Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry is a mainstay at Jacksonville Jaguars games. The Jaguars hosted the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL Super Wild Card Weekend. The Jaguars trailed 27-7 at halftime, its largest halftime deficit of the season, before winning 31-30 | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on June 25, 2023 at 5:00 pm
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Mayor Lenny Curry’s term ends this week, and First Coast Connect was among his last media interviews — ironically, as founder and longtime host Melissa Ross has moved over to a senior position in the Donna Deegan administration.
There is always a certain vibe to mayors as they leave office: I distinctly remember covering the farewell press conference for Alvin Brown, when he rode off into the sunset, and he said he was “surprised” he lost.
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“I thought I had it,” he said in June 2015, of his expected re-election. He wrote his own concession speech, refusing to use the one provided by a staffer, and while he didn’t announce his next political run at that moment, by 2018 he was challenging Rep. Al Lawson in the Democratic primary for Congress.
Curry, unlike Brown, got two terms. But in his second term, his political persona took some hits. COVID-19 required on-the-fly adjustments, which would prove politically inconvenient for him, like most Republicans, but he took mitigation measures and then “opened up” the beaches and then entertainment venues, allowing for a partnership with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and for many weeks of All Elite Wrestling locally.
The worst issue for the Curry administration was the JEA privatization push, which some less euphemistically call the sale attempt. During our radio interview, Curry answered questions about where that went wrong, but he stopped short of criticizing the process and the moves by former CEO Aaron Zahn (a political supporter of the mayor’s) to plan an executive bonus scheme that would have given Zahn and other C-suite members generational wealth had the sale gone through.
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Like Brown attempted to, Curry appears to be at least considering a political second act. Those in his circle say he is looking at a run for governor, one that would be tough indeed, given Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez is getting a lot of on-the-job experience filling in for the increasingly absent Ron DeSantis, and given that Donald Trump likely would back U.S Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL1 – also rumored to be running. Attorney General Ashley Moody is another name mentioned as a potential candidate, along with CFO Jimmy Patronis.
Curry made it clear he is taking some time to reset and spend with family and the other things politicians do between runs for office. What was interesting, despite his demurral from discussing a run in an election that is still more than three years away, is his clear preference for governor over CFO — a position that would seem to be more wide open. We will see if that run for office ultimately happens, of course.
Curry gave the impression during our interview that he’s at peace with the policy moves incoming Mayor Donna Deegan is making. On issues ranging from Confederate monuments to police and fire pensions, he made it clear the ball was in her court. Even his pension reform deal, which he believes closed the door to future defined benefit plans including those of the Florida Retirement System, is something he acknowledged could be changed if the new administration sees fit.
He didn’t have much to say either about the staffing choices of the new administration, including CFO Anna Brosche, who will take over in October after finishing her private-sector employment commitments. Those who were here last decade remember the fractious dynamic between the then Council President Brosche and the mayor, and the brutal 2019 mayoral election that followed. All of that is now water under the bridge.
The Curry era, unlike any other in Jacksonville history, was one in which partisan Republicanism prevailed. The mayor had nothing negative to say about Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis in his interview, splitting the distance between two men who present as mortal enemies for the moment.
At least for the time being, Jacksonville’s MAGA years are over. Mayor-elect Deegan will likely interface with the current White House, bringing a visibility to the city from Washington absent of late. Curry certainly earned and took his share of criticism over his eight years in office. But despite myriad controversies, what’s clear now is that the city —and Curry — are moving on.
Lead image: Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
