Jacksonville city leaders will meet Monday at City Hall to discuss the next step in replacing Sheriff Mike Williams.
With Williams set to retire Friday, it’ll be up to Governor Ron DeSantis to announce who he’ll appoint to serve as interim sheriff until the election process is complete.
Sheriff Mike Williams set off a firestorm after it was revealed he sold his Oceanway home and moved to Nassau County.
In a statement, he said he would retire a year early to avoid a courtroom battle.
There are currently six people running for Jacksonville sheriff. They are Lakesha Burton, T.K. Waters, Ken Jefferson, Wayne Clark, Tony Cummings, and Mat Nemeth. News4Jax spoke with several of the candidates who say they do not feel DeSantis should install one of the candidates.
We also spoke with our political analyst, Rick Mullaney, who says either way the governor will likely announce the interim sheriff soon.
“Expect it fairly quickly, Mullaney said. “He has a track record of doing it quickly. It could very well be this week. I certainly expect it will be before next Friday, the retirement of Mike Williams. As far as who… certainly the leading Republican candidate TK Waters has gotten a lot of attention. The Undersheriff gets attention. That’s up to the Governor. But I expect the governor to act promptly.”
The special election is expected to take place in August with a runoff election—if needed in November.
Whoever wins will finish out Williams’ term which ends July 2023.
