A.G. Gancarski
With early voting poised to wrap up Sunday, the three most viable Jacksonville mayoral campaigns — those of Republican challengers Bill Bishop and Lenny Curry, as well as that of the Democratic incumbent, Mayor Alvin Brown — are making a final push for votes ahead of Tuesday’s election.
Bishop supporters are canvassing this weekend, as are Curry backers, who “will be out in full force walking doors, waving signs, and making calls, to ensure everyone knows about our cause,” according to a Curry campaign email.
Meanwhile, Brown’s operation also is in overdrive. Saturday afternoon found him out on Soutel Drive at Lonnie Miller Park in Northwest Jacksonville, where the Katz Downstairs are also performing.
Sunday will be the mayor’s big event with a rally scheduled at Gateway Mall on the Northside at 2 p.m. It will include three heavy hitters from the Congressional Black Caucus: Reps. Corrine Brown, Sheila Jackson-Lee and Jim Clyburn. Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson will also appear.
Brown has donated to Clyburn and Representative Brown’s campaigns in the past.
Brian Hughes, on behalf of the Curry campaign, said the speaker selection runs counter to the mayor calling himself this week a “conservative Democrat.“
“Alvin Brown says one thing and does another every day,” Hughes wrote. “While he claims to be bipartisan, today he announced that 4 of the nation’s most liberal public figures are making a push for him. Three of them are Members of Congress who all have F grades from the National Taxpayers Union because, like Alvin Brown, they’ve had more debt and higher taxes and fees as part of their agenda.”
We intend to be at the Gateway Mall rally, which should indicate how well the mayor’s early voting operation has been. As of now there have been about 2,300 more Democrats than Republicans who voted early.
