A.G. Gancarski
Jacksonville Sheriff’s candidate Ken Jefferson plans a “major announcement” at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Cleveland Arms apartment complex, a news release from his campaign said Wednesday. Expectations are it’s an endorsement of considerable magnitude.
Jefferson has already been to Cleveland Arms once this week, in the wake of the police-involved shooting of Devanta Jones on Sunday. Jones was shot multiple times and there have been protests across the street from the Northside Section 8 apartment complex every day since. Protesters have a list of ambitious demands, including a federal investigation of police-involved shootings by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. Their accounting of events sharply differs from that of the JSO, another point of contention. Jones is still recovering.
Jefferson previously was a Federal Program Coordinator in charge of the Drug Education for Youth (DEFY) Program, which targeted at-risk youth. He has pledged to reduce violent crime by 25 percent during his first year in office, a plan which his Republican opponent, Mike Williams, deemed to be unrealistic Wednesday during an interview with Melissa Ross on her WJCT-FM radio program.
According to a poll commissioned by Florida Politics a few days ago, Jefferson leads Williams by 8 points among likely Duval County voters. Jefferson finished first in this past Tuesday’s runoff by a 15 point margin.
