A photo shows a sea of campaign signs outside an early-voting site, most notably, Joyce Morgan for Duval County Property Appraiser 2023.
Joyce Morgan’s campaign sign sits among others outside the Highlands Regional Library early-voting site on March 19, 2023. [Andrew Pantazi/The Tributary] Credit: Andrew Pantazi / The Tributary

Jacksonville City Councilwoman Joyce Morgan will face former state representative Jason Fischer in the runoff for Jacksonville’s property appraiser after she came short of winning an outright majority Tuesday.

Morgan, a Democrat and former TV anchor with News4Jax, earned the most votes Tuesday, followed by Fischer. Because no one earned a majority, the top two candidates will face each other on May 16.

Fischer served Mandarin, Lakewood, Baymeadows and much of San Marco in the Legislature until November. Before that, he served on the Duval School Board. He briefly entertained a run for the state senate and for Congress before deciding to run for Duval County property appraiser.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who didn’t endorse in the Jacksonville mayoral election, supported Fischer’s bid, as did the Florida House speaker, the Florida Senate president and Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters.

Fischer and his Republican opponent, Councilman Danny Becton, both raised about $350,000 by the end of February, including in-kind contributions. Morgan raised $57,000 yet still earned more votes as the sole Democrat in the race.

[Provided by Matt Isbell]

Andrew Pantazi edits and reports for The Tributary. He previously worked as a reporter at The Florida Times-Union where he helped organize the newsroom's union with the NewsGuild-CWA. He and his wife,...