A.G. Gancarski
The Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce‘s political arm, JAXBIZ, endorsed almost a full slate of candidates in the Jacksonville First Election, and the results were mostly (though not uniformly) positive, with seven candidates winning outright and eight advancing to the May 19 runoff election.
The email that the group sent out highlights Mayoral Candidate Lenny Curry and Sheriff hopeful Mike Williams advancing as “major developments.”
“It’s important to look at the raw numbers in these races and really understand the politics behind them,” said Mike Hightower, chair of the JAXBIZ Board of Directors. “When you have six and seven candidates in a race, the goal is to get the top two and into the runoff. Last night’s results put Lenny Curry, Mike Williams and several JAXBIZ endorsed candidates in prime positions to win in May.”
The email went on to mention the importance of the outright wins of Aaron Bowman, senior vice president of business development for JAXUSA Partnership, and Garrett Dennis, director of community outreach at the Duval County Supervisor of Elections. Hightower described them as “highly-qualified leaders we need on the City Council,” and the group invested “significant resources” into their campaigns.
The Council has 10 JAXBIZ candidates that were elected on Tuesday: three without opposition (Lori Boyer, Danny Becton, and Bill Gulliford) as well as seven who won outright against competition (Bowman and Dennis, along with Matt Schellenberg, Reggie Brown, Doyle Carter, Jim Love, and Greg Anderson). Six more candidates face runoffs, but what is certain is that there will be a JAXBIZ majority on Council.
One surprising setback for the JAXBIZ slate was in At Large Group 5, where Michelle Tappouni did not make the runoff; she was narrowly bested by Sam Newby, a socially conservative Republican, who will be running against Democrat Ju’Coby Pittman.
I asked Matt Galnor, VP of Public Affairs for the Chamber, about Tappouni’s underperformance.
“Any time you endorse a candidate you feel is the best candidate in the race, it’s disappointing when they don’t win. We’ll reassess that race, along with the District 1 seat we didn’t endorse in for the first election, and determine where to go from here. You aren’t ever going to win them all, but it’s important to remember that 90 percent of the JAXBIZ-endorsed candidates either won or advanced to a runoff,” Galnor wrote in an email.
