Alvin Brown: The Comeback Kid

He's done it twice now. Despite the odds, Alvin Brown made it past the First municipal election in 2011 to meet the heavy favorite, Mike Hogan, in the run-off contest for mayor. Now, with Hogan's concession on Wednesday and what has been touted as the closest  mayoral race in Jacksonville history, Alvin Brown has pulled off another surprising and impressive upset victory.

In his remarks, Alvin Brown spoke of being a bipartisan mayor. He would have to be, having won by less than one percent of the vote. No doubt, Brown will face intense scrutiny from the Duval County Republican establishment and an increasingly conservative City Council.

"I will work with people from every corner of this community to move Jacksonville forward." Brown said in a statement released Wednesday night. "Now is the time to bring Jacksonville together and unite our city. That will be my most critical priority as mayor."

Hogan urged his supporters to back Brown in his concession speech, saying, "I ask all of my supporters to join me in rallying around Alvin Brown and his team as they begin the work of getting City Hall's fiscal house in order and putting Jacksonville back to work."

How did Brown do it? How did he manage to become the first African-american mayor in Jacksonville history and the first Democrat to be elected since Ed Austin (who switched parties soon afterward)?

Matt Galnor of the Florida Times Union wrote an excellent article explaining how the Brown campaign was able to pull it off. Galnor explains that despite Hogan winning more individual precincts, Brown was by bigger margins where he was the victor. The average Brown precinct went to Brown with 76%, and where he didn't win he was able to keep it relatively close.

Less Moran supporters went to Brown than were anticipated. Hogan was able to hold on to a lot of them. Brown made up for it though by winning 16 precincts that Hogan held in March. 

Perhaps the winning tactic was the same one I recommended after the March elections: get out the vote. With turnout improving almost 10% and the strong late push from the urban core on Tuesday night, it appears that is what happened.  

The 2011 Jacksonville Mayor's Race will be one for the books for a number of reasons. We saw the closest Mayoral Race in city history, the first elected democratic candidate in 20 years and the city's first African American victor. I hope however it will be a turning point for our city; a lesson to show how important civic participation is and how much impact one vote can have.