Now there are three.
Ginger Soud, saying that the “next mayor will have to have a track record,” put her record on the line this morning as she signed up to run for mayor in 2003.
She joins longtime city official Mike Weinstein and fellow City Council member Alberta Hipps in the race, with several more names yet to be added.
“I don’t think it’s too early to get going because we have an election between now and the mayor’s election,” Soud said before signing the necessary papers at the Supervisor of Elections office. “It may seem like a long time [about 18 months] but we would run the risk of getting mixed in with candidates for next fall’s [federal and state] elections.”
Soud has been on the Council since 1994 when she won a special election for a Southside seat and subsequently won re-election, and has served a term as Council president. She has further name recognition through her husband, Judge A.C. Soud.
She says there are major factors which call for her experience: “Jacksonville is at a real important point. The next mayor must be a strong leader with a proven track record. The next mayor will implement a great deal of the Better Jacksonville Plan, and we must have someone who can take us to the next level of development. And, we need a mayor with government experience who can put together a team to run the City.
“The next mayor will have to have a track record.”
Running for higher office has been on her mind for several years and the solid move started in February, when she held a meeting with potential supporters.
“That group was enthusiastic, and the group has grown in the ensuing months,” she said.
Soud’s finance co-chairs will be Rogers Holmes Jr. and Richard Abood. Other prominent supporters include Bill Gay Jr., Henry Luke, Fred Isaacs and Hawley Smith.
“We’ll have more names for the steering committee in a few days,” said Cynthia Brust, who will run the campaign along with press secretary Robin Wilson.
Soud said she would rather have waited, but the reality of the election forced an early declaration.
“I need to put together a campaign team and that takes dollars,” she said. “To be able to raise dollars, you have to sign a declaration of intent to run.”
She says that she’s going into the race with only a personal feeling that she has a good chance.
“I haven’t done a poll, and I haven’t paid attention to any poll that has been taken,” she said. “How could I take a poll? They cost money.”
The polls taken to date reportedly have shown Soud either first or second.
She will command strong support from the so-called Christian community in general and from her church, the First Baptist Church and its 25,000 members in particular. She gained widespread publicity last year by chairing the Billy Graham Crusade, which set an American attendance record, and has a visible leadership role in the “Character Counts” initiative that works with youth programs.