Plus, 5 takeaways from the City Council election

Republican Nick Howland will be sworn in on Jacksonville’s City Council Wednesday, after receiving 51.7% of the vote in Jacksonville’s special election last week. His opponent, Democrat Tracye Polson, got 48.3% of the vote. About 1-in-5 registered Duval voters cast a ballot in the race.

Below, see how your precinct voted in the council race, and the last presidential election, with our interactive chart.

But first, here are 5 takeaways from the February 22 special election:

1. In December’s first special election, when Howland and Polson were two of four candidates on the ballot, just 2.3% more Republicans than Democrats turned out to vote. In this month’s runoff, Republicans widened that turnout gap to 5.4%.
2. Council District 1, represented by Arlington Democrat Joyce Morgan, was the only district where the majority of precincts went to the opposite party of the sitting councilperson. Eight District 1 precincts went for Howland; six went for Polson.

Article continues below


More from Jax Today



Duval School Board’s rightward turn on display in sex ed, book discussions



Congressman seeks shutdown of Baker County ICE center



Audit finds no misspending during Deegan’s UK trip

Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
3. All five of the precincts with the highest voter turnout have majority-white populations and the largest share of the voting-age population over age 66, according to the Duval election supervisor. Four of the highest-turnout precincts went to Nick Howland. The other, in Avondale, went to Tracye Polson.
4. Each of the five precincts with the lowest voter turnout have majority voting-age populations under the age of 35. All five of these low-turnout precincts went to Tracye Polson.
5. Of the 62 precincts in Jacksonville’s four minority access districts — originally drawn to ensure the city’s Black population can elect candidates of their choice under the federal Voting Rights Act — 10 voted for Howland, and Polson won the rest. In the 2020 presidential election, six of these 62 precincts voted for Donald Trump.

To see how your precinct voted:

1. Don’t know your precinct number? Look it up on the Duval Supervisor of Elections site by entering your address.
2. Come back here and enter the number. (If you’re viewing this on a desktop computer, you can also click the column headers to sort the chart in different ways — by turnout in November, for example.)

By the way, the first digits of the precinct number is your council district. For example, if you live in Precinct 1401, you live in Council District 14 and are represented by Republican Randy DeFoor.

At-large council members, which is what Nick Howland will be, represent all of Jacksonville, not just one district.

Howland is a Navy veteran and the head of the veteran suicide prevention nonprofit The Fire Watch. He campaigned on increasing the number of police officers in Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and on making a strategic plan for growing the region.

The election drew national attention as a potential bellwether ahead of the midterm elections this fall. Duval County went blue during the last presidential election, when about 75% of voters turned out.