Al Lawson, Duval Democrats plan weekend ‘legislative session debrief’

Al Lawson. Image via A.G. Gancarski.

At the end of a consequential 2022 Legislative Session for Duval County Democrats, U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, state Sen. Audrey Gibson, and Reps. Tracie Davis and Angie Nixon plan what is billed as a “Legislative Session Debrief.”

The Saturday morning event starts at 11 a.m., in the multipurpose room at the Bradham/Brooks Library on W. Edgewood Ave. in Northwest Jacksonville.

The quartet of legislators will have plenty to discuss, including a Congressional redistricting map that wiped out what was the Minority Access 5th Congressional District, which sprawled from Central Duval all the way to Gadsden County.

That map looks impervious to challenge during the 2022 election cycle, meaning that Lawson will not be representing Duval County in Congress anymore — and if he should run again, it will be in a Republican-leaning district against established incumbent Neal Dunn.

Lawson isn’t the only outgoing legislator to be on hand Saturday.

Sen. Gibson is term-limited in 2022, and the veteran politician hasn’t shot down rumors that she could run for something else this year or next. The office of Jacksonville Mayor will be open in 2023, with Republican Lenny Curry term-limited. She theoretically could run for Congress in the new Congressional District 4, a district designed for a Republican winner that connects Democratic-performing parts of Jacksonville with heavily Republican Clay and Nassau Counties, in an apparent effort to diminish Duval’s ability to elect a member of Congress.

Intrigue surrounds the 2022 cycle for Rep. Davis also. Davis is running for Gibson’s state Senate seat, but she faces a formidable and moneyed challenger in Jacksonville City Councilman Reggie Gaffney. Gaffney is known for his collaboration with Republicans, making this Primary one of the most closely watched in the region this Summer.

Rep. Nixon, meanwhile, is simply running for re-election. But the new map puts her in House District 13, a seat that takes in new territory in Riverside and Avondale. The district is designed to elect a Democrat, so her biggest challenge would be in August if a Primary opponent ultimately qualifies for the ballot.