Melissa Ross, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Melissa RossApril 8, 2015

For the hundreds of thousands of visitors flocking this week to Jacksonville’s One Spark, the five-day crowdfunding festival is a glorious love-in, a happening, a blissful paean to the millennial generation’s long-awaited 21st century triumph over the city’s stodgy Old Guard. One Spark is the Change They Have Been Waiting For. Closed streets, open containers, live […]

Melissa RossApril 7, 2015

A certain city in Texas is known by three simple words: “Keep Austin Weird.” Chicago is the Second City. New Orleans, post-Katrina, is still music and fun and good times. Even little ol’ Chattanooga, Tennessee is making strides in creating a definable brand. In other words, cities across the country know the value of branding (just as […]

Melissa RossApril 6, 2015

It’s perhaps a fitting metaphor for the world’s largest crowdfunding festival. Just hours before Tuesday’s opening ceremony begins for One Spark in downtown Jacksonville, a giant shark will splash its way into the fountain at Hemming Park. For the third year in a row, the Enlivened Spaces class at UNF has created a massive sculpture in […]

Melissa RossApril 2, 2015

Now that Jacksonville University is in the running to host a 2016 presidential debate, the jockeying is underway to make sure the leafy riverside campus gets its shot on national TV. It would be the second time in recent memory that a Jacksonville campus played host to a debate during a presidential election year. The […]

Melissa RossApril 1, 2015

Calling himself the most experienced candidate in the race, Republican Mike Williams says the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office “needs to do more” to reach out to communities in Jacksonville that don’t trust or cooperate with the police. Williams came in second in the March 24 First Election to Democrat Ken Jefferson, the agency’s former PIO. He’s […]

Melissa RossApril 1, 2015

With just about six weeks left until the May 19th runoff election in Jacksonville, the endorsements and announcements are starting to snowball. The latest: Senator Bill Nelson will appear at downtown Hemming Plaza this afternoon in front of Jacksonville City Hall to endorse Mayor Alvin Brown for re-election. A press release says Nelson will “strongly […]

Melissa RossMarch 31, 2015

Taking a veiled swipe at the current JSO leadership, Ken Jefferson says that if he’s elected sheriff he won’t “govern from behind the desk.” “I want to re-introduce the Police Department back to the community,” said Jefferson, the Democratic candidate in the race to replace outgoing Sheriff John Rutherford. “What I’m finding out from […]

Melissa RossMarch 31, 2015

Taking a veiled swipe at the current JSO leadership, Ken Jefferson says that if he’s elected sheriff he won’t “govern from behind the desk.” “I want to re-introduce the Police Department back to the community,” said Jefferson, the Democratic candidate in the race to replace outgoing Sheriff John Rutherford. “What I’m finding out from […]

Melissa RossMarch 30, 2015

The man hoping to unseat State Attorney Angela Corey says he’s doing it to restore public confidence in the leadership of Florida’s Fourth Circuit. “Prosecutors have to work in the court of public opinion as well as the courtroom,” says challenger Wes White. “And right now the state attorney’s office has failed largely in the […]

Melissa RossMarch 30, 2015

The man hoping to unseat State Attorney Angela Corey says he’s doing it to restore public confidence in the leadership of Florida’s Fourth Circuit. “Prosecutors have to work in the court of public opinion as well as the courtroom,” says challenger Wes White. “And right now the state attorney’s office has failed largely in the […]

Melissa Ross
Uloma Ekpete Kama. Image via campaign site.

How One Spark lays bare Florida’s political divide

One Spark: Jacksonville’s big branding opportunity

Swimming with sharks: Politicians to press flesh at One Spark

JU to make case to host a 2016 presidential debate

Mike Williams: I have the track record to fight crime

Bill Nelson to endorse Alvin Brown today

Ken Jefferson: No more “drive-by cops” in Jax if elected

Ken Jefferson: No more "drive-by cops" in Jax if elected

Wes White: Angela Corey has "failed" in the court of public opinion

Wes White: Angela Corey has “failed” in the court of public opinion