Controversial ad for Jacksonville mayoral candidate features gunshots, babies' cries, screams

A controversial new ad from Republican mayoral candidate Anna Brosche has the city talking.  The ad features sounds from what appears to be automatic weapons, crying babies and people screaming.

The 30-second ad takes on Mayor Lenny Curry and crime.

It features media quotes like one from the Florida Times-Union saying, "Mayor Curry ran on crime. Now, he should be forced to confront it."

Voters Action News Jax spoke with had mixed reactions.

“That ad is disturbing,” said Sherry Hill.  “I’m not a fan at all.  If you have small children in the room that’s inappropriate material.”

“You have to have a comeback, and that’s her platform,” said Thaddeus Powell, referencing how Curry’s campaign started the political mudslinging with ads attacking Brosche’s record.

On Wednesday night, Brosche made an appeal to voters at the Jacksonville Young Democrats candidate forum at Cuba Libre.

There, Action News Jax asked her about the ad, posted to Facebook by her political committee, A New Day.

“It’s a reflection of what some in our community face on a daily basis,” Brosche said.  “The statistics that we’re seeing and the crime increasing, these are real families, real people experiencing crime.”

“What would you say to people that may say it goes a little too far and it’s distasteful?” Action News Jax reporter Russell Colburn asked Brosche.

“It’s uncomfortable on purpose, and some in the community need to recognize that,” she answered.

Neither mayor Curry nor his re-election campaign accommodated an interview, but in a statement, they said in part: “This ad is the most disgusting and exploitative thing I’ve ever seen.  It’s low, even for politics.  Anna Brosche should be ashamed for campaigning in such [a] disgusting way.”

The bad blood between these two started over exploring the sale of JEA when Brosche was City Council president.

Cox Media Group