Republican City Council member Leanna Cumber is running for mayor of Jacksonville.
She made the announcement Monday in a shipping container warehouse at Florida East Coast Railway, where her husband, Husein Cumber, is an executive.
Cumber says her top priorities are public safety, infrastructure and school choice.
"I think that we really need to focus on crime reduction in the city. We need to focus on infrastructure. And we need to focus to make sure that parents have the right to send their kids to the schools of their choosing," Cumber told reporters.
The Duval County Democratic Party issued a statement denouncing her candidacy, calling her list of political donors “far-right” and “pro-Trump" and citing a thousand-dollar campaign donation in 2017 from the recently indicted, former JEA CEO Aaron Zhan.
In a University of North Florida poll last month, 9% of respondents said they would vote for Cumber.
She’s one of five candidates who’ve officially filed to run for mayor in 2023, including Republican City Councilman Al Ferraro and Democrat Donna Deegan, a former local TV news anchor.
Candidates Omega Allen and Darcy Richardson, both registered with no party affiliation, are also in the race.
The election is next March, when Mayor Lenny Curry hits his term limit.
