Florida GOP chairman: Republicans need to ‘hold Deegan accountable’ after losing Jax mayor race

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (FLV) – Florida GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler said Republicans need to hold Jacksonville Democrat Mayor-Elect Donna Deegan “accountable for a couple of years.”

Ziegler spoke during a Duval GOP meeting Tuesday. He discussed how the Republican party is moving forward after Deegan won the May 16 Jacksonville mayoral race against Republican Daniel Davis.

“We’re gonna have to expose everything she’s doing and really hold her accountable and get someone else in,” Ziegler said.

Ziegler explained that at the beginning of Election Day, which was May 16, he spoke to campaigns and they said they needed 6,000 more Republican than Democrat votes to win the mayoral race.

The GOP chairman said Republicans exceeded the 6,000 turnout number, but still lost the mayor’s race. 

Ziegler listed some reasons why Republicans lost the race, which included the “very contentious primary.” He said on the Republican side, there were millions of dollars spent “going after each other.” 

After the primary, Ziegler said Davis was down by 14 points and “ran out of time” to garner enough support. 

“So it was a nasty primary,” Ziegler said.

Ziegler also said there was a group of Republicans that “skipped the race” and did not vote.

“We all need to stick together,” he urged.

During the REC meeting, Ziegler focused his speech on continuing Republican voter turnout efforts.

“So if you look at voter registration, we look at the election results, we’re headed in the right direction. But it’s not enough because we are in the fight of our lives,” Ziegler said.

The GOP chairman said the “real battle” is not between Democrats and Republicans or “even liberal versus conservatives,” it is the “elites versus the normals.”