{"id":203202,"date":"2026-03-24T00:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/203202\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T00:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:33:09","slug":"former-orange-county-democratic-party-chair-hosts-campaign-kickoff-for-florida-house-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/203202\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Orange County Democratic Party chair hosts campaign kickoff for Florida House seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Samuel Vilchez Santiago is running for a seat in the Florida House. Credit: Courtesy of Samuel Vilchez Santiago for Florida House campaign<\/p>\n

Samuel Vilchez Santiago, a former chair of the Orange County Democratic Party, is hosting a kickoff event at the Renaissance Senior Center Tuesday, March 24, to formally launch his campaign for the Florida House this fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old Venezuelan immigrant, raised in Orlando as a teenager, is running for Florida House District 43, currently represented by Democratic state Rep. Johanna L\u00f3pez. L\u00f3pez, a fellow Democrat and former high school teacher of Santiago\u2019s, has decided to run for a seat on the Orange County Commission instead of running for re-election to the state House. She\u2019s already endorsed her former student, an immigrant rights advocate and former communications director for Orlando\u2019s March for Our Lives chapter, to become her successor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think things have not been working in Florida,\u201d Santiago told Orlando Weekly in an interview about his campaign earlier this year. \u201cAnd over the last few years, we\u2019ve seen how the [GOP] supermajority in Tallahassee and one-party rule for over the last 30 years has led to policy outcomes that are impacting all of our communities, starting with an affordability crisis that is impacting most Floridians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republican lawmakers outnumber Democrats in the Florida Legislature more than 2 to 1, rendering most of Democrats\u2019 policy priorities dead if they can\u2019t manage to garner the support of Republicans willing to work with them. Under the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis and the rise of the far-right Make America Great Again wing of the GOP, political divides have grown deeper in the state Legislature in recent years, even disrupting working relationships<\/a> between top Republicans.<\/p>\n

Santiago, who\u2019s running for a seat in a Democratic-leaning district, names Florida\u2019s affordability crisis, championing public education and protecting immigrant families in his district as top priorities of his campaign.<\/p>\n

He told the Weekly that he\u2019s well aware the Republican majority in the state Legislature is \u201cclearly not aligned\u201d with him on certain issues, such as immigration. But he does believe there\u2019s room for collaboration. \u201cI do think there\u2019s an opportunity to work together on issues that are less, you know, polarizing,\u201d he affirmed, naming issues such as eliminating or reducing tolls on roads and expanding homestead tax exemptions for first-time home-buyers and seniors as examples.<\/p>\n

Affordability is an issue at the top of mind for most Floridians this year, according to polling, yet the Florida Legislature this year failed to pass any significant legislation addressing the issue, nor struggles affecting renters and homeowners alike.<\/p>\n

State lawmakers\u2019 annual 60-day regular legislative session concluded March 13 without a finalized state budget, meaning Florida lawmakers will have to return to Tallahassee sometime next month to hammer that out. A special session on the issue of property taxes \u2014 and outgoing Gov. DeSantis\u2019 proposal to eliminate them \u2014 is also likely to be called this year.<\/p>\n

Florida House District 43 covers<\/a> parts of east Orange County and Orlando, spanning from just north of Lake Nona up to Colonial Drive. Since first announcing his campaign for Florida House in January, Santiago has already earned the endorsements of more than two dozen local and state elected officials, including fellow Gen-Z U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and local Democratic state representatives whom he\u2019d join in the House if elected.<\/p>\n

His only current competition in the HD 43 race is Republican Robert Prater<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSamuel is part of a new generation of leaders who understands that real change comes from showing up, organizing, and never backing down,\u201d said U.S. House Rep. Frost, who previously organized with Santiago through the student-led gun control organization March for Our Lives. The pair first met, however, through an internship with the Boys & Girls Club in high school, according to Frost. \u201cI trust him to stand up for our entire community and push back against extremists in Tallahassee,\u201d Frost said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Santiago previously ran for the Florida House in 2020, but lost the Democratic primary election to former Rep. Daisy Morales, securing just under 30 percent of the vote to her nearly 40 percent. Morales later lost her own Democratic primary to sitting Rep. Jennifer \u201cRita\u201d Harris in 2022. Harris, representing District 44, has endorsed Santiago\u2019s campaign for the neighboring seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cSamuel Vilchez Santiago does the work, often when no one is watching, and consistently delivers for the people we serve,\u201d Harris said in a statement. \u201cI trust Samuel, and I am proud to support him for Florida House.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santiago told the Weekly, \u201cquite honestly,\u201d that he believes the state government needs to have more voices from the immigrant rights movement, like his own. Fellow immigrant rights advocate Felipe Sousa Lazaballet \u2014 a Brazilian immigrant and executive director of the Hope CommUnity Center \u2014 is also running for a seat in the Florida House this year as a Democrat.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents escaped political persecution from the Venezuelan authoritarian regime, and when I came here, this community opened up its doors and provided opportunities that I am cognizant would have likely not been available to me anywhere else in the world,\u201d Santiago told the Weekly. \u201cAnd I worry that in this current environment, had that 13-year-old Samuel come here, those opportunities wouldn\u2019t have been provided to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

A graduate of Princeton University who later earned a master\u2019s degree in public policy from the University of Oxford, Santiago said he was \u201cvery involved\u201d with the Biden-Harris administration\u2019s designation of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Venezuelans, as well as the humanitarian program for Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Haitians. \u201cAnd so it is sad to see how in the course of the last year, everything has changed so drastically,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Despite Republican state leadership\u2019s eagerness to support the Trump administration\u2019s mass deportation agenda, hundreds of members of the Orlando community have rallied in protest of federal immigration enforcement\u2019s violent tactics under Trump, and against a proposed immigrant detention center in southeast Orlando near Lake Nona. Advocates have also pressured county officials into adopting measures to ensure due process rights for immigrants detained by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement in the local jail and have called on county leaders to end their collaboration with ICE.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless we step up to lead in this critical moment, I don\u2019t know where this country will be in the next few years,\u201d said Santiago.<\/p>\n

Santiago\u2019s campaign is holding its official campaign kickoff this Tuesday, March 24, starting at at 6:40 p.m. at the Renaissance Senior Center at 3800 S. Econlockhatchee Trail. The event \u201cwill bring together community leaders, supporters, and residents to celebrate the start of the campaign and highlight a vision centered on opportunity,\u201d according to a campaign news release.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Stories<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Former\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSamuel Vilchez Santiago, a Gen-Z Democrat, has already earned the endorsement of incumbent Rep. Johanna L\u00f3pez for the Florida House District 43 seat in Orlando.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Soul\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tThe joint was a-shakin\u2019\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Legendary\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tOrlando is, at last, something to f*ck with \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

\t