Will Bill Clinton campaign for Alvin Brown in Jacksonville?

Road to Daytona Tour - Jacksonville

A spokesman for the Alvin Brown campaign refused to confirm a “Playbook” report from POLITICO’s Marc Caputo that former President Bill Clinton was scheduled to appear this week at a rally supporting the Jacksonville mayor’s re-election bid.

“I have nothing for you at this time,” said Brown deputy campaign manager Fabien Levy.

Other operatives for the mayor indicated this week would include campaign events for Brown, but refused to confirm specifics.

Even if the 42nd president doesn’t appear on the First Coast this week for Brown, it’s expected that he likely will soon since Brown was a staff member in the Clinton presidential administration. Clinton came to town to support Brown in 2011 during his first run for Jacksonville mayor.

And Brown hosted Clinton at Jacksonville City Hall in 2012, remarking at the time that his former boss “has an unparalleled perspective on my priorities.”

Brown’s top opponent as he seeks to retain his seat is Lenny Curry, former chair of Florida’s Republican Party. Also in the race, but far behind Brown and Curry in fundraising, are GOP City Councilman Bill Bishop and a fourth filed candidate, Omega Allen.

Brown’s ties to Clinton run deep. He worked on the staff of the Clinton-Gore transition team, and also held various posts during the Clinton years at the Department of Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, and a stint as executive director of the White House Community Empowerment Board, among others.

The Jacksonville mayor’s race has attracted big money and major political operatives to town on both sides, none of whom are natives of the area. If Brown, as expected, brings in a big gun like former President Clinton to campaign on his behalf, it’s expected Curry will do the same, tapping heavy hitters from the GOP side of the aisle to appear on stage with him. Curry has made a point of trumpeting endorsements ranging from Texas Gov. Rick Perry to U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, and has bagged deep-pocketed North Florida donors aligned with the Bush family such as Tom Petway and Gary Chartrand.

Democratic political operative James Carville recently speculated that Brown could be a contender for a cabinet post should Hillary Clinton win the presidency in 2016. Also of note: Some of Brown’s major donors are heavyweight Democrats with ties to the Clintons, such as John Podesta and Terry McAuliffe. 

In other words, some political observers see the Jacksonville mayoral race as something of a proxy for a hypothetical Jeb vs. Hillary matchup in 2016, with Florida partisans from both camps determined to win the city’s top post.

Melissa Ross

In addition to her work writing for Florida Politics, Melissa Ross also hosts and produces WJCT’s First Coast Connect, the Jacksonville NPR/PBS station’s flagship local call-in public affairs radio program. The show has won four national awards from Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). First Coast Connect was also recognized in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 as Best Local Radio Show by Folio Weekly’s “Best Of Jax” Readers Poll and Melissa has also been recognized as Folio Weekly’s Best Local Radio Personality. As executive producer of The 904: Shadow on the Sunshine State, Melissa and WJCT received an Emmy in the “Documentary” category at the 2011 Suncoast Emmy Awards. The 904 examined Jacksonville’s status as Florida’s murder capital. During her years in broadcast television, Melissa picked up three additional Emmys for news and feature reporting. Melissa came to WJCT in 2009 with 20 years of experience in broadcasting, including stints in Cincinnati, Chicago, Orlando and Jacksonville. Married with two children, Melissa is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism/Communications. She can be reached at [email protected].



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