sues-tv.html?utm_source=st&utm_medium=en&utm_campaign=me&utm_content=JA&ana=e_JA_me&j=30501802&senddate=2023-02-09

[Charles Hunter]

Here's the complaint.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23601845-daniel-davis-complaint-for-damages

The Introduction to the legal filing.  Any lawyers lurking about that would care to opine on the complaint (the whole thing, not just this part).

INTRODUCTION
1. Defendants are a collection of Jacksonville Area broadcast television stations [all the local TV stations] who knowingly and maliciously continue to broadcast a disgusting, false and defamatory hit piece targeted to damage Plaintiff Daniel Davis and his campaign for Mayor of Jacksonville.
2. The hit piece was produced and paid for by Jax First, a dark money group created to funnel special interest dollars in favor of the election of Leanne Gutierrez Cumber as Mayor of Jacksonville. However, unlike candidates for office, independent political organizations like “Jax First” do not have a "right to command the use of broadcast facilities.'' See CBS v. DNC , 412 U.S. 94, 113 (1973). The decision to air Jax First’s hit piece against Mr. Davis was solely for purposes of enriching Defendants at the expense of the truth and robust electoral debate.
3. Defendants did not need to broadcast Jax First’s defamation. Because they did so (and continue to do so), they each bear responsibility for its content. See Felix v. Westinghouse Radio Stations, 186 F.2d 1, 6 (3rd Cir.), cert. denied, 314 U.S. 909 (1950). In fact, Defendants had a duty ''to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising." Universal Communications of Pittsburgh, Inc. Radio Station Waro Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 74 F.C.C.2d 617, 623 (1969) (“Commission has always held that a licensee's duty to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising is an important ingredient of his operation in the public interest.”). Defendants’ failure to prevent the airing of "false and misleading advertising" may be ''probative of an underlying abdication of licensee responsibility" that can be cause for the loss of a station's license. Cosmopolitan Broad. Corp. v. FCC, 581 F.2d 917, 927 (D.C. Cir. 1978).
4. To make matters worse, Defendants were each placed on notice by Mr. Davis’s counsel that the hit piece was made up out of whole cloth. Defendants knew the statements in the ad were false but chose to broadcast it because they got paid to ignore the truth.

[Houseboat Mike]

For the first time in decades....... I am inclined to not vote. Skip It. Joining so many other folks that could vote, but don’t.
Pretty much disengaging with Jacksonville.

Although I 100% agree with you, I cant just skip it. I have leaned R all my life, but have voted D a couple of times. This seems to be another time. So Deegan doesn't have a record, except that unfortunate way of how she met her husband. I am inclined to think that would be a breath of fresh air, and possibly she could do some good. I dunno, I am honestly just exhausted at the whole fiasco right now. And one thing Donna does have going for her, is she had zero involvement in JEA.

[tufsu1]

So I'm curious on the opinions here...

The consensus seems to be Deegan will easily lock up a runoff spot but doesn't have a shot to win outright in March.

I'm not sure that is the case. Assuming Donna makes the runoff, Audrey Gibson will endorse her. I also think there is a decent chance that Cumber (assuming she loses to Davis) does as well.

[pierre]

I definitely think Donna has a chance. I have not talked to anybody in town that views Davis as anything more than a generic Jacksonville Republican smiling in his Brooks Brothers outfit. He is just an extension of Curry and the machine. Donna did much better against Rutherford than almost anyone else could have. She will make it interesting.