Lenny Curry has a tightrope to walk in the coming months as he runs for mayor of Jacksonville against incumbent Democrat Alvin Brown and hes taking a page from his old ally Rick Scotts playbook.
Curry is best known in Florida for leading the Republican Party of Florida. But thats not exactly a position that will offer much of an advantage in Jacksonville even if Curry also led the Duval County GOP. Voters may not like politicians but they also dont care for political bosses, either.
Scott could offer Curry a game plan on how to help beat Brown. To be sure, Scott was much more of a political outsider than Curry and had a much more prominent business career. But Curry has clearly been inspired to some extent by Scotts early efforts.
In his first TV ad, released in recent days, Curry plays up his roots in the community and his business background, something Scott mastered as he introduced himself to the voters back in 2010. Curry even brings his father in the ad -- shades of Scott relying on his mother in TV ads when he first ran for governor.
Curry should expect a competitive race. Democrats outnumber Republicans in Jacksonville but the GOP has the advantage. While Brown beat Mike Hogan in 2011, Republicans ran over Democrats in most recent mayoral elections. Still, Brown has been able to win-over moderates and some business-oriented Republicans. Even with the Republican edge, Curry has work to do to get some of these voters away from Brown and behind his candidacy. Having been trashed at the polls on Election Day, Florida Democrats will look to keep Brown in office and claim some kind of momentum going into 2016.
Like Scott, Curry will need to hit the airwaves early and often. Curry is far better known in state political circles than he is with rank-and-file voters in Jacksonville. That means he will need to run heavy ads in the months to come.
Curry does have time on his side thanks to Jacksonvilles peculiar election system. Eschewing primaries, if no candidate gets a majority in the March 24 election -- almost a certainty with six candidates already off and running -- the top two candidates from that round will square off on May 19. Even with Bill Bishop splitting some Republicans away from him, Curry should survive the first round and head to a showdown with Brown come May.
But first Curry needs to introduce himself -- one of the reasons for the early TV spot. Currys fundraising prowess at the RPOF is now being harnessed for his mayoral campaign and he has proven himself a strong fundraiser. Hell have the money to compete over the next six months. Curry will be getting his name out there in the weeks ahead and there are far worse models to follow than Rick Scotts 2010 win.
Tallahassee political writer Jeff Henderson wrote this analysis exclusively for Sunshine State News.
