A reliable ally of the administration ponies up again.
A real estate company that Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan has trumpeted gave the most money of any entity to her Duval for All political committee in the first 12 days of June.
JWB Real Estate, whose HomeStep downpayment assistance program was promoted by Deegan in 2024, gave $24,000 of the $55,250 raised to the account during the abbreviated fundraising period.
The company has made news for preemptively rejecting applicants who had eviction proceedings filed against them, a claim that was said by some to also exclude Black applicants. It also charged early termination fees to military tenants in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which it attributes to an administrative error.
JWB President Alex Sifakis served on a Deegan transition committee in 2023, and the relationship between the company and the chief executive has only flowered since. The company has given the political action committee more than $52,000 since November 2024.
Deegan’s committee now has nearly $1.7 million on hand, and thus far significant opposition hasn’t filed to run against her, even though nine candidates are currently running in total.
The strongest fundraiser of the group, Republican Ronald Armstrong, has less than $6,000 in his campaign account. Megachurch Eleven22 and its pastor Joby Martin are helping to get the candidate on the ballot.
“He’s just doing what the Lord’s told him to do,” Martin said during a recent service.
Armstrong isn’t likely to be the establishment Republican candidate. House Speaker Pro Tempore Wyman Duggan is expected to launch a campaign.
Duggan and other candidates have time to make a move.
Qualifying for the 2027 mayoral election is in January.
