A.G. Gancarski
Former Jacksonville Mayoral candidate Bill Bishop is back in the game — running to serve on the City Council on which he served two terms.
WJCT was first to report this.
Bishop, a Republican, is running to replace John Crescimbeni, who is termed out in At Large Group 2. His only filed opponent, Republican Ron Salem, has over $100,000 banked.
Back in February 2016, Bishop told Florida Politics he was looking at this race.
Bishop, who ran a strong third in the March mayoral First Election in 2015, crossed party lines and endorsed Alvin Brown toward the end of the runoff, campaigning with Brown in high-visibility visits to the Riverside area, where Bishop won some precincts.
This happened after Bishop reportedly told Curry that Brown’s re-election would lead to a “lost decade” in Jacksonville and after Bishop supporters jumped the gun by announcing that they backed Alvin Brown in an email that seemed to convey Bishop’s endorsement to Brown — which they clarified soon after sending.
The ill will between the Bishop and Curry camps continued through the election, with Bishop (who had previously done a press conference saying that he was running for mayor in 2019), taking fire from the GOP establishment throughout the election.
Since Curry’s election, Bishop has had business in front of City Council, and the dynamic has been friendly with his former colleagues, suggesting that regarding the campaign, there may be momentum in City Hall to let bygones be bygones.
This momentum doesn’t run to Curry’s political team: Tim Baker and Brian Hughes are on Salem’s campaign, and they will embrace another shot at Bishop.
