Jacksonville mayoral race could send shockwaves through state GOP circles

(Full disclosure -- Alvin Brown is one of our clients. I did most of his direct mail.)

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It's safe to say GOP leaders around Florida are likely in a bit of shock this morning. We still don't know who Jacksonville's next mayor will be, but most never expected it to be this close, much less show Democrat Alvin Brown leading Republican Mike Hogan.

A conversation I had with Senate President Mike Haridopolos summed it up best yesterday.

"The party is telling me Hogan should win pretty handily," Haridopolos said.

The party in this case was the Republican Party of Florida, which invested in polling and had sent operatives to Duval to help ensure the campaign delivered. The margin being bandied around yesterday by various party officials I spoke with was between 6 and 10 points.

Even local party leaders and elected officials were telling me as recently as 4:00 pm yesterday that they felt confident they had this in the bag.

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http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/403455/abel-harding/2011-05-18/jacksonville-mayoral-race-could-send-shockwaves-through

and make sure every election is rigged.

I always liked the city of Jacksonville as a place. I just hoped that the city could get some good leadership other than the conservatives its been sattled with for decades. Good to know this might actually happen.

Governor in Fla, has made some radical moves???

North Fla is GOP Country usually.

and it should bode well for Brown as most of this ballots come from downtown and Gateway where Hogan has few, if any supporters. Keeping our fingers crossed that the lead for Brown holds up through the recount later.

This result can be placed right on the shoulders of Gov.Rick Scott. Duval County voters (Jacksonville at large) had "buyers-remorse" over their selection of Scott and it's all coming home to roost now.

Yay...Jacksonville.