Central Florida Democrats help break GOP’s supermajority in Tallahassee

Central Florida Democrats flipped seven legislative seats in Tuesday’s election, helping Florida Democrats break Republican supermajorities in Tallahassee.

In one of the biggest surprise upsets of the night, former Maitland Mayor John Lowndes handily beat Republican incumbent Jason Brodeur in Senate District 10. 

Brodeur was a powerful Republican, serving as Senate President Pro Tempore, the Senate’s second-highest-ranking post, during the 2026 Legislative Session. Lowndes won with 56% of the vote, carrying both Orange and Seminole counties to take down the two-term Senator.

In the House, districts formerly represented by Republican state Reps. Doug Bankson, Erika Booth, Rachel Plakon, Susan Plasencia, David Smith and Paula Stark will now all be represented by Democrats — though Stark was out of the picture before Tuesday after failing to qualify.

Democrats also retained ground they previously won. 

House District 45 may have been a hard fight in 2024, but on Election Night, Democratic state Rep. Leonard Spencer won re-election easily.

“Orlando’s Blue bubble expanded tonight in a HUGE way!! We won and flipped EVERY SINGLE state house and senate seat in Orange, Osceola, and Seminole County!!!” state Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith posted on X on Election Night. “If Dems are gonna finally flip Florida BLUE, the work MUST begin here in Central Florida!!!”

It was a consolation for Democrats after losing close races for Governor and U.S. Senate in Florida while Democrats elsewhere, including Texas and South Carolina, celebrated historic victories.

Democrat Angie Nixon carried Orange County with nearly 64% of the vote, getting more than 300,000 votes, but that wasn’t enough to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody.

Democrats tried to stay positive after that blow, pointing to how close Florida’s top-of-the-ticket races were despite a lack of national party investment.

“Florida showed the country that Florida is back,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost told Orange County Democrats on Election Night. “Don’t see this as a total loss statewide. See this as a re-emergence of a politics that says working people deserve to be at the table.”

Orange County Democratic Party Chair Samuel Vilchez Santiago said his party had been targeting House District 35, where community advocate Eric Gray beat Booth; House District 39, where Orlando Health physician Jarod Fox beat Bankson; and House District 37, where UCF lecturer Jane Aman won the open seat after Plasencia did not seek re-election.

SD 10 was also a seat they longed to flip even if it might have seemed out of reach. Rural boundary supporters felt betrayed by Brodeur, which helped Democrats pull off the upset.

“We’ve been working on those seats for a long time. The legislative seats have obviously been a priority,” said Vilchez Santiago, who himself was a winner Tuesday and will be a state Representative for House District 43.

For two years, Orange County Democrats have worked to increase vote-by-mail enrollment and have spent five figures on voter education to boost it, Vilchez Santiago told Florida Politics. That helped Orange County reshape the electorate for municipal elections, like in November 2025, when Democrat Tom Keen beat the better-funded Republican incumbent, Orlando City Commissioner Jim Gray, and in March, when Keith Givens became Maitland’s first Black City Council member.

“That has kind of been the work that we’re doing, how we use the down-ballot and municipal elections to really think through the mechanics of an election and getting people out to vote,” Vilchez Santiago said.

Orange County Democrats also distributed at least 700,000 voter guides digitally and in print.

Orange County voter turnout hit nearly 58% Tuesday, significantly higher than the 2022 Midterms, when only about 47% of the county voted. Democrats won the day, with voters electing a Democrat as Orange County Mayor and knocking the only Republican incumbent off the Orange County Commission.

When the 2027 Legislative Session starts, Democrats, while still in the minority, will gain some power. The shift affects everything from debate time to committee assignments, and Democrats will have more ammunition to stop Republicans from placing constitutional amendments on the ballot.

“Florida Democrats will now have more leverage to fight against the extreme Republican leadership in the state,” the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee said on X.

Anna Eskamani, who is running for Orlando Mayor and has been busy on the campaign trail to support Democrats, said ending the GOP supermajority “means a real voice and real leverage in Tallahassee.”

“Now the real work begins: governing. We have to show the American people and Floridians that we know how to lead, and that we will deliver on what we promised,” Eskamani said. “And to everyone who poured their heart into a race that didn’t break our way: We don’t stop, and we don’t shrink. We get louder. We get braver. We get bolder.”