{"id":416940,"date":"2026-10-02T17:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T17:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/416940\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T17:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T17:20:09","slug":"state-rep-wyman-duggan-announces-campaign-for-jacksonville-mayor-takes-aim-at-jta-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/416940\/","title":{"rendered":"State Rep. Wyman Duggan announces campaign for Jacksonville mayor, takes aim at JTA issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 State Rep. Wyman Duggan officially launched his campaign for Jacksonville mayor Friday, promising conservative leadership focused on controlling city spending, improving basic services and investing in neighborhoods outside of downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Wyman Duggan and I\u2019m running for mayor of Jacksonville,\u201d Duggan said.<\/p>\n

Duggan, a Republican who is term-limited in the Florida House, said he decided to run after hearing concerns from residents about city spending, government accountability and a lack of attention to Jacksonville\u2019s neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I talk to people across this city, I hear the same thing over and over again: They love Jacksonville. They believe in Jacksonville. But too often they don\u2019t feel like City Hall is working for them,\u201d Duggan said.<\/p>\n

Duggan criticized the city\u2019s handling of transportation, including the Jacksonville Transportation Authority\u2019s plans for autonomous shuttles and changes to Skyway and bus service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cJacksonville did not need an expensive urban science fair project while workers are trying to get to their jobs and seniors are trying to get to the doctor,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is not a transit problem. That is a leadership problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Duggan highlighted recent budget issues and scrutiny of JTA this week, calling it \u201cDonna Deegan\u2019s JTA,\u201d the mayor\u2019s office responded that JTA is a regional transportation agency and that JTA\u2019s staff is made up of state employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disconcerting that an eight-year member of the state legislature and current Speaker of the House is either unaware of the structure or intentionally misleading the public,\u201d the mayor\u2019s office said in a statement. <\/p>\n

Duggan said his first priorities as mayor would include reviewing the city budget, improving coordination among Jacksonville\u2019s independent authorities and addressing what he called a breakdown in consolidated government.<\/p>\n

He said the city\u2019s budget has grown by roughly $500 million over the past four years. Duggan said he would review $300 million in potentially wasteful spending identified by the city\u2019s chief financial officer.<\/p>\n

He also said he wants to examine fees on Jacksonville residents\u2019 JEA bills and other costs, saying relief should be available to renters, homeowners, businesses and nonprofits.<\/p>\n

The Duval County Democratic Party<\/a> responded by questioning Duggan\u2019s legislative record and accusing him of prioritizing Tallahassee over Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

Millie Leeds, Chair of the Duval County Democratic Party, said Duggan supported policies that shifted authority away from local governments, imposed unfunded mandates on municipalities and could reduce funding for public safety, parks, libraries, roads and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cJacksonville deserves a leader who stands up for our community every day, not someone whose record consistently favors Tallahassee over local families,\u201d Leeds said.<\/p>\n

Duggan said he had expected his elected service to end with his House term but decided to run after seeing problems with city spending, neighborhood investment and consolidated government.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see a problem and you go fix the problem,\u201d Duggan said.<\/p>\n

News4JAX has reached out again to Deegan\u2019s campaign for a response following Duggan\u2019s announcement, and this story will be updated once we receive a response. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 State Rep. Wyman Duggan officially launched his campaign for Jacksonville mayor Friday, promising conservative leadership…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1039,116,118,117,13771],"class_list":["post-416940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-duval-county","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-wyman-duggan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}