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2023’s campaign for Jacksonville mayor is seeing some of the most sustained negative advertising in history, and that’s coming at a heavy price.
The vitriolic spots are coming from the two leading Republican fundraisers, Jacksonville City Council member LeAnna Gutierrez Cumber and Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce CEO Daniel Davis, and the two candidates burned through more than $2 million between them last month, with millions left to spend on each side ahead of the March 21 “First Election” that likely will eliminate one of these candidates from the field.
The bulk of Cumber’s spending went through her JAX First political committee, which spent $842,889 in January, with nearly $800,000 of that spend going to FP1 Strategies.
The committee defrayed some of that spend, the biggest monthly expenditure in this campaign by far, with $158,560 in receipts in January. The Ann D. Gibbs Living Trust was the single biggest donor, with $40,000 contributed, but money came in from far beyond Jacksonville.
The 2022 Lieutenant Governor campaign of California’s Jeff Denham donated $2,000, in what is the latest unusual cameo player in the Cumber campaign, which has seen support ranging from former Donald Trump Cabinet member and Texas Gov. Rick Perry , as well as Indiana Rep. Jim Banks.
The Cumber committee has more than $1.8 million on hand, and more than $2 million all inclusive. Cumber had roughly $304,000 in her campaign account at the month’s end, with over $97,000 spent and nearly $49,000 raised through Jan. 31. Over $70,000 of the January hard money total spend likewise went to FP1 Strategies.
Despite the robust financial activity, Cumber is still lagging behind Davis, who spent more than $96,000 in hard money in January, with an additional $1 million spent by his Building a Better Economy political committee. All told, the Davis committee exited January with more than $2.6 million on hand, as well as nearly $400,000 in his campaign account, despite spending more than he raised in hard money last month also, with more than $96,000 in outflow versus more than $41,000 raised.
With vote by mail already beginning for the March 21 election, spending likely will outpace fundraising for all filed candidates. But the battle between establishment Republicans Cumber and Davis was especially pitched. Davis has filed a defamation action against television stations running a Cumber committee ad deeming him “dirty … sleazy and dangerous.” Cumber has also spent time this month complaining Davis’ committee attacks are out of bounds.
What’s clear though is despite the words of protest, both campaigns are playing the same game in the campaign’s stretch run, with each trying to claim the “conservative” vote, even as City Councilman Al Ferraro continues to run his own grassroots campaign. As of the end of January, he had roughly $250,000 on hand between his campaign account and his political committee.
Democrats Donna Deegan and Audrey Gibson are also running. Gibson closed January with roughly $180,000 left between her campaign account and her A Rising Tide political committee. Deegan closed January with roughly $300,000 in hard money, while her Donna for Duval political committee had about $335,000 on hand as of the end of last month.
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