Lenny Curry, Anna Brosche race tops crowded Jacksonville ballot

Anna Brosche

Jacksonville’s March ballot promises the most pitched and invective-laden campaign in recent memory.

Defending his title with nearly three million dollars at his disposal: incumbent mayor Lenny Curry.

And his primary challenger, who telegraphed a run ahead of Friday’s qualifying deadline, City Councilwoman Anna Brosche (who filed Friday).

The goal is simple for Brosche and less heralded members of the field: keep Curry under 50 percent in March and force a runoff in May.

On Friday morning, Brosche arrived at the Duval Supervisor of Elections to file paperwork.

Her remarks were brief on location, a prelude to remarks at a supporter event in the afternoon.

Brosche struck a combative tone in her first campaign speech of the cycle.

“I believe Jacksonville can do better and I’m the one who can take us there,” Brosche said.

“Screaming and personal attacks must stop,” Brosche said, vowing to end the “Curry crime wave.”

“This campaign is about giving the citizens of Jacksonville your city back. It’s about standing up to bullies and cronyism and having a mayor that works for us, not the other way around,” said Brosche. “We must return to an era of good government, civility, and working together for our collective betterment.”

Brosche then held a gaggle that ran just south of five minutes. We asked her about an endorsement of Curry from Council colleagues Aaron BowmanLori BoyerBill Gulliford, Sam Newby, and Tommy Hazouri.

Describing Brosche’s campaign as her “latest example of leadership failure” after a Council Presidency with an “almost completely unrealized” agenda,” the bi-partisan group lauded Curry for leading on pension, job creation, economic development, and public safety.

Florida Politics asked Brosche about these endorsements.

“I’m proud of my presidency and the things that we accomplished,” Brosche said.

When asked what the greatest accomplishment of her presidency was, Brosche moved to the next question.

Expect further iterations of those talking points in the weeks ahead.

Brosche, in challenging Curry, will face opposition from the Jacksonville business establishment, public safety unions, and trade groups: many of which supported her in her run for City Council in 2015.

Curry’s political committee has already spotlighted positions Brosche has taken.

Among the hits: that Brosche voted to get rid of term limits, that she voted to raise her own pay, and that she opposed hurricane relief funds for Northwest Jacksonville.

Curry has manufactured consent like no other mayor, often pushing major reforms through with (at most) a scattered no vote from the City Council. Among examples: the Kids Hope Alliance, a comprehensive reform of children’s programs; radical changes to the composition of boards and commissions; pension reform, which included ending entry to cost-prohibitive defined benefit plans for new hires.

Expect that many of Brosche’s Council colleagues, including Democrats like Hazouri, will endorse Curry at a time of the mayor’s choosing.

Jacksonville has seen cakewalk re-elections before: consider Curry’s Republican predecessors John Delaney and John Peyton as examples of relatively recent vintage.

However, the bet Brosche is making is that Curry can be beaten, with women bristling against the masculine presentation of the Mayor’s Office, which some have likened to a boys’ club.

It’s personal between Curry and Brosche. And will stay there.

Brosche has alleged that an “unhealthy dynamic” has existed between the Mayor’s Office and them, with Dennis contending that he got a concealed weapons permit in an abundance of caution last year.

The last three and a half years have been prologue to the next two months. That much is clear.

Brosche and Curry will face other candidates on the ballot, including former Atlantic Beach Commissioner Jimmy Hill.

Hill is running as a “principled patriot.” He claims the Curry administration cancelled a boat show he ran, and that drove him into personal bankruptcy.

Former 2015 mayoral candidate Omega Allen is running again, saying that athough Lenny Curry was an “improvement” over Alvin Brown in some ways, that said improvement wasn’t enough.

She finished fourth in a four-way field four years ago.

The most interesting returning candidate is running for City Council: Katrina Brown.

Though under federal indictment and suspended from Council pending resolution of fraud charges, Brown believes that she is “innocent until proven guilty,” and that voters will agree.

Also running again for Council: Garrett Dennis.

The Democrat, essentially isolated on Council now, hopes to be Council President down the road.

If his ally Anna Brosche becomes Mayor, that’s more likely than if Curry prevails.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at AG@FloridaPolitics.com or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


6 comments

  • Dan

    January 11, 2019 at 11:50 am

    Please stop referring to Mayor Curry as a CPA. His license lapsed in 2011.

    • Frankie

      January 11, 2019 at 12:35 pm

      All those one issue (confederate monument removal) voters will be elated.

      I see ya Seibert!

  • Seber Newsome III

    January 11, 2019 at 3:35 pm

    My name is Seber, Frankie M. Brosche is a joke and people know it. People will remember her attempt to remove the Confederate. Veterans Monuments from public property, believe me. People will remember her trying to return the 2.75 million dollars, from the UAE, the majority of which is going to help the Ken Knight Neighborhood, in a majority black district. The Phillipino community which is Catholic, will remember her supporting the HRO ordinance. She was. a terrible city council president. I heard a rumor, so I am not saying this is true, that George Soros a well known SOCIALIST IS BANKROLLING HER CAMPAIGN. Something else to think about.

  • Toni Turner

    January 11, 2019 at 6:26 pm

    I love the fact she is a Democrat, but if the negative cartoon commercials are true she is NOT who I want to
    represent Jacksonville or any city or office… Seems greedy.

  • Seber Newsome III

    January 11, 2019 at 6:48 pm

    She is a Republican. Brosche will defeated soundly in the three way race between Curry, Hill and herself. Then she will no longer be on the city council.

  • D Camp

    January 13, 2019 at 5:56 pm

    Looking for some true NON PARTISAN wins this go around because as it stands right now; all of -Jacksonville’s non-partisan offices are held by republicans and that’s NOT non-partisan at all!

    Would personally LOVE to see ANNA BROSCHE take the Mayor’s race; her honest, transparent ethics are what the people of Jacksonville want; her participation in helping to polarize the behind the scenes potential attempts to sell the JEA proved who she is; she is; she watches out for the citizens of Jacksonville! She would be a true NON PARTISAN leader for the City of Jacksonville!

Comments are closed.


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