Former State Senator Tony Hill jumps into race for CD4

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A new contender entered the race for Congressional District 4 on Tuesday.

The district includes Nassau, Clay and Duval Counties.

STORY: Is it cheaper to get gas in Georgia? We hit the road from Jacksonville to find out

Former State Senator Tony Hill is jumping into the race and will run as a Democrat in the Republican-leaning district.

Joined by constituents from each of the three counties covered by the new Congressional District 4, Hill espoused confidence a Democrat could score a victory in the Republican-leaning seat that would have voted 52.6-45.9 for Trump in the last election.

“I’m running for Congress and I’m running to win,” said Hill.

In his announcement, Hill focused heavily on providing student loan debt relief and improving services for female veterans.

“I’m running to fight for those ladies. I’m running to walk with them hand in hand to the VA,” said Hill.

Hill is the second Democrat to officially announce a run for the district.

He enters the race with nearly two decades of experience serving in the Florida Legislature.

In addition to Hill’s legislative experience, he most recently served in Congressman Al Lawson’s administration.

Before that he worked with former Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown, a resume item already drawing criticism from CD4 GOP candidate State Representative Jason Fischer.

“In fact, when he worked for Alvin Brown, they cut over 50 police officers from the street. I mean it’s ridiculous,” said Fischer.

And it’s responding to attacks like that, especially in Clay and Nassau Counties, that has Hill anticipating an expensive race.

“We’re going to have to raise those dollars to do that. Anywhere from $500,000 to a million dollars to get that message out because people are gonna come at us,” said Hill.

STORY: ‘Jacksonville has become a center of space technology’: Bill Nelson tours local space tech company

Hill said his intent is to run a campaign focused on uniting the new district, rather than stoking further divides.

“There’s too much division now. We need somebody to go that can talk with people, try to bring people together to get something done for the constituents,” said Hill.

A state court could potentially throw a wrench into the race.

It’s set to hear a motion to block the current maps Wednesday, but Hill says he doesn’t expect the court to intervene this late, saying: “The cavalry isn’t coming from the court, the cavalry has got to come from the people”.

©2022 Cox Media Group