Candidates campaigning to the bitter end

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At this stage of the race, all seven candidates on the ballot to be Jacksonville’s next mayor are in the home stretch of the campaign.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Election day in the City of Jacksonville is next Tuesday and early voting ends on Sunday, March 19.

At this stage of the race, all seven candidates on the ballot to be Jacksonville’s next mayor are in the home stretch of the campaign. But is there any chance a low polling contender might throw their support behind someone else?

First Coast News brought that question to its political analysts.

“Nobody’s bowing out this late, they’re in it until the end,” said A.G. Gancarski of FloridaPolitics.com. With just days to go before election day some candidates have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“A candidate who doesn’t raise a lot of money can sometimes have a lot of influence in the end,” said Gancarski.

For example, mayoral candidate Omega Allen has raised a little more than $20,000 according to campaign finance records, which is just 3% of what her republican opponent Daniel Davis has raised. But Gancarski and Andrew Pantazi of The Tributary say that dollars don’t always equate to votes.

“Historically Omega Allen has run repeatedly as an independent, she always gets 1, 2, 3%,” said Pantazi. “In 2015 she still got two percent when there was a Democrat and two Republicans.”

Two percent of the vote might not seem like a lot, but in a race where candidates must get 50% (plus one vote) to win, it could be the difference between winning outright or another two month slog to the May general election.

“These candidates, even if they haven’t raised much money, they think they have a unique case to make or else they wouldn’t be in the field,” said Gancarski.

Outside the race for mayor, the most expensive contest is the City Council at-large Group 5 race.

The six candidates who qualified for this race are republicans Reginald Blount and Chris Miller, Democrats Charles Garrison and Nahshon Nicks, No Party Affiliation Jack Meeks and libertarian Jerry “Tub” Rorabaugh.

They raised a combined $575,000 and were led by Meeks who raised more than $300,000.

But will that lead to a win in the election? The voters will decide.