Alvin Brown campaign responds to first poll of Jax runoff voters

As we’ve reported all day, the big news out of the Jacksonville mayoral race is the poll that we commissioned Wednesday concerning the runoff elections for mayor and sheriff. It’s the first poll to address the new reality of the two top-of-the-ticket races.

The automated phone poll of 1,076 likely voters from St. Pete Polls, with a 3 percent margin of error, shows a tight mayoral race with incumbent Democrat Alvin Brown slightly ahead of Republican Lenny Curry, 49.4 percent to 46.1 percent. There already is a slight trend toward Curry from the Bill Bishop supporters in Tuesday’s election — and the poll was taken before the pension deal was spiked Wednesday night by the Jacksonville City Council.

Naturally, both campaigns have reactions. From the Brown camp, Deputy Campaign Manager Fabien Levy responded, contrasting the positive campaign the incumbent has run with the “negative campaign” of Curry.

“Mayor Brown has run every race as an underdog and this election will be no different. I’ll let others play political pundit since we’re focused on fighting for every vote — knocking on every door and making every phone call,” Levy wrote in an email.

“While political party boss Lenny Curry continues his negative campaign that only aims to divide Jacksonville and puts politics first, Mayor Brown will continue talking about how he will continue to put Jacksonville first. Voters are overwhelmingly supporting Mayor Brown’s re-election because he is the only one who will continue to move this city forward and take Jacksonville to the next level,” Levy wrote.

Earlier Thursday, we heard from Brian Hughes of the Curry campaign, who said the results of the poll “looks like a tie.”

“If you told me in June we’d be tied with the Clinton machine’s favorite Floridian 7 weeks before the general election, I wouldn’t have believed you. Lenny was and remains an underdog but it’s clear the people of Jacksonville know they deserve better than Alvin’s failed tenure,” emailed Brian Hughes, on behalf of the Curry campaign.

There undoubtedly will be movement in the race: Third-place candidate Bill Bishop appears likely to endorse in a news cycle to come. As well, Gov. Rick Scott — whose name is invoked frequently in the remarks of the Democratic mayor as proof of his bipartisan bona fides — has been silent up to now about this race. An endorsement from Scott toward Curry could significantly alter the Brown campaign’s messaging, and force a shift in the polls.

Scott carried Jacksonville by more than 12 points in the November election.