Jacksonville Bold for 8.12.26: Mail-strom

Jacksonville politics delivers money, controversy and comebacks ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

From: Extensive Media Enterprises LJ Holloway is pushing back on a “false and misleading” mailer from Michael Kirwan’s campaign, which argues Republicans want the two-time nominee on the ballot against incumbent Aaron Bean in Congressional District 4. The mailer shows Holloway shaking hands with Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback. It also notes that Fishback called opponent Byron Donalds a “slave,” as documented in a headline on this site. (Fishback more recently falsely claimed the Justice Department was investigating Donalds for federal sex trafficking.) LJ Holloway and Michael Kirwan trade fire as the CD 4 Democratic Primary heats up. Holloway says the mail piece, which shows a picture of her superimposed on one of President Donald Trump, is “trying to manufacture a story” about her and obscures her “record of service.” The handshake comes from a video Fishback posted to his Facebook page. Kirwan’s campaign stands by the mail piece. "The mailer is clear. After (Bean beat) LJ by more than 50,000 votes in each of the last two elections, it is clear that she is the Republicans’ choice for this race. They have already put money behind a push poll for her, and we expect more to come. As far as the Fishback video, the full video is still on his page, and voters can watch it and decide for themselves."

Higher standards   Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul Renner wants a higher standard than the current 60% threshold for passing amendments to the Florida Constitution. “There’s really not a lot that we would want in the Constitution that we weren’t going to pass legislatively. It would protect our state,” the Northeast Florida Republican said Friday at an anti-abortion forum. Paul Renner wants Florida constitutional amendments to raise the bar even higher. Renner’s proposal would raise the standard for a second time. At one time, amendments passed with a simple majority. But after voters approved the 2002 Amendment 10, which guaranteed pregnant pigs room to turn around in gestation crates, lawmakers moved to tighten the requirement, and voters approved the change in 2006. The higher threshold made the difference in 2024, when amendments to allow adult-use recreational marijuana and to relax abortion restrictions won majorities but still failed. Renner also discussed his work to defeat the abortion measure, Amendment 4, saying that if it had somehow reached 60%, the move would have been to “challenge the whole enterprise because there were a number of fraudulent petitions.” Renner is courting social conservatives to blunt the money and endorsement advantages Byron Donalds enjoys in the race, contrasting his own campaign against the amendment with Donalds’ absence from the fight. “Donalds was nowhere to be found during the fight to defeat Amendment 4, the radical abortion amendment backed by the abortion lobby. While Floridians were working to protect life, Byron sat on the sidelines,” Renner said. “As Speaker of the Florida House, I helped lead the fight for Florida’s strongest pro-life protections. When Amendment 4 threatened to undo that progress, I worked tirelessly to defeat it.” Donalds spent much of 2024 campaigning across the country for Donald Trump, a surrogate assignment that included winning over Black men in swing states.

Racist Rawson   Marshall Rawson has spent years appearing at events and promoting messages associated with a White nationalist, Southern secessionist organization classified by multiple anti-bigotry watchdogs as a hate group. Now he wants your vote. Rawson, chair of the Greater Melrose Republican Liberty Caucus, a self-described “5th Generation Floridian,” is running for House District 10, which covers Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Columbia and Union counties. Marshall Rawson and Chase Brannan battle for the open House District 10 seat. His Republican Primary opponent is real estate professional Chase Brannan. Both seek the seat Brannan’s father, Chuck Brannan, is vacating due to term limits. Rawson has been involved with some of Florida politics’ most prominent figures. A Hampton citrus farmer, Rawson served as a legal aide to Secretary of State Cord Byrd, whom he campaigned for during Byrd’s inaugural House campaign in 2016. More recently, as a Florida State Guard member, Rawson aided Gov. Ron DeSantis’ border fight in Texas. And Rawson’s campaign website lists endorsements from former U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, a passel of current and former elected officials at every level of government, dozens of local pastors and groups like the Republican Liberty Caucus and Gun Owners of America. But he’s also had an association with the League of the South — flagged as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2000 and the Anti-Defamation League since 2018 — for at least half a decade. While in existence for 32 years, the League of the South, once part of the neo-Nazi Nationalist Front group, gained additional prominence after its members participated in the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, where violence erupted and a counterprotester was killed. The following year, the League rallied at the Florida Capitol. In 2017, the group’s then-spokesperson, Brad Griffin — a noted White nationalist — wrote on X that “Powerful Jews oppose the assertion of White identity while encouraging the expression of every other identity in order to weaken Whites!”

Momentum shift?   In the race to succeed Rep. Angie Nixon in HD 13, lawyer Leslie Jean-Bart is closing strong in the cash race with former Senate Democratic leader Audrey Gibson. During the last week of July, Jean-Bart raised more than $9,000, with fellow attorneys cutting most of the checks. Audrey Gibson is losing ground in fundraising to Leslie Jean-Bart in the HD 13 race. She finally topped $30,000 in total raised and carried more than $19,000 of that into August. And she raised more in one week than Gibson has since the beginning of June. Gibson has raised more than $24,000 and had nearly $18,000 on hand as of the end of last month. The winner faces a write-in on the Fall ballot.

Home or away?   With less than a week before votes are counted in a Jacksonville City Council at-large Group 1 Special Election, a Duval County judge is again evaluating whether a Republican candidate lived in an appropriate area long enough to run. James Eddy, a former Democratic candidate for office, contends that former police commander Deborah Wesley did not live in the residence area for 183 consecutive days as required by local law. Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland is a co-defendant in the case. James Eddy challenges Deborah Wesley’s residency as Jacksonville voters approach a Special Election. The claim is that she was ceded a house in a different at-large group during her divorce in 2024, but when she filed, she did so as a resident in an apartment complex in Group 1. Despite her saying she lives in the apartment, records show a homestead exemption for the house in question and higher utility usage there than at the apartment. A case making a similar argument has already been dismissed this cycle. In addressing the matter, the judge said the residency requirement did not apply to Special Elections. In an ironic twist, a residency case involving incumbent Terrance Freeman, who was appointed to a district seat in 2018 before being elected at-large the next year, was thrown out because the residency question was said not to apply to appointments. In the current complaint, Eddy’s attorney, Neil Henrichsen, a former Chair of the Duval Democrats, invoked the successful residency challenge against Jay Jabour, who was elected to serve at-large from a group including his condo at the beach, even though he and his family were there roughly 40% of the time.

Mayoral moolah   After a few weeks of not reporting any money raised, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s “Duval for All” political committee reported bringing in more than $35,000. Democrats haven’t been giving much to anyone else locally, except for $300,000 in loans to support Moné Holder’s political committee ahead of next week’s Primary. Donna Deegan is building a sizable war chest ahead of her re-election campaign. Image via Action News Jax. Deegan is nearing $2.5 million raised for her political committee, with nearly $2.2 million on hand. She’s raised nearly $200,000 for her campaign account, too. Her likely major opponent, House Speaker Wyman Duggan, is also starting to raise money again for his Citizens for Building Florida’s Future political committee. Caesars of Las Vegas anted up $20,000. The committee has raised almost $2.25 million since inception and has spent less than $990,000 of it.

Comeback kid   With just months to go before voters decide whether she gets a second term, Deegan is bringing back a familiar name as Chief of Staff. Former Florida Blue executive Darnell Smith is back as of today, returning to the same role he had two years ago, after he replaced short-timer Pat McCollough. Smith was also co-chair of her transition team in 2023. Darnell Smith returns to Jacksonville City Hall for another stint as Chief of Staff. “Darnell is the rare type of leader who brings decades of executive experience combined with genuine humility and an unending desire to help people,” said Deegan. “Jacksonville is a city on the rise, and we’ll only climb higher with Darnell returning to lead our talented team.” The move fills a vacancy in the top level of the administration created when the city and former Chief Administrative Officer Karen Bowling parted ways last year. Then Chief of Staff Mike Weinstein assumed both roles, concentrating an unusual amount of org chart power into one person. But with Smith having left the insurance company for good, the two jobs have returned to their traditional split. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue serving our city and building on the momentum that Mayor Deegan has created,” said Smith. “It’s an honor to be part of a team that is working to make Jacksonville safer, healthier, and more affordable for everyone.”

JTA busing in leader   The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) has voted to move forward by appointing an interim CEO to fill the position until a permanent candidate is found. Nat Ford formally announced in July that he’ll be stepping down as JTA CEO. He’s moving on to the CEO post at the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system in Texas. He’ll formally leave the First Coast for Dallas in October. Nat Ford is headed to Dallas as JTA begins searching for interim leadership. A JTA news release said the JTA Board of Directors reviewed the procedures for finding an interim CEO. The Board made it clear they’ll only consider internal candidates from within the transit organization for the temporary job, which will be further explored at their scheduled Aug. 26 meeting. Even before that meeting, the JTA statement said the Board would consider candidates and would likely conduct interviews. The panel may make the final decision for an interim CEO at that Aug. 26 session. Ford at times had a tumultuous tenure at the JTA. He took criticism for promoting an expensive autonomous vehicle program. A Jacksonville City Council liaison has already indicated the city may want to scrap that initiative. At one point, Ford was blamed for a $19 million budget shortfall at the JTA. In the past year, the JTA voted to cut pay for top executives and modified its operating budget plan, reducing expenses by $14.2 million.

Poll props   Elections poll workers are getting their due from the Jacksonville City Council. Duval County Supervisor of Elections Holland acknowledged this week that the Council formally recognized National Poll Workers Recruitment Day on Tuesday and acknowledged about 2,000 people who work at election polling places in the county. A Council resolution marked Aug. 11 as the special day. Jerry Holland gives Duval County poll workers their due ahead of Election Day. The measure “acknowledges the indispensable role poll workers play in safeguarding the voting process and supporting the mission of the Supervisor of Elections to conduct transparent, secure and accessible elections. Poll workers serve as frontline guardians of democracy, setting up polling places, greeting voters, verifying registrations, issuing ballots and assisting voters throughout early voting and Election Day,” a Holland news release said. The national day was established in 2020 by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. It was designed to encourage civic activity and to get more residents in local communities to get involved in election activities as poll workers who oversee voting locations. Duval County marked its sixth commemoration of the day. A formal presentation will be made to honor poll workers at the Sept. 8 Jacksonville City Council meeting.

Roster ready   The Jaguars open the 2026 preseason on Saturday in New Orleans against the Saints (4 p.m. ET, WFOX). What should we expect from the Jaguars’ first chance to work against an opponent? For starters, not the starters. Head coach Liam Coen said this week that the starters will not play against the Saints, and if last season was any indication, we may not see the starters much at all in preseason games. The Jaguars’ preseason opener puts young players and new faces in the spotlight. Image via Florida Times-Union. The Jaguars and Saints are scheduled to work together in a joint practice on Thursday, when the regular starters are expected to get plenty of work. Joint practices have become more favored by NFL coaches, especially for established starters. Coen called the joint practice a “controlled setting.” Quarterback Trevor Lawrence is likely to be limited in all the preseason games as he enters the second NFL season in Coen’s system. So, on Saturday, expect to see Carter Bradley, the son of former Jaguars’ head coach Gus Bradley, get most of the snaps. Backup quarterbacks Nick Mullens and Joey Aguilar are also on the roster. The Jaguars released the initial depth chart of the preseason on Tuesday, and the headline was that Anton Harrison, a starter at right tackle since being drafted in 2023, is listed as the starting left tackle, where he has been working during training camp. When preseason (and sometimes, regular season) depth charts are released, and a starting spot is still up for grabs, a team will list this player OR that player as the starter. There are two “ORs” on the depth chart. At running back, Bhayshul Tuten and free agent signee Chris Rodriguez are listed as starters. At linebacker, former Gator Ventrell Miller and Branson Combs are listed as competing for the starting job. It’s unclear whether any of the co-starters will play on Saturday. So, expect to see young players and newcomers get the bulk of the work against the Saints. That could include rookies like tight ends Nate Boerkircher and Tanner Koziol. At defensive tackle, Albert Regis has been a pleasant surprise in camp. He could get some snaps as well. Jaguars fans may want to keep a roster handy, as a variety of new faces are expected to get most of the playing time on Saturday. The Jaguars’ final two preseason games are scheduled to be played at EverBank Stadium, which will hold a reduced capacity of 42,507, about 62% of normal capacity, as work continues on the “Stadium of the Future.” The Jaguars host the Carolina Panthers on Aug. 21 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Aug. 28. The regular season opens on Sept. 13 with the Jaguars hosting the Cleveland Browns. The Jaguars will play six home games at EverBank Stadium this season, with two “home” games scheduled for London. Next season, home games will be played in Orlando, and then the Jaguars plan to move into the new stadium for the 2028 season.

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