Next Jacksonville Mayor? Donna Deegan stokes Duval Dems’ hopes with new political committee

Deegan is the mayoral frontrunner, if her poll is right.

Duval County Democrats didn’t run a mayoral candidate in Jacksonville in 2019, but history won’t repeat in 2023.

The latest indication that the plurality party will actually have a standard-bearer: a new political committee on the state level, “Donna for Duval.”

The account, according to its namesake, Donna Deegan, will help “lead Jacksonville in a new direction.”

“As a lifelong Jacksonville citizen who deeply loves our community, I promised to stay involved and remain focused on helping build the high quality of life that every resident deserves. Donna for Duval has been launched to help lead Jacksonville in a new direction — one in which we honor the commitments of the past and realize the full potential of the future,” Deegan told Florida Politics Wednesday.

The Deegan account launched earlier this month, which means we won’t see its first fundraising report until early August. That document will be eagerly anticipated in certain circles.

Deegan has been widely linked to a run for Jacksonville Mayor, but has stopped short of declaring a formal candidacy.

The new committee account comes at a time when the race for Mayor seems to be in flux, with two filed Republican candidates trailing a pre-candidate who, like Deegan, has a political committee but has not filed officially.

We still await June fundraising totals, but two GOP Jacksonville City Council members running have underperformed so far.

Matt Carlucci is still the leading fundraiser among the official candidates, but he had his worst month of fundraising in May for his campaign account since he entered the race. The at-large Republican netted roughly $6,000 in hard money. He has roughly $223,000 on hand, with June reports due by Saturday.

Carlucci’s Next Generation Jax political committee, a state-level campaign account, raised just over $52,000 in May and has roughly $540,000 as of that tally

Al Ferraro raised just over $9,000 for the second straight month in May and has a little more than $40,000 on hand. His Keep It Real Jax political committee, on the local level, has an additional $110,000.

Deegan was a prodigious fundraiser in her 2020 bid for Congress. On the Republican side, another strong fundraiser awaits. Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce CEO Daniel Davis raised nearly $202,000 in May for his Building a Better Economy political committee. The account now has more than $2.25 million on hand. Davis, like Deegan, is coy about filing.

We will update as June totals become available.