With more than $500,000 in backing from a longtime Democratic donor, Moné Holder secured a decisive win in Tuesday’s special election to flip an at-large Jacksonville City Council seat amid high-stakes talks over the next fiscal year’s budget.

Holder earned just more than the 50 percent of the vote required to secure the seat, earning 51.27 percent, or 73,553 votes, according to complete but unofficial results. Republican Deborah Wesley, a retired Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office commander, backed by Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters, got just under 45 percent of the vote, 64,028 votes.

“I’m elated that the voters have made the choice for a candidate who wants to work for the people and not engage in political drama or party politics,” Holder said in a statement to the Trib. “I’m ready to get to work and deliver on that promise.”

Steve Pajcic, a longtime Jacksonville attorney and former state House member, bet big on Holder, giving $510,000 to the political committee Jacksonville Together supporting her campaign. A campaign spokesperson said an effort last year by the GOP majority to cut city funding for Meals on Wheels infuriated him. Her victory means she will replace Terrance Freeman, a former council president running for state House and a member of the council’s GOP voting bloc.

Pajcic is also a major backer of Mayor Donna Deegan, who has clashed repeatedly with the council’s GOP leadership. Holder’s win will give the Deegan administration another sympathetic ear on the 19-member body.

The council will vote on Deegan’s latest proposed budget next month.
“I’m excited to work with Moné and keep Jacksonville’s momentum going,” Deegan said in a statement. “She took the time to sit down with me to talk about affordability and those kitchen table issues so important to our community – and that’s the message she carried throughout her campaign.”

Holder won early voting and mail-in votes, but Wesley only netted 5,000 votes over Holder on Election Day, which Republicans historically dominate in Duval County. By the times the polls closed, Republicans and Democrats were almost matched ballot to ballot, the Democrat’s 68,593 to the Republican’s 68,513. More than 11,000 voters with no party registration voted.

Libertarian Addison “Liberty” Patrick garnered just more than 4 percent, about 5,800 votes.

The race itself was the subject of litigation. After Duval Republicans failed to convince a judge to kick Patrick off the ballot, Patrick turned the courts on Wesley, accusing her of not living in the designated residency area for Group 1 for the required six months. After a bench trial last week, a judge dismissed those claims.

Holder will now join the council for deliberations on the budget, which was already proposed by Mayor Donna Deegan and must be approved before Oct. 1.

All five at-large seats were held by Republicans until Freeman stepped aside to pursue a state House seat. With Holder, Republicans barely maintain their super-majority voting bloc, with the the council’s party split now 13-6.

Molly Farrar is a Report for America corps member and the Florida Trib’s Jacksonville municipal watchdog reporter. She can be reached at molly.farrar@floridatrib.org.