{"id":284404,"date":"2026-05-26T04:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T04:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/284404\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T04:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T04:36:11","slug":"jorge-martinez-latest-republican-to-challenge-darren-soto-in-redrawn-cd-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/284404\/","title":{"rendered":"Jorge Martinez latest Republican to challenge Darren Soto in redrawn CD 9"},"content":{"rendered":"

Business owner\u00a0Jorge Martinez\u00a0has announced he will challenge U.S. Rep.\u00a0Darren Soto,\u00a0four years<\/a> after first considering a run against him. This time, he is running in a district that now leans Republican.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Pine Hills Republican said he had filed to run in Florida\u2019s\u00a0newly redrawn<\/a> 9th Congressional District. He shared his story of fleeing Cuba as a child and building a life in the Orlando area.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family fled communism and came to Central Florida with nothing but hope, and this community gave us the chance to build our piece of the American Dream,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cI\u2019m not running for Congress to enjoy a title. I\u2019m running out of gratitude \u2014 so all families have the same shot at the American Dream that this country gave mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez left Cuba at age 8 with his parents and two younger siblings in 1973. The family settled in Orlando, where he graduated from West Orange High School and later earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in Business Administration from the University of Central Florida. In 1992, he started Martinez & Associates CPAs.<\/p>\n

He has also shared his expertise with several local nonprofit organizations, such as the Central Florida Foundation, the finance committee at St. James Catholic Church, the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, and Give Kids the World.<\/p>\n

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

Martinez compared his years of managing finances to Congress\u2019s spending during Soto\u2019s five terms in the U.S. House.<\/p>\n

\u201cDarren Soto has spent nearly a decade in Washington voting for trillions in spending that drove up the cost of everything \u2014 and against the funding it takes to secure our border,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCentral Florida families are paying more and getting less. This District voted for President Trump and the America First agenda, and it deserves a congressman who will help finish the job \u2014 not stand in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2022, Martinez announced he would run against Soto after the redistricting process, but he did not stay in the race for the Republican Primary that year. Now, with a new map approved by Gov.\u00a0Ron DeSantis, Florida\u2019s 9th Congressional District leans more Republican, giving Martinez more reason to run.<\/p>\n

With the\u00a0new district boundaries<\/a>, over 59% of voters supported Republican\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0for President in 2024, while less than 41% backed Democrat\u00a0Kamala Harris. Previously, more than 51% of voters in the old district supported Harris, and Soto last\u00a0won re-election<\/a> there with about 55% of the vote.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Business owner\u00a0Jorge Martinez\u00a0has announced he will challenge U.S. Rep.\u00a0Darren Soto,\u00a0four years after first considering a run against him.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[112143,6698,28,30,29,120809,120810,10351],"class_list":["post-284404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-cd-9","tag-darren-soto","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-floridas-9th-congressional-district","tag-jorge-martinez","tag-redistricting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284404","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=284404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}