{"id":417569,"date":"2026-10-03T08:32:30","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T08:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/417569\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T08:32:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T08:32:30","slug":"wyman-duggan-launches-campaign-for-jacksonville-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/417569\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyman Duggan launches campaign for Jacksonville Mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

As reported first in Florida Politics\u2019 Sunburn<\/a>\u00a0newsletter, House Speaker Pro Tempore Wyman Duggan<\/a> has filed to run for Jacksonville Mayor, setting up what could be one of the most closely watched off-year elections in 2027.<\/p>\n

During remarks at the Duval County Supervisor of Elections, Duggan noted that he was born and raised in Jacksonville and that in the Legislature, he did a lot of work for the city, including bringing home $300 million in appropriations.<\/p>\n

As he sees the state of local politics, the work to do is at home now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I talk to people across this city, I hear the same thing over and over. They love Jacksonville. They believe in Jacksonville. But too often, they do not feel like City Hall is working for them,\u201d Duggan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are waiting on drainage. They are waiting on help for their small businesses. They are waiting on a permit that should not require a lawyer and a friend at City Hall. They are waiting on basic city services while City Hall moves fast on the wrong things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Duggan said the city\u2019s \u201cconsolidated government is breaking down\u201d under Mayor Donna Deegan.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder this administration, we have had disputes involving JEA, the (Jacksonville Transportation Authority), and the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, and JAA has threatened to sue the city. We have a strong Mayor form of government. We are supposed to have a Mayor who rolls up their sleeves and solves problems. That includes bringing the independent authorities addressed in our city charter to the table and saying: We need to work together for all of Jacksonville \u2014 not inside your silo, and not for your parochial interests,\u201d Duggan added during Friday\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelationships matter. The Mayor should be about the business of doing what is right for the city of Jacksonville, not picking political battles just because the people in leadership in Tallahassee or in Washington are of a different party. That costs the city. It may make this administration feel good about itself and let it virtue-signal, but it does not help citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats had their say.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Deegan campaign said \u201cDeegan has spent her time in office listening to residents and getting things done\u201d and that there is \u201cmore work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom historic investments in first responders and infrastructure to strengthening our local economy and businesses, she has delivered on priorities that matter to our community. Today, Jacksonville is gaining national recognition for investment, business growth, and opportunity. Mayor Deegan wants to build on that momentum while keeping Jacksonville affordable, strengthening neighborhoods, and expanding opportunities for families and businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Duval Democrats say Duggan \u201crepeatedly supported legislation that shifted decision-making authority away from local governments and into the hands of Tallahassee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those attacks could be amplified with the nearly $2.4 million Deegan has in her political committee and campaign account.<\/p>\n

But Duggan, a four-term state legislator and shareholder at the Jacksonville law firm Rogers Towers, is uniquely positioned to return fire compared with the 11 other candidates already challenging Deegan.<\/p>\n

They have a little more than $7,000 banked among them. Duggan\u2019s \u201cBetter Jacksonville Committee\u201d has nearly $1.35 million on hand. <\/p>\n

Polling is with the incumbent for now, at least when Duggan is tested head-to-head against her.<\/p>\n

Deegan led Duggan by 20 points in a recent St. Pete Polls<\/a> survey of likely voters, drawing 53% support in a hypothetical head-to-head contest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the First Election in March won\u2019t present a binary choice. All Duggan needs to do is keep Deegan from winning a majority, which would let her be re-elected without a May runoff in the General Election.<\/p>\n

Deegan, a former television journalist, has sidestepped bad news cycles up until now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The open question of this campaign is whether that good fortune continues through her re-election bid.<\/p>\n

In 2015, Lenny Curry used a similar argument to unseat Alvin Brown despite the latter\u2019s personal popularity. He contended that the Democratic incumbent was nice but incompetent. And while Curry finished second in the March election, he won the runoff by bringing moderate Republicans home and depressing turnout among traditional Democratic voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Curry is enthusiastic about Duggan and the potential to flip the Mayor\u2019s Office back to Republican control.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are angry and they want new leadership. It\u2019s clear today after watching Wyman that the only successful path forward is through him. He has my complete and total confidence and trust and I\u2019m excited for the future of JACKSONVILLE,\u201d Curry said.<\/p>\n

If Deegan is re-elected, she will be the first Democrat to win two terms since\u00a0Jake Godbold in 1983, a very different time for the city\u2019s political landscape.<\/p>\n

Even her own cousin\u00a0Tommy Hazouri, elected in 1987, lost his bid for a second term in 1991. He lost once more when he ran again four years later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As reported first in Florida Politics\u2019 Sunburn\u00a0newsletter, House Speaker Pro Tempore Wyman Duggan has filed to run for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5890,5433,116,118,117,501,799,13771],"class_list":["post-417569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-donna-deegan","tag-jaa","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jea","tag-jta","tag-wyman-duggan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417569","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=417569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}