Terrance Freeman was among the nine members of the Jacksonville City Council who discussed their budget priorities for the 2025-26 fiscal year on the steps of City Hall on Aug. 25, 2025. | Will Brown
Published on May 29, 2026 at 4:10 pm
Free local news and info, in your inbox at 6 a.m. M-F. Sign up for the Jacksonville Today newsletter.
Jacksonville will hold a special election in August to replace City Council member Terrance Freeman, who will resign later this year to run for the Florida House.
Voters will head to the polls Aug. 18 to fill the vacancy in Freeman’s At-Large Group 1 seat, according to a news release Friday from the Duval County Supervisor of Elections Office.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
Freeman, a second-term Republican, started his bid for Florida House District 12 in October, vying to replace term-limited GOP Rep. Wyman Duggan. Florida statute requires a sitting elected official to resign to run for another office.
Freeman is currently unopposed in that race.
Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland says candidates for the council seat will need 1,855 signatures to qualify for the August ballot or pay the following fees:
- $3,408.24 for partisan candidates
- $2,272.16 for candidates with no party affiliation.
On Tuesday, the City Council approved legislation, which the mayor has signed, calling for the special election. Candidates have from noon June 11 through noon June 12 to qualify.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the highest vote-getters will face off in a runoff on Nov. 3.
Freeman’s city career
The 51-year-old city lawmaker officially submitted his resignation letter Thursday to Holland and the elections office.
He’ll officially vacate the office Nov. 2. In his letter, Freeman touted increased city spending on public safety, apprenticeship and workforce training programs during his tenure including the Jacksonville Upwards Mobility Program, which he helped launch in 2023 with the city’s Kids Hope Alliance.
“Serving the people of Duval County on the Jacksonville City Council has been the honor of a lifetime, and this institution means a great deal to me,” Freeman wrote.
“By the trust of voters and colleagues, I have had the privilege of serving at every level of our city’s legislative branch: as an Executive Council Assistant, a District Council Member, an At-Large Council Member, Council Vice President, and Council President. As the only person in our city’s history to serve in all five of these roles, I carry a deep and lasting appreciation for this body and the people it serves.”
Then-Gov. Rick Scott appointed Freeman to Council District 10 in 2018. In 2019, Freeman won election to his at-large seat and won reelection in 2023.
While on council, Freeman served one-year terms as president and vice president. He pushed for a more inclusion of Jacksonville Small and Emerging Business Program contracts on city projects.
In 2024, he took a three-month hiatus from council as he underwent treatment for prostate cancer.
Outside politics, Freeman works for the Jacksonville-based Miller Electric Co. as a senior project manager of apprenticeship programs.
