{"id":275419,"date":"2026-05-18T17:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/275419\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T17:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:59:11","slug":"6-former-central-florida-lawmakers-line-up-behind-emily-duda-buckley-in-hd-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/275419\/","title":{"rendered":"6 former Central Florida lawmakers line up behind Emily Duda Buckley in HD 38"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emily Duda Buckley<\/a> is rolling out support from a half-dozen former Representatives in her bid for House District 38, picking up endorsements that anchor her campaign in Central Florida\u2019s GOP establishment.<\/p>\n

The Oviedo Republican announced the backing of former Reps. Bob Cortes, Fred Hawkins, Mike Miller, Scott Plakon, Rene \u201cCoach P\u201d Plasencia\u00a0and David Santiago \u2014 a slate spanning Seminole, Orange, and Osceola County legislative experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmily Duda Buckley has built her career on strengthening Florida families, and her candidacy for State Representative reflects her conservative values,\u201d Cortes said. \u201cEmily supports school choice, backs the men and women in law enforcement, and understands we must lower taxes to usher in economic prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plakon, who spent a decade in the House representing Seminole County, described Duda Buckley as a natural fit for the seat. \u201cI know Emily shares our conservative values and will work to accomplish the same,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hawkins leaned on affordability \u2014 the centerpiece of Duda Buckley\u2019s campaign. \u201cShe is a mother who knows firsthand how property taxes and insurance premiums are making life harder for local families,\u201d Hawkins said.<\/p>\n

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

The new endorsements stack onto an institutional ledger that already includes the Florida Chamber of Commerce<\/a> and Associated Industries of Florida<\/a>. Duda Buckley has raised more than $215,000<\/a> between her campaign and affiliated political committee Fostering Florida\u2019s Future. She faces Marcus Hyatt and Austyn Cydney Spell in the August GOP Primary.<\/p>\n

HD 38 \u2014 anchored in southwest Seminole County and covering Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, and Winter Springs \u2014 opens up in 2026 with Rep. David Smith term-limited. Kamala Harris narrowly carried the district over Donald Trump in November, and Democrats are expected to target the seat. So far, only one Democrat \u2014 Michelle Danielle DeJesus \u2014 has filed to run.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Ed. note: This story was drafted with assistance from AI. Editorial judgment, sourcing, and final review were performed by Peter Schorsch and the Florida Politics editorial team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emily Duda Buckley is rolling out support from a half-dozen former Representatives in her bid for House District…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[11591,117559,117560,117561,80091,28,30,29,117562,117563,117564,117565,117566,117567],"class_list":["post-275419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-2026-election","tag-bob-cortes","tag-david-santiago","tag-emily-duda-buckley","tag-endorsements","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-fred-hawkins","tag-hd-38","tag-house-district-38","tag-mike-miller","tag-rene-plasencia","tag-scott-plakon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}