Democrats took a drubbing in Jacksonville’s city elections but a couple of them still are alive.
Republicans made a sweep in citywide races except for Democrats Tommy Hazouri and Lisa King, who led in their races.
Now all eyes are on Mayor Lenny Curry. Who will he endorse, if anyone, in the May 14 runoff?
The turnout is expected to be small, maybe about 10 percent. It was a shade less than 25 percent in the first election. Every vote will matter.
Hazouri is a former mayor and has had his name in the public sphere for 45 years. But because there were two other Democrats in his race for City Council at-large in Group 1, even being well-known and an incumbent did not get him a majority, so he has a runoff.
King also failed to win outright and is in a runoff.
Both face Republicans.
Curry might be expected to support the Republicans in the runoffs, but he and Hazouri have a mutual admiration society going and observers are waiting to see if he supports Hazouri.
Given that Democrats outnumber Republicans, Hazouri might be expected to win without Republican support, but undoubtedly he would like to have a few extra votes in addition to Democrat ticket voters and unaligned voters – which is a large number in Jacksonville.
Turnout means everything. So do the candidates try to drive people to the polls, or lay low hoping for a small turnout? What does Curry do?
Strong support from Curry for both Republicans would, one would think, increase Republican turnout making things problematical for the two Democrats. But while Curry does not want King to win, his acknowledged rapport with Hazouri might be ruptured if his support for his fellow party members were to diminish Hazouri’s chances.
Another conundrum: the two Republicans who need Curry’s help both are black.
Still another: If a few Democrats were miffed at Hazouri’s support for Curry earlier, what would be their reaction to Curry support for Hazouri? Would it help or hurt?
It would interesting to be a fly on the wall listening to Curry’s advisers as they try to steer the mayor toward a decision.
