Cynthia Garris made history when she was elected in 2022 as the first Black woman to serve as a city commissioner. She\u2019ll make history again when she is sworn in Dec. 7 as the city\u2019s first Black mayor.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a race that would have been on voters\u2019 ballots during this year\u2019s election but has already been decided \u2014 Garris was the only candidate at the candidate qualification deadline.<\/p>\n
Speaking with Jacksonville Today, Garris reflected on her wide-ranging career, her roots in the area and her thoughts on being the city\u2019s new mayor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Above all, Garris credits her faith for her career and electoral success.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really not about me,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s about being selected to be that individual that God has prepared me for such a time as this.\u201d<\/p>\n
From city commissioner to madam mayor<\/p>\n
Cynthia Garris first ran for public office in 2000. At the time, she had moved back to St. Augustine, the city where she was born, and was working for the Clerk of Court\u2019s Office. While working there, Garris worked in nearly every department she could, she says.<\/p>\n
But there were policies Garris wanted to see changed at the office.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if you don\u2019t like something, then change it,\u201d she says. \u201cSo I ran for office.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her bid for the clerk of court was unsuccessful, as was her first run for St. Augustine City Commission<\/a> in 2002.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until 20 years later, after Garris had retired from a 13-year career with the city of St. Augustine, that she secured a seat on the commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n Garris believes her time working across multiple city departments, including as a parking attendant, a custodian and the facilities coordinator, helped her better understand the ins and outs of St. Augustine.<\/p>\n Similarly, Garris says her four years as a city commissioner helped her better understand what the mayor\u2019s responsibilities are.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to know how the commission operates,\u201d Garris says. \u201cI wanted to see how they combine the information, because knowledge is power, and when you know how everything operates, then you can function better than guessing at different things, so I\u2019ve learned a lot in the four years.\u201d<\/p>\n So she made the decision to run for mayor, but not without some convincing. When a close personal friend suggested Garris run for mayor, she says she questioned him.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018Because if you don\u2019t run, we might never have a person of color in that seat,\u2019\u201d Garris remembers.\u00a0<\/p>\n She doesn\u2019t take it lightly that she will be the first Black person to hold the office of mayor in a city once described by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.<\/a> as \u201cthe most lawless community in which we have ever worked.\u201d<\/p>\n