Outspoken Jacksonville Judge Henry Davis is ending his brief bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2018 when Gov. Rick Scott faces term limits.
After filing his paperwork last month, Davis told Sunshine State News on Wednesday he had changed his mind and would withdraw from the contest.
In 1992, Davis was appointed as an a former administrative judge for the Juvenile Division of the Fourth Circuit Court by then Gov. Lawton Chiles. Davis served at that post for almost a quarter of a century, ending his service last year when he decided to retire and not seek another term. Before his time on the bench, Davis served in the Navy, including seeing service in Vietnam, and working in the U.S. Department of Justice. Davis also spent more than a decade in private practice in Jacksonville.
During his tenure as a judge, Davis garnered media attention for being outspoken against school violence and weighing in on society’s ills, drawing fire from the left including groups like the NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Davis even won national attention for banning a 14 year old girl from Duval County public schools after she fought another girl and left her with severe brain injuries. While that decision was overruled, Davis bowed out of the case, agreeing to recuse himself. Davis has also taken to the public stage, saying bad parents are leading to rising numbers of troubled kids.
Davis weighed in on his positions back in 2013 in a guest column in the Florida Times Union.
“It is now quite evident that it is not possible to operate a high quality public school system in Duval County,” Davis wrote. “This is borne out by the fact that some public school teachers and other school district employees send their children to private or parochial schools or they home school their children. The children who attend our public schools are products of their communities. They bring the cultures of their communities to school. This means that the violence and disorder and criminal and immoral behavior that exist throughout our community is brought into our public schools.
“Almost every day we have cases in Juvenile Delinquency Court in which children who attend our public schools have been viciously beaten and seriously injured by other children enrolled in their schools,” David added. "Many of these vicious attacks are carried out by gangs of girls.Children have sustained serious and permanent injuries and disfigurement as the result of school-related violence. Children sometimes are hospitalized and require extensive medical and dental care as the result of school beatings. Some of these attacks are posted on various websites. The attacks occur in the community as children are walking to and from their schools and bus stops, on their school buses and while at school. The children who are attacked most often are smaller than their attackers and are otherwise unable to defend themselves.
“The Duval County Public Schools are unable to protect non-violent and reasonably well-behaved children from the violent and disruptive children who attend our public schools,” Davis continued. “Many children do not have the option of attending private or parochial schools or moving to a county that has safer schools. Their options are to endure the violence or drop out of school. Parents of public school children and other concerned residents of Duval County must demand that violent children not be allowed the opportunity to attack and injure other children and School Board employees. The people of Duval County must not accept the status of maintaining another ‘urban’ school system.”
Davis filed his paperwork last month to run for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination but is now planning to end his bid. While the Democrats have not won a gubernatorial election since Chiles defeated Republican Jeb Bush back in 1994, there could be a large field running in 2018 even with Davis getting out of the race. Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and Orlando businessman Chris King are already off and running for the Democratic nomination. Other possible candidates include former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, D-Fla., Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and attorney John Morgan.
