CRYSTAL LAKE HERALD

SPORTS – GNATS NOW
Dave Crocker Embarrassed by Loss in Jacksonville Mayoral Election
Updated: November 4th, 2031 – 11:59 PM

By Howard Heskin, Gnats Beat Writer and ESPN PEBA Correspondent – Twitter @HowardHeskin1

Florida businessman Penny Banks on Tuesday scored a rare win for big-city Republicans by defeating Former Florida Featherhead, Second Baseman Dave Crocker.

Banks, the former chairman of the Florida Republican Party, defeated Dave Crocker 71 percent to 28 percent, a margin of 176,000 votes out of about 400,000 cast.

Registered Democratic voters outnumber registered Republicans in Jacksonville, by a considerable margin. However, Jacksonville Democrats nominated Crocker who won a 10-way primary race for the Democratic nomination by a 7 vote margin.

Both Banks and Crocker called in big-name supporters for campaign help. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) appeared in a television ad for Banks, who also campaigned with former Texas governor Rick Perry (R) and former Senator and Governor. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Crocker held a fundraiser with Bill Clinton earlier this year, according to the Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville’s local newspaper.

Banks joins a small cohort of Republicans who lead major U.S. cities. Jacksonville is the 8th largest city in America; only two larger cities, San Diego and Salt Lake City, have Republican mayors. The mayors of Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, N.M., Fresno, Calif. and Mesa, Ariz. are also Republicans.

Democrats control the vast majority of big-city mayoralties, though Republicans do win control on occasion. New York has elected only three Republican mayors, John Lindsay (who later became a Democrat), Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg (who later became an independent) in the last 75 years. Los Angeles has only elected one Republican, Richard Riordan, in a century.

Chicago hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1927, when William Hale Thompson won a single term. Houston elected its last Republican mayor, Jim McConn, in 1978. And Philadelphia elected its last Republican in 1947, when Bernard Samuel won his third and final term.

But Banks took advantage of Jacksonville’s dismal financial shape and rising crime rates to make the case that it was time for a change. Jacksonville owes more than $5.6 billion to its police and fire pension fund; Banks, an accountant by trade, pledged to fix the city’s books. Most damning for Crocker however was the announcement of Drew Streets, long time democratic activist, support for Banks. The last month of the race, Streets was seen in an ad, questioning the character of Crocker who was traded to Crystal Lake in the 2030 off-season, only to announce his retirement the next day after Crystal Lake sent a significant sum of cash for Crocker’s rights and contract extension.

“I’m no republican as you all know,” stated Streets in the ad “but Banks has beliefs – Crocker has none.”

He also succeeded as painting Crocker as a greedy opportunist. Banks received numerous campaign contributions from the Crystal Lake, Illinois area.