Jacksonville’s Don Redman has inside track for City Council return

Don Redman is running for office again.

Jacksonville loves its political comeback stories, with a rich history of recycling familiar names for different offices.

Expect another one to come to fruition later in 2020.

With Jacksonville City Council President Scott Wilson running for Duval County Clerk of Court, former Jacksonville City Councilman Don Redman is so far the only candidate filed to replace him.

The candidate has just over $6,000 on hand.

Redman, a Republican who represented the Southside Jacksonville district from 2007 to 2015, has been noted for a controversial brand of social conservatism.

As the Florida Times-Union reported, he was best known on Council for asking a Muslim to “pray to his God” at the podium during a Council meeting, and asking a lesbian at a different Council meeting if she considered herself male or female.

He ran citywide in 2019 for an at-large Council seat, getting under 20% of the vote in a three-way race against Matt Carlucci, who got over 71%.

That campaign never exactly heated up. Redman struggled with fundraising while Carlucci banked nearly $300,000.

“Carlucci’s got the money, and if he can buy the election, he’s got it made,” Redman said weeks before the voters proved him right.

Carlucci, in response, noted that if a candidate can’t “sell yourself, you have to check your gut on why you’re running.”

Previously, Redman ran in the 2016 Republican primary in House District 12, a seat won by Clay Yarborough.

Redman’s fundraising was lackluster there, too. He raised less than $30,000 in the 17-month duration of his campaign.

He garnered less 13% of the vote for a seat that encompasses his old City Council district.

Redman had been running for School Board.

If no one else in the district realizes an election is coming up, Redman may have his best chance at winning an election since his last successful run for City Council, a decade ago.