Jacksonville is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonville consolidated in 1968. It was the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020, and became the 10th largest city by population in 2023.
John Henry Rutherford is an American politician and former police officer serving as the U.S. representative from Florida's 5th congressional district since 2017. His district encompasses most of Jacksonville and most of its suburbs in Nassau and St. Johns counties, including St. Augustine.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) is a joint city-county law enforcement agency, which has primary responsibility for law enforcement, investigation, and corrections within the consolidated City of Jacksonville and Duval County, Florida, United States. Duval County includes the incorporated cities of Jacksonville, Atlantic Beach, Baldwin, Jacksonville Beach, and Neptune Beach; the beach cities have their own police departments as well.
Thomas Lester Hazouri Sr. was an American politician of the Democratic Party. He served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1974 to 1986, as the 3rd Mayor of Jacksonville from 1987 to 1991, and represented School District 7 in the Duval County School Board from 2004 to 2012. He was later an At-Large member of the Jacksonville City Council.
Louis Hampton Ritter was an American politician and lobbyist. He served as mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, from 1965 until 1967. A Democrat, he assumed office when W. Haydon Burns, mayor since 1949, resigned to become Governor of Florida. He was the last mayor to serve his entire term before the city was consolidated with the Duval County government.
Audrey Gibson is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the Florida Senate, representing the 6th district, which includes sections of downtown Jacksonville in Duval County, since 2016. She previously represented the 9th district from 2012 to 2016 and the 1st district from 2011 to 2012. Gibson also served in the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 15th district in downtown Jacksonville from 2002 to 2010.
Charles McBurney is a Republican who served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 16th District, which includes parts of downtown Jacksonville in southern Duval County between 2007 and 2016.
Terry L. Fields is a Democratic politician who served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008, representing the 14th District, which included parts of downtown Jacksonville in western Duval County. He ran for a seat in the Florida House in 2016. He lost in the primaries to Democratic candidate Kimberly Daniels.
Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) is the public school district that serves the families and children residing in the urban, suburban, and rural areas of the City of Jacksonville and Duval County, Florida. As of 2015, the district had an enrollment of over 130,000 students, making it the 20th largest school district in the United States, and the 6th largest school district in Florida. The district's 196 schools are traditional neighborhood and magnet schools, charter schools, and alternative schools, all of which serve students of various needs.
Claude J. Yates, was a Jacksonville business executive in the 1960s who is known as the Father of Jacksonville's consolidation.
The Jacksonville Consolidation was the city-county consolidation of the governments of the City of Jacksonville and Duval County, Florida. It was effected on October 1, 1968.
Donald Richard Moran, Jr. is a former lawyer and judge in the Fourth Judicial Circuit in Florida for 41 years, including 21 years as chief judge, the longest tenure in Florida history. He was an early advocate of diversion programs for people with substance abuse and directed hundreds of people into treatment rather than jail.
The government of Jacksonville is organized under the city charter and provides for a "strong" mayor–council system. The most notable feature of the government in Jacksonville, Florida, is that it is consolidated with Duval County, which the jurisdictions agreed to in the 1968 Jacksonville Consolidation.
John E. Thrasher is a former state legislator, businessman, lawyer and lobbyist who served as the 15th president of Florida State University. He was approved by the Florida Board of Governors on November 6, 2014 and took office on November 10, 2014. On September 11, 2020, Thrasher and the university board of trustees announced his retirement in a joint statement. In May 2021, Richard McCullough was chosen by Florida State University’s board of trustees to succeed Thrasher.
Reginald "Reggie" Fullwood is former a Democratic member of the Florida House of Representatives. From 2010 to 2014 and 2015 to 2016, he represented downtown Jacksonville in central Duval County.
The 2015 Jacksonville mayoral election took place on March 24, 2015, to elect the Mayor of Jacksonville, Florida.
Richard H. Kravitz is a Republican politician who served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 19th District, from 2000 to 2008. Kravitz most recently ran for office in 2016, when he lost to Jason Fischer in the Republican primary for Florida State House District 16.
The 2019 Jacksonville mayoral election was held on March 19, 2019, to elect the mayor of Jacksonville. Incumbent mayor Lenny Curry, a Republican, won a majority of votes to win a second term in office. No Democratic candidate qualified for the mayoral election.
The 2023 Jacksonville mayoral election was held on March 21, 2023, with a runoff held on May 16. Incumbent Republican mayor Lenny Curry was term-limited and could not seek a third term in office. Seven candidates filed to run, including four Republicans, two Democrats, and an independent. Jacksonville mayoral elections use a blanket primary system where all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, appear on the same ballot.
