A.G. Gancarski
Republican City Council member LeAnna Cumber, considering a run for Jacksonville Mayor, has reported raising $170,850 to her JAX First political committee in November.
The committee, through three months, has raised $1,490,638, with $121,769 of that spent so far. The support came from around the country, as has been the case in previous months. Cumber and her husband, Husein Cumber, have a deep network nationwide, both in fundraising and policy circles.
Her political committee thus far has the strongest performance of any official or prospective mayoral candidate in November fundraising. Only another Republican pre-candidate comes close.
Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce CEO Daniel Davis‘ political committee, Building a Better Economy, raised $159,500 last month, $158,000 of that from local donors. The committee has about $3.15 million on hand.
Cumber’s and Davis’ strong political committee fundraising contrasts with the sluggishness of the officially filed candidates for Mayor. Republican Matt Carlucci, who held the cash on hand lead among filed candidates, withdrew from the race last week to run for re-election to his Jacksonville City Council seat.
The only Republican in the race officially continued to struggle with fundraising in November.
Jacksonville City Council member Al Ferraro raised no money to his political committee yet again. Except for interest accruals amounting to less than $10 a month, the Keep It Real Jax account has been dormant since July. Ferraro raised $328 to his campaign account. All told, he has raised roughly $165,000 for the race.
One Democrat has filed. Former newscaster Donna Deegan has raised roughly $227,000 to her Donna for Duval political committee through November, with roughly $20,000 of it new last month. The account has approximately $205,000 on hand.
Deegan filed last month as an official candidate. Her first fundraising report showed $53,475 raised for November, from 272 individual contributions. As of now, Deegan has the fundraising lead among formally filed candidates.
Independent candidates Omega Allen and Darcy Richardson are running also. Allen has run for Mayor before, finishing third in a four candidate field in 2019. She raised $200 in November, the entirety of her activity so far.
Richardson has run for offices all around the country for decades. He has yet to report financial activity for this race.
More candidates could emerge, as there is more than a year to go before the real campaigning begins. Qualifying week runs Jan. 9-13, 2023.
The First Election, which pits all qualified candidates against each other, is March 21, 2023. Assuming no one in the field gets more than 50% of the vote, the General Election is May 16, 2023.
