In upsets in Jacksonville, Fla., and Colorado Springs, Donna Deegan and Yemi Mobolade said they defeated their Republican opponents by focusing on local issues.
Republicans suffered surprising losses Tuesday in mayoral races in Jacksonville, Fla., and Colorado Springs, dealing a blow to the GOP in two longtime conservative strongholds and highlighting the limits of waging hyperpartisan campaign battles in local races.
In Jacksonville, Florida’s most populous city, Democrat Donna Deegan upset Republican Daniel Davis by about 4 percentage points to win the mayor’s race. Deegan’s victory flips the mayoral seat of the largest city in the United States that was held by a Republican, in a state in which the Republican governor won reelection by a landslide less than six months ago.
And in Colorado Springs, political newcomer and business executive Yemi Mobolade, an independent, defeated Republican Wayne Williams by a decisive margin Tuesday night, surprising many in the conservative-leaning city that President Donald Trump won handily in 2020.
The wins offered a glimmer of hope for Democrats, especially in Florida, where less than six months ago Republicans swept statewide offices and called into question whether it could still be considered a swing state.
Deegan, 62, and Mobolade, 44, leaned into a message of unity throughout their campaigns, largely ignoring national partisan politics and successfully dodging attacks from their opponents, who tried to paint them as too extreme for their communities.
Mobolade released campaign ads with a longtime Republican sheriff who had endorsed him. Deegan, a former local news anchor turned breast cancer awareness advocate, said hyperpartisan attacks didn’t work against her because people in Jacksonville knew who she was.
“I very intentionally steered away from having a national food fight,” Deegan told The on Wednesday. “I really wanted to get back to a day in Jacksonville where we just weren’t focused on anything besides Jacksonville issues and the mayor’s office.”
Deegan ran what could almost be called a “post-partisan” campaign, said Democratic strategist Steve Schale, a former Jacksonville resident.
