Roberta Walton Johnson, general counsel for the Orange County Clerk of Courts, won Tuesday’s Democratic primary to replace her outgoing boss Tiffany Moore Russell in a contentious race for an otherwise unsung office in which her opponent sought to discredit her over a decades-old criminal conviction.

Walton Johnson trounced former Orange County Property Appraiser Rick Singh with about 53% of the vote, according to unofficial results.

“I feel supported,” she said. “I always felt like Orange County voters deserved someone in this seat that was competent and experienced, and I feel like tonight, they even stretched it and said competent, experienced and with integrity. I appreciate that.”

She will go on to face Terrell Thomas, a no-party-affiliation candidate, in the November general election as there is no Republican candidate.

“I just told the team: It’s not over,” she said. “We still have a race ahead of us.”

Both candidates ran on promises to modernize the office’s services and digital infrastructure.

Walton Johnson, who began at the clerk of courts office overseeing its online Self-Help Center, pledged to install kiosks at the Orange County Courthouse and its surrounding branches to cut down on wait times. She also hopes to implement a tool to send electronic notifications reminding customers of payments they owe, suspended licenses, upcoming hearings and more.

But the race to replace Moore Russell, who went on to qualify Tuesday for a run-off election for county mayor, turned controversial in the weeks leading up to the election. One candidate, departing county Commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero, withdrew from the contest amid a legal effort by Singh to boot her from the ballot over an alleged violation of Florida’s “resign-to-run” law.

Once she left the race, Singh’s supporters turned their gaze to Walton Johnson and a federal bank fraud conviction she received in 1996, for which she was sentenced to probation before being granted clemency. Her critics argued the conviction would impede her ability to access a state database crucial to the office’s functions, which she dismissed as “complete nonsense.”

After her clemency, Walton Johnson went on to become a lawyer, working in private practice before she became general counsel at the Clerk of Courts in 2021 — a trajectory she said is a redemption story.

“I tried my best to maintain a standard throughout this campaign because I really feel like noise is not what voters need to hear at this time,” she said.

Singh’s past controversies while he was property appraiser also became an issue in the race. Most recently, a 2024 Seminole County Sheriff’s Office investigation accusing Singh of shoplifting was resurfaced by Walton Johnson’s supporters, despite no criminal case ever being filed.

As with his past scandals, Singh denied wrongdoing in the alleged shoplifting, calling it a “last-minute political attack” by his opponent’s allies.