After his open love letter to the mayor, only one question remains about City Councilman Matt Carlucci.

Will he be Donna Deegan’s re-election campaign manager?

Carlucci tells Eye on Jacksonville he will not be. You read it here first.

Carlucci, a registered Republican, posted this on Facebook, about diehard Democrat Deegan:

“For those of you who are already seeing attack ads about our mayor, Donna Deegan, I’d offer a different perspective.

This isn’t about political parties. It’s about Jacksonville, our families, our neighborhoods, and the kind of community we want to build for the future.

That’s why I support our mayor.

She has chosen not to respond in kind with negativity, and I know she will not. That’s not who she is. Even in the face of criticism, she leads with a positive vision. As a cancer survivor, she understands better than most that life is too short to tear others down. She focuses on lifting people up and moving forward.

And that a positive approach is best at producing real results and earning respect. And those results you might ask? Below are just a few.

More police on the street. Better pay and restored pensions for our first responders so we can recruit and retain the best. Strong job growth. Real progress downtown, and long-overdue infrastructure improvements in our neighborhoods, particularly our vulnerable neighborhoods with more help to come in the next budget, much more.

All of these things combined create the perfect environment for strong economic development, and job creation!

So all of this is not about being liberal or conservative.

It’s about leadership, quality of life and moving Jacksonville forward.

Jacksonville has great momentum, more so than we’ve had in a long time. This is a great time in our history and while everything is not perfect, things are moving in the right direction.”

True, Carlucci has never been considered a member of the Far Right. For example, he never seems shy about spending other people’s money. But he is a card-carrying Republican, and swooning over a Democrat mayor – even one who admittedly is popular and likeable — is a bit more than just trying to get along.

It actually is a continuation of Carlucci’s support for Deegan when she ran in 2023.

“There isn’t a Republican bone in his body,” one GOP stalwart said of Carlucci.

The problem is that the Republicans don’t yet have a candidate to run against Deegan next year, although names such as Wyman Duggan, Ron Salem and Rory Diamond have been floated.

Whoever it is, will he have Carlucci’s support?

It matters. Carlucci is part of a dynasty. His father was on the council before him and his son currently is on the council. He has served on the council for nearly 20 years in all. He, like the mayor, is elected citywide.

So his voice matters. But so does party affiliation. Whether at the local, state or national level, the Democrat Party fa too often is in opposition to American values and the rise in Republican registration throughout Florida reflects its dwindling popularity.

One could argue that Carlucci endorsed Deegan four years ago because he didn’t like the Republican candidate, Daniel Davis. But in this case, he has endorsed Deegan before an opponent has even been chosen.

Carlucci’s Ode to Donna is seen as a finger poked in the eye of the Republicans who have put him in office so many times.

But he is leaving elected office, and he is said to have aspirations of landing a job in the administration. If that is the case, it would all make sense.