Democrat Ramon Day and Republican Raul Arias will face each other in a May 16 runoff for Jacksonville’s City Council District 11, representing Southeast Jacksonville.
Both Arias and his Republican opponent Norman Brewer far outraised Day, a real estate investor and former banking executive.
In the campaign, Day talked up his past experiences in finance and public service, including serving former U.S. Congressman Charles Bennett and serving as a volunteer on city commissions.
Brewer and Arias instead relied more heavily on intensely negative attacks sent by their political committees through text message and mailers.
Because both of them supported the same Democratic candidate for sheriff in 2015, both accused the other of being a closet liberal in carefully worded campaign messages.
Arias, who owns three restaurants in Jacksonville, raised about $185,000 directly and in his political committee.
Brewer raised about $110,000 directly, and a committee supporting Brewer raised $6,000 since January. About $5,000 of that came from Big Creek Timber LLC, a company affiliated with the Davis family that is asking the city to rezone about 6,200 acres of their land in the district.
Day raised about $59,000 directly and in his political committee.
