{"id":298164,"date":"2026-06-06T05:45:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T05:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/298164\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T05:45:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T05:45:28","slug":"jerry-demings-pauses-governor-bid-over-cancer-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/298164\/","title":{"rendered":"Jerry Demings pauses governor bid over cancer diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings has announced that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is suspending his campaign for governor.<\/p>\n

Demings says he learned of the diagnosis on Monday and informed his children of the news on Thursday. <\/p>\n

The mayor released the information publicly on Friday, saying his immediate focus will be on treatment and his health.<\/p>\n

Demings has been one of Central Florida\u2019s most recognizable political figures for more than three decades. <\/p>\n

A native of Orlando, he made history as the first African American police chief in Orlando, the first African American sheriff of Orange County, and later the county\u2019s first African American mayor. <\/p>\n

He has led Orange County since 2018 and has been preparing a campaign for governor.<\/p>\n

I remain committed to serving the citizens of Orange County for the final six months of my mayoral term. My prostate cancer was caught early and is treatable. I appreciate your continued support and prayers.<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Jerry L. Demings, Mayor of Orange County<\/p>\n

We will continue to follow this developing story and bring you updates as more information becomes available.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n

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

TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings has announced that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-298164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298164","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=298164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}