A.G. Gancarski
Nineteen Jacksonville City Council seats are up for election next year, with a map in flux after a federal judge struck down the body’s redistricting map.
In news first reported by The Tributary, Judge Marcia Morales Howard ruled that the map, which largely looked like those in previous years, promulgated an “unnecessary racial segregation.”
The ruling comes just three months before qualifying for the 2023 ballot. It will not affect the two districts up for Special Election in November. The new map, per the Tributary, is due from the city by Nov. 8 of this year.
The map was controversial with those paying attention, and strenuously defended by Council members in committee meetings ahead of the ratification.
Rules Chair Brenda Priestly Jackson addressed Districts 7 through 10 and criticisms about the Council arbitrarily increasing “the percentage of African Americans in those districts,” which is at least 57% in all four districts.
“When the issue was raised in late September or October relative to whether African Americans were being packed, I was surprised and shocked by the question,” she said in March.
Republican Randy DeFoor sought and got assurances from a city lawyer that the map was defensible in lawsuits to come challenging the map.
“I think it was open, I think was transparent,” said Republican Council President Sam Newby, who likewise believes this product would stand up in court.
Republican Aaron Bowman got city planning director Bill Killingsworth to say that the decision to protect incumbents didn’t play into maps.
“It was a moot point,” Bowman said. “Didn’t change anything.”
“I thought the whole process was excellent,” observed Danny Becton, a Republican running for Duval County Property Appraiser.
Though Duval County has a Democratic plurality, Republicans have had a supermajority on the City Council, in no small part due to the packing of Democratic voters in minority-access districts north and west of the St. Johns River.
The strongest advocates for packed districts were Democratic political veterans.
Reggie Gaffney balked at any moves that would change current District 7 from being a district that would have voted 71-27% for Joe Biden over Donald Trump. His son is running in November’s Special Election.
Democrat Ju’Coby Pittman, who was appointed to the Council by Republican then-Gov. Rick Scott (then elected the next year) balked likewise at adding Baldwin to District 8.
Now it’s back to the drawing board with a new mandate from a federal judge to draw a map during campaign season for November elections.
One comment
less representation for blacks
October 12, 2022 at 8:55 pm
this could actually lead to less representation for blacks, if more whites are included in the black districts, we will see
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