Politics
Jacksonville Bold for 9.16.26: Watch list
Boise.
Durham.
San Antonio.
Edmonton.
And Jacksonville.
These are, according to Oxford Economics’ 2026 Global Cities Index, five “cities to watch.”
We’re not going to argue.
The city of Jacksonville notes in a media release that these communities “defied recent global economic headwinds to post strong productivity gains and diverse employment growth, often while being overlooked because they are not traditional ‘gateway’ cities.”
Overall, Jacksonville is on the rise, ranking 97th in OE’s ranking of global cities with fewer than four million people. That’s a 22-point year-over-year improvement from 2025.
Elected leaders said this validates their approach.
“Just last week, we opened the UF Jacksonville campus, and we were recognized for having the fastest-growing workforce in the country,” said Mayor Donna Deegan. “We already know what’s happening in this city – the investment, the growth, the opportunity we’re building in downtown and every neighborhood. It’s wonderful to see the rest of the world beginning to recognize it too.”
“Jacksonville is a manufacturing and logistics town that cares deeply about its First Responders, Service Members, and Veterans,” said City Council President Nick Howland. “That’s a world-class combination – and one very deserving of this recognition. We will keep investing in the infrastructure, jobs, and opportunities that make Jacksonville the top city in the Southeast for companies to grow and families to live, work, and thrive.”
Dennis Whittle, CEO and president of the Jacksonville Civic Council, says there is still work to do.
“The next step is to turn this momentum into measurable progress: parks that serve every neighborhood, early childhood education that prepares children to succeed, and pathways to good careers. This recognition should raise our expectations for what we can accomplish together,” he said.
Meanwhile, JAX Chamber CEO Daniel Davis says businesses should take “a serious look at Jacksonville” in light of this recognition, which is rooted in the area’s diversifying economy.
“We’ve been focused on growing these key industries for years, and that work is paying off. Now we have to turn that momentum into more jobs, more investment, and more opportunities for our region.”
Can’t change minds?
Duval County may not be getting a U.S. Senator quite yet.
U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody is on track to be elected in 2026, according to a survey taken last week by Quantus Insights.
The Plant City Republican leads her Democratic challenger, Rep. Angie Nixon of Jacksonville, 50% to 43%.
According to this data set, Nixon won’t be able to move many voters between now and November.
More than 90% of respondents who picked a candidate say they have definitely decided who they will vote for.
Moody, who was elected twice as Attorney General before being appointed to replace Secretary of State Marco Rubio last year, is well-liked by respondents. Among them, 54% view her favorably, while 30% do not.
Nixon is also liked well enough, with 43% favorable and 33% unfavorable. But the incumbent’s numbers show the challenge for the underfunded Democrat in trying to define her negatively with limited time before November and no debates scheduled between the candidates.
Moody is particularly strong with men; 61% of them back her. She leads with voters 45 and older, while Nixon leads with the younger set. This suggests that for the Democrat to close the margin, she will need to connect with historically lower-propensity voters and get them to turn out for her. Older voters turn out more reliably in most elections.
The incumbent leads with rural, suburban, and urban voters, and in every media market except Gainesville and the Orlando/Daytona/Melbourne area, where Nixon is stronger. Even in the Jacksonville market, Nixon’s home turf, Moody leads 58% to 38%.
The sample of 733 likely voters includes 47% Republicans and 34% Democrats, with the remainder unaligned with either major party. Women make up 54% of respondents. The poll was conducted between Sept. 8 and Sept. 10 and has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.
Competitive edge
Rep. Wyman Duggan is expected to run for Jacksonville Mayor, and he just received a large contribution from a local CEO who would like to see Democrat Donna Deegan lose next year.
First Coast Energy, the Jacksonville fuel distributor led by Aubrey Edge, a member of the state university system Board of Governors, contributed $150,000 to Duggan’s Citizens for Building Florida’s Future political committee on Sept. 3.
This is the biggest contribution the committee has received since its inception in 2018.
Duggan’s committee has roughly $1.35 million on hand.
Deegan still has the fundraising advantage. Between her “Duval for All” political committee and her campaign account, she has roughly $2.6 million to spend.
Eleven candidates are running in total. Most of them are lightly capitalized political unknowns. Republican Ronald Armstrong Jr. has a little more than $7,000 on hand, and the rest of the field is even worse off.
Although these candidates may not be viable in the March First Election, which puts every qualified candidate on a single ballot open to all Duval County registered voters, their presence may keep Deegan or Duggan from a majority, forcing a May General Election runoff.
Deegan led Duggan by 20 points in a recent St. Pete Polls survey of the city’s likely voters conducted for Florida Politics, drawing 53% support in a hypothetical head-to-head contest.
Pro-Duggan Republicans pooh-poohed the poll, though, noting that former Mayor Lenny Curry was a polling afterthought before he began seriously campaigning against Democratic Mayor Alvin Brown in 2015.
No Democrat has been re-elected since Jake Godbold in 1983.
Jacksonville’s jumpin’
Tampa, Jacksonville and Orlando are among the top 10 cities in the U.S. for boomtowns, according to a new study released by the financial loan firm LendingTree.
Analysts at LendingTree looked at the country’s largest metropolitan areas and considered factors such as population growth, housing, wages, and the economy to compile the boomtown list. Tampa finished fifth in America while Jacksonville came in seventh, immediately followed by Orlando in eighth. Miami placed 16th among overall boomtowns.
Towns in Southern states dominated the top 10 list of rising boomtowns, with Austin, Texas, topping the list, followed by Raleigh, North Carolina, in second, and Charlotte, North Carolina, in fourth. Only two towns in the top 10 were not from the South.
“A lot of people and businesses have been heading South over the past several years, and that’s created a lot of momentum,” said Matt Schulz, LendingTree Chief Consumer Finance Analyst. “In many places, you can still find a lower cost of living, a growing population and a business climate that’s attractive to employers. Those are all things that make it easier to start and grow a business.”
Deegan said she’s not overly surprised the First Coast city was ranked so high. She said there’ll be more people heading to the “Bold New City of the South.”
“People are voting with their feet and moving to Jacksonville in droves because our city is a great place to live, raise a family, and start a business,” Deegan said. “This recognition is further proof that we are a city on the move with a booming economy, talented workforce, and high quality of life.”
Ticket to ride
E-bike regulations are headed to the Jacksonville City Council floor next week, after clearing three Committees.
The final product is not as strong as it could have been, but consensus emerged behind it.
Riders have to keep speeds under 15 MPH on sidewalks. It is unclear how that provision will be enforced.
But the Sheriff’s Office can cite riders for unsafe operation, including on roadways where the speed limit for e-bikes is the same as for cars, trucks, and other motorized vehicles.
No age limit is part of the bill.
Home sales slip
Home sales along the six-county First Coast region fell in August for a second month in a row.
The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors (NEFAR) issued a report last month showing that closings fell in both annual and month-over-month comparisons.
There were 1,702 single-family homes sold in August. That’s a 5.9% decline from August 2025 when there were 1,809 closings. It’s also a 10.5% dip from July’s figure of 1,901 homes sold.
The median sales price for a home on the First Coast remained at $396,495, a 0.1% increase from a year ago and a 1.9% decrease from July.
The active inventory of homes for sale also dropped when compared to last year. There were 6,145 houses on the market in August. That’s a 23.4% drop from August 2025, when there were 8,022 homes for sale. It’s also a 6.1% decline from July’s inventory of 6,547.
“The market is sending a clear message in August: buyers are there, but they are more selective,” said NEFAR President Kim Knapp. “For sellers, getting the price and condition right from the beginning has become increasingly important.”
Duval County, home to Jacksonville, had 887 closings last month, a 4.4% drop from a year ago and a 5.6% decline from July. The median sales price was $335,000, the same as in July but a 1.5% decline from last year.
St. Johns County still had the highest median home price on the First Coast, at $573,250, in August. That’s a 4.2% jump from August 2025 but a 2.7% decrease from July. There were 398 homes sold in that county, a sharp 20.1% decline from last year and an even steeper 25.6% drop from July.
Clay County posted 241 closings in August, a 10% jump from a year ago, but a 10.4% decrease from July. The median home price was $369,000, a 2.8% increase from last year and a 2.5% increase from July.
Nassau County recorded a median sales price of $454,413, a 7.3% drop from August 2025 and a 0.3% decline from July. There were 115 closed sales, representing a 13.8% increase from last year and a notable 29.2% increase from July.
Osprey AI
The University of North Florida (UNF) is receiving a grant to support the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in updating research software code.
The Sloan Foundation is providing the Jacksonville-based school with $105,000 to fund AI assistance in the School of Computing. The Sloan Foundation is named after Alfred P. Sloan, a business leader and president of General Motors in the mid-20th century. The Sloan Foundation is a nonprofit institution that supports scientific research.
The grant to UNF is designed to help researchers at the school develop software used worldwide to ensure accuracy and reliability in computer programming. Analysts at the school will use AI to support changes to the internal structure of legacy code being updated. The AI is supposed to make it easier to maintain the programming and keep pace with calculations.
Joshua M. Greenberg, Director of the Sloan Foundation’s Technology Program, said the grant will be put to good use.
“The durability and trustworthiness of scientific research depends on the rigor and robustness with which the underlying research code is built and maintained,” Greenberg said. “This grant to UNF will help ensure that we can take advantage of new AI tools to safely restructure legacy research software as scientific needs evolve.”
The UNF researchers utilizing the grant will be led by Associate Professor Upulee Kanewala and Director and Professor Nan Niu, faculty in the School of Computing. They’ll also be working with Graduate Research Assistants Eric Good and Nabin Chaulagain.
Beach drivin’ baby
St. Johns County has some of the longest stretches of beach in Florida where motorists can drive along the shoreline, and a key area has returned to vehicle access.
The Fort Matanzas vehicular beach access ramp has reopened after an extensive improvement project. This week marks the first full week of motorist access to the beach’s sands after nearly a year of closure. The motorist access ramp is at the southern reaches of Anastasia Island in St. Johns County, near the Matanzas Inlet, which borders Flagler County, and near the ancient Fort Matanzas historic outpost erected by Spanish settlers just inside the inlet on the Matanzas River.
The Fort Matanzas beach access ramp was closed Nov. 17 as St. Johns County crews, along with the National Park Service, worked to construct the entryway located off State Road A1A, nearly 4 miles south of State Road 206. The project was originally supposed to be completed in May.
But the work on repairing erosion damage from previous storms and enhancements to the ramp to provide easier driving access took longer than expected. The work included removal and replacement of masonry around the parking area and reinforcement of the entryway with new asphalt paving. There were also additions of Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant timber boardwalks with staircases to improve pedestrian access to the shoreline.
St. Johns County has notable beach-driving access for motorists, with about 12 miles of coastline. The Fort Matanzas beach ramp area is one of the newer entry points to the shoreline in St. Johns County, having been added in 2019. That access point is technically owned by the National Park Service. Contractor Riptide Marine & Land Construction completed the work.
Photographic feature at MOCA
Photography will be at the center of images on display at the Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) downtown.
The work of Cara Romero: Panupunuwugai (Living Light) will be the featured exhibition at the artistic hub. The exhibition will run from Oct. 1 through March 21 and will display more than 50 large-scale photos by Romero.
She’s an established photographic artist who’s known for capturing “cinematic images,” a MOCA press release said. Romero focuses on diversity and indigenous life. During the exhibit’s opening, the museum’s curator, Jami Powell, will also be featured in celebration, along with choreographer Sam Aros-Mitchell, who will collaborate with students from the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts.
Jaguars face tougher test
The Jacksonville Jaguars did exactly what a good team should do to a poor team in the season-opening 34-10 victory over the Cleveland Browns. They dominated.
Now, the test gets tougher as the Jaguars travel to Denver to face the Broncos on Sunday. Denver is coming off a Monday Night Football loss to the Chiefs in Kansas City and will look to bounce back from an opening-week thumping.
The Broncos are anticipated to be a playoff team this season, but whether they can sustain last season’s success remains to be seen. Last season, the Jaguars traveled to Mile High and dominated the Broncos 34-20 four days before Christmas. That was part of an eight-game winning streak at the end of the regular season.
In those eight games, plus this season’s opener, Trevor Lawrence has been dominant. Over the nine-game stretch, the Jaguars are unbeaten. Lawrence has completed 64 % of his passes and thrown for 23 touchdowns and only five interceptions. He has averaged 250 passing yards per game and shows no signs of slowing down.
However, on Sunday, he will see one of the best cornerbacks in the league, Pat Surtain II, and a pass rush led by outside linebacker Nik Bonitto, who finished last season with 14 sacks.
There were some areas that need improvement from Sunday’s win for the Jaguars. First is kickoff coverage. Against the Browns, the Jaguars surrendered three long kickoff returns, including a 74-yard return.
One advantage of beating the Browns was the opportunity to give young players some minutes. That should help as the team plays in one of the most intimidating road venues in the league.
In the big picture, the season-opening victory was exactly what a good team should do to a poor team. The Jaguars took care of business against the Browns. Business should pick up on Sunday in Denver.
Should the Jaguars beat the Broncos, expect the national media to start to pay attention to what is happening in Jacksonville. After winning 13 games last season and keeping the roster largely intact, even those who don’t spend much time considering one of the smaller NFL markets will have to take notice. If that happens, we’ll see how the Jaguars handle the spotlight. Most national pundits had the Jaguars as a wild-card team this year, expecting a step back due to a first-place schedule. The first division winner on the Jaguars’ schedule awaits in the Rocky Mountains on Sunday.
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