Jacksonville City Councilwoman Anna Brosche has yet to launch a mayoral run, but incumbent Lenny Curry is already going on the offensive with negative TV political ads against her.
Jacksonville on the Rise, Curry’s Political Action Committee, is airing a negative political ad styled after the TV show Jeopardy! that urges viewers to fire Brosche for her City Council voting record .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=30&v=lJ6y5eaiIGg
The commercial takes aim at Brosche’s votes to get rid of term limits, raise her own pay, and oppose the UAE, calling the first-term councilwoman greedy, self-serving, and heartless.
Curry and Brosche are both Republicans.
Florida Politics Reporter A.G. Gancarski, who thinks Brosche will run, said they have not gotten along over the last four years.
“Curry is got all the name recognition, all the money, and all the resources. And he’s an aggressive guy,” he said. “His campaign team is aggressive and this has been personal for a long time.”
Last week, Brosche said she’s taking another look at running for mayor after hedging for most of the year. She is set to speak to a group of political supporters on New Year’s Day.
Related: Councilwoman Anna Lopez Brosche Takes ‘Another Look’ At Challenging Mayor Curry
“If Brosche gets into the race, it will be a reform kind of agenda and she will be messaging hard against Curry. It will get very personal very quickly,” said Gancarski “We’re already seeing that with ads. It will just get worse from here.”
Curry, who was formerly chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, has raised more than $3 million dollars.
So far, the following candidates have jumped into the race to challenge Lenny Curry:
- Democrat Howard Barnes
- Democrat Doreszell Cohen
- Connell A. Crooms
- Brian Griffin
- Independent Vishaun Grissett
- Republican Jimmy Hill
- Democrat Yolanda K. Thornton
The other candidates that have filed don’t have that kind of money. Gancarski said they’ll likely take two or three percent of the vote at most, per person.
Jacksonville has a blanket primary, meaning if a candidate can win by getting a simple majority in March.
If there is no simple majority - which will may be the case with so many candidates - the top two finishers will face off in May.
The qualifying deadline to file to run for mayor is January 11.
Contact Abukar Adan at 904-358-6319, aadan@wjct.org or on Twitter at @abukaradan17.
