Jacksonville City Council President Terrance Freeman won re-election as the At-Large Group 1 councilman, fending off a challenge from Libertarian Eric Parker.
Freeman, a Republican, was first appointed to the council by then-Gov. Rick Scott in 2018. He was initially appointed to represent a heavily Democratic district, but in 2019, Freeman switched to the countywide At-Large seat.
The Jacksonville City Council comprises 14 neighborhood-based districts and five at-large council members who are voted on countywide.
Freeman has overseen the City Council while it has faced a racial-gerrymandering lawsuit. Under his leadership, the council decided to fight the lawsuit aggressively and has lost repeatedly in federal court. The city is still appealing the court’s decision to order new districts drawn by civil-rights plaintiffs, including the Jacksonville Branch of the NAACP.
Parker, an electronics technician, was one of three Libertarians running for City Council. Parker earned the largest share of the vote for a Libertarian in the city’s history.
What else do I need to know?
The Tributary has been covering local redistricting for the last three years. Here is a sample of our past coverage:
- Jacksonville’s redistricting plan risks racial gerrymandering claims, experts say
- Jacksonville redistricting plan splits dozens of neighborhoods
- Jacksonville’s redistricting plans ignore federal guidelines
- For decades, Jacksonville City Council redistricted based off ‘misinformation’
- ‘They’re not compact. They’re sprawling.’: Federal judge probes Jacksonville City Council redistricting
- ‘Racial segregation’: Federal judge blocks Jacksonville City Council districts as racial gerrymanders
- Court rejects Jacksonville council districts, orders city to use plaintiffs’ maps
- Jacksonville redistricting process raises questions of Sunshine Law violations
