Donna Deegan, Jacksonville’s first female mayor, was elected over a Republican Daniel Davis backed by business leaders and promoted by Ron DeSantis, the state governor and potential presidential candidate.
After the win, Deegan tweeted – “Love won tonight, and we made history. We have a new day in Jacksonville because people chose unity over division—creating a broad coalition of people across the political spectrum that want a unified city. Together, we will bring change for good to Jacksonville by making good on the decades-long broken promises on infrastructure, building an economy that works for everyone and improving access to healthcare. We will break down the wall between City Hall and bring all the people in to create a city that works for everyone.”
With approximately 950,000 citizens, Jacksonville is the most populous city in Florida. Donna Deegan, a Democrat, defeated Daniel Davis with 52% of the vote. A total of 217,000 individuals voted, representing a 33% turnout.
Who is Donna Deegan?
Donna Elizabeth Deegan is a politician from the United States. Deegan, a Democrat, is also a writer and former weekday television anchor for First Coast News in Jacksonville, Florida.
Here’s all you need to know about Donna Deegan-
Donna Deegan net worth-
Donna Deegan has an estimated net worth of $1.086 million as per Florida Times Union.
Donna Deegan age–
Deegan was born on the south side of Jacksonville on February 28, 1961. She is 62 years old.
Donna Deegan relationship:
Deegan was married to television sports news anchor Daniel Patrick Hicken, the couple had 2 children. The couple got divorced and Hicken married Reagan Dowling, a special education teacher in Jacksonville in 2003.
Deegan went on to marry Tim Deegan, a Chief meteorologist with First Coast News.
Donna Deegan career-
Deegan began her career as a morning anchor for WTXL-TV in Tallahassee in 1984. She joined WTVX in Fort Pierce as West Palm Bureau Chief in 1985. She then worked as the morning and lunchtime anchor for WPEC in West Palm Beach until August 1988.
She returned to Jacksonville and became the weekend anchor on WTLV. She took over as anchor of WTLV’s 5:30 and 11 p.m. newscasts in 1993.
She is the founder of The Donna Foundation, which raises funding to care for local breast cancer patients. Deena has overcome breast cancer three times.
In 2019, Deegan announced her candidacy for Florida’s 4th congressional district. She ran against Republican incumbent John Rutherford as a Democrat. Despite losing to Rutherford on November 3, 2020, she received an unprecedented 38.9% of the vote.
Deegan ran for mayor of Jacksonville in the March 21, 2023 election. Deegan got 40% of the vote in the nonpartisan blanket primary, advancing to a runoff election against Republican Daniel Davis, who received 25%. Davis ran an attack ad against Deegan on April 3, 2023, saying that she attended all of the Black Lives Matter protests in Jacksonville following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Deegan has slammed the commercial as racially offensive and stated that she will not run any attack ads against Davis.
Deegan defeated Davis in a runoff election on May 16. She will be sworn in on July 1.
