JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Based on the high volume of negative campaign ads on TV, the race for Jacksonville's next mayor is sliding down a deeply negative path for two candidates.
For weeks, negative campaign ads have swirled around Jacksonville, but those ads seem to only be focused on the same two people.
One of those candidates says the latest ad has gone too far.
LeAnna Cumber's new attack ad is titled 'Dirty Daniel' and can be seen in its entirety here.
Republicans Cumber and Daniel Davis are two of the leading candidates to become Jacksonville's next mayor. And even though Davis is running ads criticizing Cumber and her husband's alleged involvement in the JEA sale, Davis says Cumber's latest ad is too personal.
"We're here to call out gutter politics at its worst," said Davis on Friday. "Rebecca and I knew we would get attacked, but we said from the beginning it's a small price to pay to serve our city. My opponent's latest attack trivializes the serious issue and politicizes the pain of others for nothing more than political gain."
Davis's wife, Rebekah, said this latest attack ad is troubling for personal reasons.
"As a surviving victim of child sexual abuse," said Rebekah Davis. "I am hurt and shocked that anyone would exploit my pain or the pain of other victims for political gain."
When First Coast News asked to speak with Cumber about the latest ad and the race for mayor a member from her campaign said, "we are just going to let the ad speak for itself."
The new attack ad is the latest in an increasingly bitter mayoral race between some of the registered candidates for mayor. Democrat Audrey Gibson is also running for mayor and said she chooses to keep her campaign positive.
"I have a lifetime of service to this community and that's what I want to talk about and focus on the issues that people are concerned about," said Gibson.
According to political analyst John Daigle, the barrage of negative campaign ads is a departure from the way campaigns are normally run.
"The old model in political campaigns is you go positive early and tell the voting public who you are and what you're about," said Daigle."And you save the negative ads for the last few days for when they don't have time to respond, that model has been flipped."
The city-wide elections are scheduled for March 21, but if no mayoral candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, then campaign season continues until May.