Mayoral candidate Anna Brosche Friday evening held a town hall in Springfield to make her case to voters. Few turned out to meet her.
Brosche began her remarks with five people in the pews at Mt. Sinai Church — 2 of them reporters. Several minutes later, seven more people trickled in during the townhall.
Related: New UNF Poll Shows Curry With Strong Lead In Jacksonville Mayoral Race
That’s after a University of North Florida poll last week showed Brosche trails Republican incumbent Lenny Curry by 37 points.
Curry is polling at 52 percent. Republicans Brosche and Jimmy Hill are at 15 and 3 percent, respectively, and Independent Omega Allen is at 6 percent.
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Still, Brosche said she still has time to get her message out before election.
“I owe it to the citizens of Jacksonville to give them an opportunity for an alternative to lead our city in different way, in a more inclusive, safer way,” she said.
Brosche kicked off the event by sharing she strongly dislikes how exclusionary she feels Curry’s administration is, referring to them as “the mafia of misfits.”
She said Curry isn’t adequately listening to the citizens of Jacksonville and vowed to take what she calls a customer service approach to governing.
“When we moved to a place where the citizens feel that their voices are being heard and their needs are being addressed and they do feel like they are a customer, I think we’ll have more people involved in helping make sure our city is a better place,” she said.
The Town Hall was billed as an opportunity for the mayoral hopeful to listen to citizens’ concerns, but few stepped up to the podium to speak. Those that did raised concerns about crime and infrastructure, as well as healthy eating and food deserts.
Juan P. Gray was among the dozen people at the church. He said he’s been behind Brosche ever since she called for Confederate monuments to be moved from public spaces to museums.
“That showed me that there was at least someone in City Council who had a moral fiber,” he said. “Times have changed and this city needs to move with those changes.”
Related: Anna Lopez Brosche On Confederate Monuments
Friday’s event was the first in a series of town halls Brosche is holding. She said she’s not sure which dates have been lined up, but at least two will be scheduled.
The unitary election is on March 19. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of votes, plus 1, the top two will go to a runoff. But Curry could be re-elected straight out— he’s polling at 52 percent.
Early voting starts March 4.
