A.G. Gancarski
The first of three televised debates between Jacksonville sheriff candidates Ken Jefferson and Mike Williams is at 7 p.m. Tuesday at First Coast News in downtown Jacksonville. As Florida Politics has reported, inside baseball has been the game at recent forums when the candidates have alluded to situations and scandals the average viewer would need footnotes to discern.
The debate is slated to go half an hour, which probably won’t provide much time for the candidates to go especially deep. Still, some topics bear monitoring:
•Will Williams mention Nelson Cuba by name? He has alluded in forums to the Allied Veterans scandal that brought down the Fraternal Order of Police head, but has yet to mention Cuba by name.
•How explicitly will Jefferson tie Williams to John Rutherford? As the campaign has progressed, the Rutherford-endorsed Williams has differentiated himself in messaging and presentation from the outgoing sheriff.
•Much has been made of financial and legal troubles in each candidate’s past by parties outside the official campaign apparatuses. Will these be explicitly messaged?
Coming into the homestretch, the fundraising and cash-on-hand disparity between Williams and Jefferson has only grown. Williams has raised a little more than half a million dollars; Jefferson is just south of $240,000 raised. Williams has more than $111,000 cash available, according to the most recent reports; Jefferson, meanwhile, only has about $35,ooo available.
That suggests that the candidate with the most to gain from scoring decisive wins during this and the next two debates would be Jefferson.
At the invitation of First Coast News, I will be in the studio to tweet for the debate. Look for a detailed recap of the debate on FloridaPolitics.com later Tuesday evening.
