JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Mayor-elect Donna Deegan’s historic victory in Duval County this week is sparking some hope for Florida Democrats hoping to restore Florida’s purple status after a landslide defeat across the state in 2022.
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But political pundits on both sides of the aisle are urging caution when reading the race and what it means for the state of play in Florida politics overall.
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Deegan scored a Democratic victory in a county won by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis by nearly 12 points just seven months earlier.
“I told you all that we could do this,” the Florida Democratic Party chairman said in a video posted on Twitter on Wednesday.
After heavy statewide losses in 2022, the Florida Democratic Party is already riding the momentum of Deegan’s victory in hopes of similar victories in 2024.
“As long as we work hard, that our candidates are talking about issues that affect the people of our state, we can win our state up and down the ballot,” Fried continued in the video.
Jacksonville-raised Democratic strategist Steve Schale said Duval’s results definitely produced some important takeaways for Florida Democrats.
“The lesson for Democrats is that candidates really matter, races really matter, and you can persuade Republicans and independents to vote for a good Democrat,” Schale said.
On the Republican side, Florida GOP chairman Evan Power argued that Duval’s politics have rarely reflected the state as a whole.
“Jacksonville has never been the model of what the state of Florida looks like. If you look, how Jacksonville voted has not been how the president turned out in Florida,” Power said.
Schale agreed on one point: Every election is different, and the results of one do not guarantee the results of another.
“Just as my Republican friends, I think, overread the 2022 results in Duval County, my Democratic friends should take into account the fact that there were very specific things at play in Jacksonville that worked in Donna’s favor.” , Schale said.
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Whether or not this week’s election represents a boost for the Florida Democratic Party at the state level, at least for Jacksonville, it represents the first successful mayoral bid by a Democratic candidate since Alvin Brown in 2011 .
