Portraits of Hank Rogers (left) and Reginald Blount (right), who are facing off for the Duval County School Board District 5.
Hank Rogers (left) and Reginald Blount (right) are facing off for the Duval County School Board District 5.

Reginald Blount won election to represent Duval County School Board District 5 as the district grapples with impending school closures and dropping enrollment. 

After beating Hank Rogers, Blount will succeed term-limited Warren Jones who endorsed him for the school board.

Blount, a military veteran, had been endorsed by parents advocacy group Moms For Liberty and the Republican Party of Duval County. He had also been endorsed by GOP state Rep. Wyman Duggan and City Councilman Mike Gay. He had run as part of a slate of conservative candidates that formed this year for each of Duval’s four school board contests. He previously ran for Jacksonville City Council as a Republican in 2019 and 2023.

The Duval County School District faces significant challenges. As of 9:11 PM ET, Tuesday, Blount received 56% of the vote.

Enrollment has declined as more families opt for charter or private schools, straining the budget and forcing discussions about potential school closures and job cuts.

Nandhini Srinivasan was The Tributary's 2024 investigative reporting intern and a 2024 graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, with a specialization in investigative reporting. She was previously a breaking news business and healthcare reporter for Reuters where she worked with the team to cover major deal stories including the Musk-Twitter deal, and UBS-Credit Suisse deal. While at the Columbia Journalism School, she reported on housing courts, public housing, and labor issues, and was instrumental to the student-led coverage of protests at the university.