Donna Deegan's 2027 Reelection Campaign: Who's Funding and Building It?

John Hawley

Aug 27, 2026

The Mayors' Office: Part V- The 101 Report

Update — September 7, 2026: This article has been revised to reflect Brian Hughes’s return to NASA after a brief period with Mercury Public Affairs.

Four months after Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan formally launched her 2027 reelection campaign, voters still haven't been introduced to a conventional campaign leadership team.

There has been no prominent announcement of a campaign manager, political director, communications director or finance director.

But that doesn't mean the campaign infrastructure isn't already in place.

Follow the campaign-finance records and a considerably more sophisticated operation emerges—one involving veteran Florida Democratic strategists, Barack Obama campaign alumni, national public-affairs firms, consultants from Deegan's successful 2023 campaign and a political committee that has already accumulated millions of dollars.

The network also illustrates something larger about the coalition forming around Jacksonville's Democratic mayor.

Deegan's political operation is connected to a professional Florida Democratic ecosystem encompassing progressive elected officials, abortion-rights organizations, Democratic Party committees and candidates. But follow the money in another direction and the same operation is attracting developers, corporate interests, prominent Jacksonville business figures and even donors with Republican connections.

It is a political infrastructure that combines progressive and Democratic campaign expertise with establishment money—and increasingly looks like the foundation of a formidable incumbent reelection operation.

More Than $2.4 Million Before the Expensive Campaign Has Even Started

Deegan officially filed for reelection April 16. She didn't begin from zero. Her Deegan-aligned political committee, Duval for All, had already been raising money since 2024. By July 3, Florida Politics reported that the committee had raised more than $2.4 million since its creation, with nearly $2.2 million still available.

Deegan's separate candidate campaign had raised nearly $190,000, with approximately $174,000 remaining.

That means the political operation had accumulated roughly $2.6 million between the two accounts by early July, with most of it still unspent. The spending that has occurred is revealing. Rather than pouring millions into television advertising, direct mail and other expensive voter-facing campaigning this early, Duval for All has been investing heavily in the professional infrastructure behind the campaign.

Current-cycle expenditure records list:

GW Strategies LLC — $94,729.10

Mercury Public Affairs LLC — $25,668.23

Anedot Inc. — $9,855.31

Computare Partners — $6,375

Renaissance Campaign Strategies — $1,226.66

along with smaller expenditures to other vendors.

The largest two consulting recipients alone—GW Strategies and Mercury—have received more than $120,000 from Duval for All during the current cycle.The campaign itself has separately begun paying consultants and rebuilding pieces of Deegan's successful 2023 operation. The result is a campaign organization that can increasingly be reconstructed from financial records even if it hasn't been formally introduced to Jacksonville voters.

Ashley Walker: From Obama to Deegan

One of the most significant figures to emerge is Ashley Walker.

When the Republican Party of Florida filed an election complaint related to Deegan's April campaign-launch video, it was Walker who responded publicly on behalf of the Deegan political operation.

Walker is no ordinary local campaign consultant. She served as Florida state director for Barack Obama's 2012 presidential reelection campaign, overseeing Obama's effort to capture Florida's 29 electoral votes. According to her current firm, Walker managed nearly 800 full-time employees and a $50 million statewide operation.

She had previously served as deputy state director for Obama's 2008 Florida campaign and held senior positions in Obama's political organization between the presidential elections.

Campaigns & Elections subsequently named her among Florida's top Democratic political influencers.

Today, Walker is a partner at Mercury Public Affairs, specializing in political consulting, public-affairs campaign management, advocacy advertising, grassroots coalition building and digital strategy. And Mercury is being paid by Deegan's Duval for All. Current-cycle records show $25,668.23 in payments to Mercury. That makes Walker's relationship to the Deegan campaign particularly significant. She isn't simply a Democratic strategist commenting from the sidelines. Her firm is receiving money from Deegan's political committee, and Walker has publicly acted as an adviser speaking for the reelection operation.

Mercury's Reach Goes Far Beyond Democratic Politics

Walker's firm also expands the political network surrounding Deegan well beyond Jacksonville—and beyond the Democratic Party. Mercury describes itself as a bipartisan public-strategy firm providing government relations, political consulting, international affairs, public-opinion research, strategic communications and grassroots mobilization.

The firm says it has approximately 550 clients, 132 professionals and 15 offices. Its Florida operation brings together political figures with remarkably different backgrounds. Mercury Florida partner Eric Johnson spent decades in Democratic politics. He served as chief of staff to Democratic Congressmen Robert Wexler and Patrick Murphy, ran Ted Deutch's successful congressional campaign and helped Patrick Murphy defeat Republican Congressman Allen West.

Johnson was also political director of the Florida Democratic Party, advised Barack Obama's Florida operation in 2008 and has worked with prominent Florida Democrats including Nikki Fried and Congressman Jared Moskowitz. Mercury's national Democratic network has also included people with senior connections to political leaders including Hakeem Jeffries and Kamala Harris. But Mercury is not simply a Democratic consulting company.

In January 2026, Mercury announced that it had hired Brian Hughes as a partner to lead its Tallahassee operation. Hughes brought extensive Republican credentials to the firm. He previously served as chief of staff and chief administrative officer under Republican Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, advised Donald Trump’s successful 2024 presidential campaign and directed Trump’s campaign in Florida. He subsequently served as a White House deputy national security adviser for strategic communications and as NASA chief of staff. (Mercury Public Affairs)

Hughes’s tenure at Mercury was brief. On May 8, 2026—less than four months after Mercury announced his hiring—NASA announced that he was returning to the agency as senior director of launch operations. NASA now identifies Hughes as director of Kennedy Space Center, with responsibility for both Kennedy and the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility. Mercury’s current leadership roster does not include him. (NASA announcement; NASA biography; Mercury leadership)

That short-lived affiliation nevertheless adds context to Mercury’s reach. Hughes entered the firm with deep connections to Jacksonville’s Republican political network. Working with consultant Tim Baker, he helped Lenny Curry defeat incumbent Mayor Alvin Brown in 2015. Their Northeast Florida operation subsequently worked on campaigns involving Fourth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Melissa Nelson, former state Rep. Jason Fischer and former legislative candidate Donnie Horner. The consultants also participated in efforts supporting former Sheriff John Rutherford’s congressional campaign, although Rutherford said Hughes worked through a political committee rather than advising him directly. Earlier, Baker and Hughes helped Ron DeSantis win a crowded 2012 Republican congressional primary. They later directed the “Yes for Jacksonville” campaign supporting Curry’s pension-funding sales-tax referendum. (Jacksonville Daily Record; Florida Politics)

Mercury’s recruitment of Hughes briefly placed a veteran of Jacksonville’s Republican establishment and the Trump campaign inside the same bipartisan public-affairs firm being paid by Deegan’s Duval for All political committee. His return to NASA ended that employment relationship, so Hughes should be understood as a former Mercury partner rather than a current member of the firm.

GW Strategies: The Largest Consulting Recipient

If Mercury provides some of the most recognizable political personalities, GW Strategies LLC represents the largest consulting expenditure. Duval for All has paid GW Strategies $94,729.10 during the current election cycle—far more than any other professional consulting firm listed among its expenditures.

GW Strategies is associated with Florida political consultant Gregory W. Goddard. Its client roster places the firm squarely inside Florida Democratic politics. Current-cycle records show GW Strategies receiving money from political operations including:

Duval for All — $94,729.10

Florida 2026 — $38,000

Friends of Bob Buckhorn — $24,500

Liberated By Democracy — $7,500

Jane Aman — $7,000

Florida Always and Forever Ours — $4,000

Michele K. Rayner — $2,500

among others.

That includes progressive Democratic State Rep. Michele Rayner and Democratic political committees elsewhere in Florida. GW Strategies has also previously received substantial payments from Floridians Protecting Freedom, the organization behind Florida's 2024 Amendment 4 abortion-rights campaign.

There is no evidence that those relationships mean Deegan shares every position taken by the firm's other clients. Political consultants routinely work for multiple candidates and organizations.

But the relationships help identify the political ecosystem in which Deegan's reelection apparatus is operating. And GW Strategies' relationship with Deegan isn't new. The firm was receiving payments from Duval for All well before Deegan formally announced her 2027 candidacy, suggesting that fundraising and political infrastructure were being developed long before the April campaign launch.

Amy Glassman: A Local Campaign Presence

The candidate campaign itself provides another name.

Deegan's first campaign expenditure report lists two payments to Jacksonville's Amy Glassman specifically identified as "political consulting."

Glassman received: $1,225.81 on June 3 and $1,000 on June 17.

Her publicly available professional information also identifies work with Donna Deegan for Mayor. Glassman therefore provides one of the clearest documented local connections to the day-to-day campaign operation. She also serves on the Mayor's LGBTQ+ Advisory Board.

The 2023 Campaign Machine Is Beginning to Reassemble

Some of the most revealing expenditures aren't for new consultants.

They're payments to firms that helped elect Deegan in 2023. Chief among them is AL Media. During the previous mayoral campaign, Deegan's campaign paid AL Media approximately $564,342, making it her largest vendor. AL Media specializes in Democratic political advertising and media strategy and has worked extensively with Democratic candidates and progressive organizations nationally.

The firm is already back.

Deegan's current candidate report shows a $3,147 payment to AL Media on June 30 for media content creation, in addition to other early media-related work.

Another returning firm is Renaissance Campaign Strategies. Renaissance received approximately $99,134.92 from Deegan's 2023 campaign. The firm has now resurfaced in the current operation, with Duval for All reporting $1,226.66 in current-cycle expenditures to Renaissance. Its broader political history is revealing. During the 2024 election cycle, Renaissance received approximately $211,463 from the Florida Women's Freedom Coalition political committee, which was organized around abortion and reproductive-rights issues. Its other clients have included Democratic candidates, Democratic political committees and the Florida Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

The Other Side of the Coalition: Developers and Business Money

Then follow the money in the opposite direction. The picture changes.

Among Duval for All's largest current-cycle contributors are:

Sallyn Pajcic — $250,000

Stephen Pajcic III — $250,000

Dream Finders Homes — $55,000

ICI Homes Residential Holdings — $50,000

Robert Smith — $50,000

Wayne Hogan — $35,000

Farah & Farah — $30,000

and numerous other prominent business and civic donors. JWB Real Estate has also emerged as a significant Deegan supporter. Florida Politics reported in June that JWB contributed $24,000 during the first 12 days of June alone and had contributed more than $52,000 to Duval for All since November 2024.

JWB President Alex Sifakis previously served on one of Deegan's transition committees. Deegan's political fundraising has also reached beyond traditional Democratic constituencies. Prominent business figures and donors with Republican connections have contributed to the operation.

Progressive Infrastructure Meets Establishment Money

What emerges from Deegan's campaign-finance records is something broader than a list of political consultants. Her reelection effort appears plugged into a sophisticated Florida Democratic political ecosystem, one connecting progressive elected officials, abortion-rights organizations, Democratic Party committees and candidates with a very different constituency of developers, business interests, major corporate donors and establishment political organizations.

The combination is important. The political infrastructure surrounding Deegan can be progressive in portions of its causes, messaging and Democratic campaign relationships while simultaneously drawing substantial support from traditional business and institutional interests.

In Jacksonville, that creates a coalition reaching well beyond the Democratic Party's traditional base.

Mercury perhaps illustrates the phenomenon better than any other firm.

One of its partners ran Obama's Florida campaign.

Another has spent decades advising prominent Florida Democrats.

Mercury perhaps best illustrates how professional political networks cross conventional party lines. Ashley Walker directed Barack Obama’s 2012 Florida campaign, while Eric Johnson has worked for Democratic elected officials and candidates across the state. On the Republican side, Mercury’s current leadership includes Bryan Lanza, a former Trump transition communications director and Trump-Pence campaign official, as well as former Republican members of Congress David Vitter and Vin Weber. (Bryan Lanza; David Vitter; Vin Weber)

Brian Hughes further demonstrated that reach when Mercury recruited him in January 2026 following his work for Lenny Curry, Donald Trump, the White House and NASA. But that particular connection lasted only several months: Hughes returned to NASA in May and now directs Kennedy Space Center. Mercury is nevertheless being paid by Deegan’s political committee while maintaining a national team whose experience spans Democratic and Republican campaigns, elected officials, corporations and government institutions. It is best understood as a bipartisan professional influence network rather than an organization defined by a single ideology.

What We Still Don't Know

One significant question remains surprisingly difficult to answer: Who is Donna Deegan's campaign manager? Four months after announcing her reelection campaign, Deegan has not prominently introduced someone filling that conventional role. Yet the financial records show that the organization surrounding that unnamed position is already substantial.

There is Ashley Walker and Mercury.

Greg Goddard and GW Strategies.

Amy Glassman providing local political consulting.

AL Media returning for media production.

Renaissance returning from the successful 2023 campaign.

Computare Partners handling compliance and accounting.

Fundraising and transaction infrastructure through Anedot and Numero.

And behind all of it sits a political committee that had already accumulated more than $2.4 million by early July. The campaign may not have announced its organizational chart. The money is beginning to draw one for us. And what it shows is more consequential than the identity of any single campaign manager.

Donna Deegan appears to be entering the 2027 election backed by a political infrastructure capable of combining experienced Democratic campaign professionals and progressive political networks with significant support from Jacksonville's business and development establishment.

For a mayor who says she doesn't put party first and instead focuses on "Team Jacksonville," the coalition forming behind her reelection campaign may ultimately provide one of the clearest tests of what that phrase means politically. The campaign has barely begun spending its money. But the machine that will spend it is already taking shape.