Joyce Morgan becomes first Democrat in Duval County Property Appraiser race

A veteran broadcast journalist turned member of the Jacksonville City Council is ready for her next campaign.

On Friday, Democrat Joyce Morgan joined the 2023 race for Duval County Property Appraiser. Morgan is in her second term on the City Council and is term-limited next year.

Before she ran for the City Council last decade, Morgan spent close to three decades on television, with stints in Jacksonville on WJKS and WJXT newscasts. She also had broadcast gigs in Atlanta and Macon, Georgia, as well as Dallas, Texas.

Though Morgan is the first Democrat in the field, three Republicans are already running. Two of them are politically well-known.

Danny Becton is also on the Jacksonville City Council; like Morgan, he is in his second term. The Southside Republican has raised over $211,000 thus far in the campaign.

State Rep. Jason Fischer is in this race for the second time in the 2023 cycle. Fischer had dropped a state Senate campaign to run for property appraiser before abandoning that run for a brief exploration of a run for Congress in Florida’s 4th Congressional District. He has $7,000 in his current account for the office, including donations from political committees associated with Sen. Jennifer Bradley and former state Rep. Travis Cummings.

A third Republican, Joe Day, has $100 on hand.

Current Duval County Property Appraiser Jerry Holland is running for Election Supervisor. He has not endorsed a successor.

More than two candidates in the field means there likely will be May runoff elections after the first ballot in March. Though candidates are identified by party on the ballot, Duval County municipal elections are nonpartisan with no official Republican or Democratic Primaries in the traditional sense. Only a majority win would preclude the runoff.

Qualifying for the March election runs from Jan. 9 to Jan. 13, 2023, meaning more candidates could materialize between now and then.

Morgan is one of three former news reporters running for office in Jacksonville.

Democrat Donna Deegan of First Coast News fame is running for Mayor, while Deegan’s former FCN colleague Ken Amaro is running as a Republican for Morgan’s current position on the Council.