Why is Duval County, Florida a Republican leaning county?

[ON Progressive]

It's always interested me that a county like Duval is so consistently Republican. It hasn't voted for a Dem President since 1976, or a Dem Governor since 1986.

[I’m not Stu]

It's always interested me that a county like Duval is so consistently Republican. It hasn't voted for a Dem President since 1976, or a Dem Governor since 1986.

Trump won Duval County, but narrowly lost Jacksonville.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Heavy military presence, lots of Southern rednecks, conservative Christians and wealthy Sun Belt types. Aside from blacks no real Democratic-favorable demographics actually.

[Tintrlvr]

It's a coastal southern midsize city with a relatively small black population. The counties containing Mobile, Pensacola, Charleston, etc. all vote similarly.

[PragmaticPopulist]

Jacksonville is a different kind of city than most. It has a significant amount of conservative-leaning voters.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It's always interested me that a county like Duval is so consistently Republican. It hasn't voted for a Dem President since 1976, or a Dem Governor since 1986.

Trump won Duval County, but narrowly lost Jacksonville.

Aren't the two legally the same thing?

[TDAS04]

It's a coastal southern midsize city with a relatively small black population. The counties containing Mobile, Pensacola, Charleston, etc. all vote similarly.

Charleston doesn’t belong in that category.  It’s voted Democratic in the last three presidential elections.

[Strudelcutie4427]

It's always interested me that a county like Duval is so consistently Republican. It hasn't voted for a Dem President since 1976, or a Dem Governor since 1986.

Trump won Duval County, but narrowly lost Jacksonville.

Aren't the two legally the same thing?

Nah theres like 2 other towns in the county. I think its like Neptune Beach and Atlantic Beach

[I’m not Stu]

It's always interested me that a county like Duval is so consistently Republican. It hasn't voted for a Dem President since 1976, or a Dem Governor since 1986.

Trump won Duval County, but narrowly lost Jacksonville.

Aren't the two legally the same thing?

The city runs the county, but there are other cities in Duval, like Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach. Clinton narrowly won Jacksonville.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

When Jacksonville expanded to be consolidated with Duval County existing suburbs refused to be annexed, creating some enclaves. Same thing with Indianapolis and Louisville.

[Indy Texas]

It always weirds me out that Jacksonville has a population of ~1M.

The gap between its large size and its nonexistent relevance in general national awareness is enormous.

[Tartarus Sauce]

It always weirds me out that Jacksonville has a population of ~1M.

The gap between its large size and its nonexistent relevance in general national awareness is enormous.

It has one of the least healthy urban cores of any major city thanks to demolishing nearly all of its historic districts decades ago. It's less of a real city and more like a half-assed downtown with a couple of tall buildings surrounded by non-descript Sunbelt boom suburbs. There isn't really much of a cohesive local identity that the city acts as an anchor for. St. Augustine, which is within its metro area, has a much stronger sense of character and identity than Jacksonville does despite being like 40 times smaller.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It always weirds me out that Jacksonville has a population of ~1M.

The gap between its large size and its nonexistent relevance in general national awareness is enormous.

It has one of the least healthy urban cores of any major city thanks to demolishing nearly all of its historic districts decades ago. It's less of a real city and more like a half-assed downtown with a couple of tall buildings surrounded by non-descript Sunbelt boom suburbs. There isn't really much of a cohesive local identity that the city acts as an anchor for. St. Augustine, which is within its metro area, has a much stronger sense of character and identity than Jacksonville does despite being like 40 times smaller.

Isn't Jacksonville the most populous city in Florida because of consolidating with the county?

I mean, imagine Miami being consolidated with the whole Dade County. That would give "muh biggest town in Florida" a run of its money.

[jimrtex]

People forget that in 1900 Florida had about the same population as South Dakota, and the population was concentrated in the north. "Florida" was the northern strip from Jacksonville to Pensacola, with Tallahassee very much centrally located.

Miami is not habitable without air conditioning and control of malaria and yellow fever. That the University of South Florida is in Tampa should tell you something. Orlando did not pass 100,000 until the 1980 census.

[ilikeverin]

That the University of South Florida is in Tampa should tell you something.

I feel like that's still sort of weird, though. USF was founded in 1956.  Miami was late-arriving, but it really first boomed in the 1920s - by the 1950s, Miami was quite a bit larger than Tampa.  It only became the "University of South Florida" because it was the most southern state school at the time.