Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Melissa RossSeptember 21, 2015

Opposition to Florida’s campus carry bill is growing on the state’s college campuses, says one spokesman for Sunshine State academia. “Campuses are exponentially safer places than virtually any other public space, other than municipal and state buildings in which concealed weapons are strictly banned,” said John White, president of the University of North Florida chapter […]

Melissa RossAugust 25, 2015

One of the state’s leading pollsters says Republican legislators may live to regret seeing Florida’s redistricting mess turned over to the courts. “There is absolute risk,” says Mike Binder, University of North Florida political science professor and lead pollster at the school’s Public Opinion Research Laboratory. “While the Senate is willing to compromise, the House is […]

Melissa RossJune 18, 2015

With some calling the killings “domestic terrorism,” and others sharply disagreeing, callers to WJCT’s First Coast Connect were sharply divided in reactions to Wednesday’s mass church shooting in Charleston, S.C., that left nine people dead. “It is fair to call it domestic terrorism,” said JeffriAnne Wilder, professor of sociology at the University of North Florida. Wilder […]

Melissa RossJune 16, 2015

Calling the 2016 battleground in Florida “utterly fascinating,” University of North Florida’s Matt Corrigan says Jeb Bush‘s official entry into the presidential race will put to the test Bush’s gamble that he can “lose the primary to win the general.” “Jeb will talk about his policy differences with the base on immigration and Common Core,” […]

Melissa RossJune 5, 2015

Even though the election isn’t until November 2016, the prognosticating around North Florida is already well underway as State Attorney Angela Corey files for a third term representing Clay, Duval and Nassau counties in the state’s 4th Circuit. The two questions political observers have are these: Can the other filed candidate, former Assistant State Attorney Wes White, […]

Melissa RossMay 19, 2015

In the nationally watched race for Jacksonville mayor, Alvin Brown lost to Lenny Curry for three main reasons, says UNF political science professor Matt Corrigan. Here are his takeaways: Campaign Data and Discipline “First, Brown was up against a determined opponent who ran a well-financed, data-driven, targeted campaign,” says Corrigan. “The Brown camp got started late […]

Melissa RossMay 14, 2015

The Jacksonville political scene is being treated to Endorsapalooza in the final days before the city’s runoff election on Tuesday, as a slew of bold-faced names take sides in the Brown/Curry slugfest. And the two men at the top of the ticket are hunting big game in the endorsement stakes. Lenny Curry has bagged former […]

Melissa RossApril 27, 2015

Calls from the Jacksonville faith community to impose a 9 p.m. curfew in the city’s high-crime areas are getting pushback from activists on the ground in the Northwest quadrant. “In studies of dozens of U.S. cities, our research shows overall, youth curfews have had ‘no effect’ … in other words they just don’t work!” writes […]

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 […]

Tag: UNF

Academic opponents to Florida campus carry bill speak out

UNF pollster on redistricting: “absolute risk” for GOP leadership

Argument follows labeling of Charleston church slayings “domestic terrorism”

Matt Corrigan: Jeb Bush is “really gonna have to earn it”

Angela Corey’s re-election campaign takes shape

Matt Corrigan’s first draft on why Alvin Brown lost

Endorsements may loom large in tight Jax mayoral race

Curfew controversy latest flap in Jax public safety concerns

Swimming with sharks: Politicians to press flesh at One Spark

JU to make case to host a 2016 presidential debate