Addison "Liberty" Patrick, the Libertarian candidate for Jacksonville City Council At-Large Group 1, stands outside Jacksonville City Hall on Friday, June 26, 2026. | Mike Mendenhall, Jacksonville Today
Published on June 29, 2026 at 4:32 pm
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The Libertarian City Council candidate has asked a judge to dismiss a Duval County GOP lawsuit to get her removed from the August special election ballot.
Attorneys for Addison “Liberty” Patrick filed the motion Friday in 4th Judicial Circuit Court in Jacksonville. She’s challenging a argument by the Republican Executive Committee of Duval County’that she did not follow state statute — that candidates seeking a political party’s nomination must be a registered member of that party 365 days before filing to be on the election ballot.
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The Duval GOP filed the lawsuit June 12, the day the qualifying period ended for the special election to fill the Jacksonville City Council At-Large Group 1 race in August.
The Republican Party wants Patrick removed from the ballot. Circuit Judge G.L. Feltel Jr. has set a hearing for 1 p.m. Wednesday.
The outcome of the case could have implications for who’s on the Aug.18 ballot and whether it will be a three-way race or a one-on-one contest between Republican Deborah Wesley and Democrat Moné Holder.
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If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in August, the top two candidates will go to a runoff Special General Election on Nov. 3.
The race’s eventual winner will replace two-term, Republican council member Terrance Freeman, who is resigning Nov. 2 to run for the Florida House of Representatives.
The local Republican Party says Patrick was not a registered Libertarian until Nov. 12, 2025, less than the 365 days required in Florida election laws.
In response, Civil Rights attorney Michael Minardi, who’s representing Patrick, alleges in a motion to dismiss that the Duval GOP is misapplying the statue. Minardi asserts, in part, that the complaint fails to adequately allege that Patrick is seeking the Libertarian Party’s nomination in the August election.
Patrick told Jacksonville Today on Friday that she is the party’s official declared candidate, which is also listed on the national Libertarian Party website.
The defense also argues that Jacksonville’s Special Unitary Election is not a general election required for the state statute to apply to the 365-day rule.
Patrick calls the lawsuit part of a broader effort for “entrenched political interests” to restrict electoral competition.
“Tactics to prevent new candidates from appearing on the ballot send the wrong message to voters across the country, and I expect Jacksonville voters to make their voices heard at the ballot box by rejecting those responsible for these anti-competition efforts,” Patrick said last week in a written statement.
The lawsuit also names Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland as a co-defendant.
In a statement sent to Jacksonville Today on Monday, the Republican Party of Duval County chair, Charles Barr, said the party maintains that, according to Florida statue, Patrick does not qualify to run for City Council.
“The lawsuit lays out the position of our argument and we await the Court’s rule,” Barr said in a written statement.
Patrick’s voter registration moves
Patrick’s voter Florida registration record does show a history of hopping between the Libertarian Party and no party affiliation.
Her voter audit report, obtained by Jacksonville Today through a public records request to the Duval County Supervisor of Elections Office, says Patrick first registered as a Libertarian in January 2018. She switched to no party affiliation in June 2020.
Her records show that she changed her affiliation back to Libertarian on Nov. 12, 2025, as stated in the Duval GOP’s complaint.
Patrick said Friday that she didn’t remember when or why she dropped her Libertarian Party affiliation, but she says she’s always been a Libertarian since moving to Jacksonville in 2018.
According to the party’s website, Patrick is the Libertarian’s five-county regional representative and is a former chair of the county party. She is also listed as the former public relations director for a Libertarian State Senate campaign.
In April, the Legislature passed, and Gov. Ron DeSantis later signed, a bill aimed at clarifying rules around qualifying for elections in Florida. That included the 365-consecutive-day requirement.
The law previously required the party registration timeframe to seek nomination, but there was no method to remove someone from the ballot. The new law provides for judicial enforcement.
The oath signed by Patrick in her qualifying documents with the supervisor of elections attests that she had been a registered member of the Libertarian Party, “for which I am seeking nomination as a candidate” for at least 356 consecutive days preceding the qualifying period.
“We argue that the way the federal Constitution is, that they don’t have the right to tell us who our party candidate is, that the Libertarian Party has chosen me as their candidate and affirmed that I am their candidate,” Patrick said. “The oath that I signed was correct the way that it was worded.”
Temporary injunction hearing
This would be the second time in two election cycles that a Libertarian has made a run at the At-Large Group 1 council seat. Freeman defeated Libertarian Eric Parker in the first round election in 2023 with 65.13% of the vote.
Parker received 53,704 votes, or 34.87%, to Freeman’s 100,297 votes.
Of the current qualified candidates, Patrick is at the bottom of the three-person field in terms of fundraising. According to reporting from the supervisor of elections, the Republican Wesley has received $86,238 for the race to Democrat Holder’s $13,495. Patrick has reported $3,063.42 in fundraising activity.
Attorneys are scheduled to be back in Duval County court on Wednesday for a temporary injunction hearing requested by the Duval GOP. The first ballots are scheduled to start mailing on July 2.
Patrick, whose legal name is Addison Jade Patrick, is originally from rural Virginia, moving to Jacksonville eight years ago.
She’s a frequent speaker during the public comment period of City Council meetings. Patrick has been a consistent critic of the speed and transparency around housing developments on Black Hammock Island in Northeast Duval County and a supporter of council’s adopting a new “Neighborhood Bill of Rights.”
“We want a none-of-the-above,” Patrick told Jacksonville Today. “When people have the option to write something in, a lot of times, that is what Libertarians will do. It’s a protest. We don’t like the options available to us. We don’t have ballot access, and that is essentially what this lawsuit is. It’s ballot access and it’s telling the voters who their choices are.”
