Samuel Vilchez Santiago, the chair of the Orange County Democratic Party, is hoping to succeed his mentor, State Rep. Johanna L\u00f3pez, in the Florida House. But he must first face an old rival \u2014 former Democratic State Rep. Daisy Morales.<\/p>\n
L\u00f3pez has represented House District 43, which covers parts of East Orlando, since 2022. She is leaving the Legislature to seek election to the Orange County Commission and has endorsed Vilchez Santiago, her former prot\u00e9g\u00e9, to take her place in the House.<\/p>\n
Vilchez Santiago, 29, will face Morales, 65, in the Aug. 18 Democratic primary. Both candidates\u2019 campaigns center on addressing the state\u2019s affordability crisis.<\/p>\n
The winner will face Republican Jorge Malavet and write-in candidate Areeb Gulzar in November. The district leans heavily to the left, with registered Democrats comprising about 38% of the voter rolls while Republicans make up about 24%.<\/p>\n
While Vilchez Santiago previously lost to Morales in a 2020 state House primary, much has changed since then.<\/p>\n
He led the local Democratic Party for much of the last several years, earning him a slew of high-profile endorsements and a commanding fundraising lead over Morales.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Morales was ousted by Rita Harris in a 2022 primary in District 44 after prominent Democrats grew concerned about Morales\u2019 voting record, financial reports and residency. She attempted to regain that seat in 2024 but again lost the primary to Harris.<\/p>\n
As of Monday, Morales was still registered to vote in District 44, not in District 43 where she is currently running. State law says lawmakers must reside in the district they represent on election day. She says she lives in District 43 and meets legal requirements to serve in the House but declined to say exactly where she lives or explain why she hadn\u2019t updated her voter registration.<\/p>\n
Prominent Democrats had rallied against Morales in 2022 after she voted with Republicans on some major issues, including bills protecting Big Sugar and preventing employers from requiring COVID vaccines.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Vilchez Santiago said he will stand true to Democratic values, unlike Morales, who he said has \u201cfolded\u201d on several issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur democracy is under attack. And if in this moment we don\u2019t stand up for our democracy by electing leaders who understand the moment and who will meet the moment, then we are going to be in big trouble,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Morales has pushed back against that claim, telling the Sentinel that focusing on some of her votes ignores her longer record in the House. She argues that experience\u00a0is why she is the best candidate in the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cI voted to pass balanced state budgets that funded public education, healthcare, public safety, transportation, veterans\u2019 services,\u201d she said. \u201cWorking across the aisle, I helped secure millions of dollars in appropriations for Central Florida. \u2026 I have done the job before, delivered results, and I am ready to do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vilchez Santiago has raised $134,000 and spent $96,000, while Morales has raised $8,400, nearly all of which she has loaned herself, and spent $3,750, according to the latest campaign finance reports. When asked about the fundraising gap, Morales said Vilchez Santiago had outraised her in 2020 but still lost to her.<\/p>\n
Vilchez Santiago\u2019s website shows he has been endorsed by L\u00f3pez and Harris, as well as numerous other prominent Democrats including Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, State Rep. Anna Eskamani, State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, and U.S. Congressmen Maxwell Frost and Darren Soto.<\/p>\n
Vilchez Santiago says he is representative of the American Dream \u2014 a dream he believes is under attack.<\/p>\n
He immigrated to the United States as a child after his family fled Venezuela as refugees. Growing up in Azalea Park, he went on to become the class valedictorian at Colonial High School \u2014\u00a0 where L\u00f3pez was his teacher \u2014 before attending Princeton University and the University of Oxford in England.<\/p>\n
He was elected chair of the Orange County Democratic Party in 2023, where he says he flipped seven Republican-held seats in local and legislative races. He said he took leave from his position in January to run for the House, and an interim chair has been elected in his stead until the primary concludes.<\/p>\n
Vilchez Santiago said all Americans should have the opportunity to achieve that dream as he did, but the nation\u2019s affordability crisis is making that dream increasingly unattainable, especially in Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know people who work two and three jobs and they can still not make ends meet. We have teachers who educate our next generation\u2026but cannot afford a home,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have veterans who went on to serve this country and come back\u2026not actually being able to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n
His solution is to expand access to housing, healthcare and public education. He plans to incentivize the building of affordable homes and support first-time homebuyers, expand Medicaid and give teachers a raise that at least matches inflation.<\/p>\n
Morales served for over two decades as a federal employee and served for years on the Orange County Soil and Water Conservation District before serving a single term as a state representative.<\/p>\n
While in the House, she was the primary sponsor for HB45, which expanded educational access for disabled veterans by making them eligible for tuition waivers at state universities and colleges.<\/p>\n
She says she also sponsored legislation expanding property tax relief for seniors and Floridians with disabilities, strengthening consumer protections, and supporting military families and Florida\u2019s workforce.<\/p>\n
Like Vilchez Santiago, her primary focus is addressing affordability.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day, I hear from families struggling with rising housing costs, skyrocketing property insurance premiums, higher grocery prices, utility bills and healthcare expenses,\u201d she wrote. \u201cFloridians deserve a government that works just as hard as they do to make life more affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morales supports property insurance reforms, raising teacher pay, expanding affordable and workforce housing, providing tax relief for working families and investing in transportation, infrastructure and public education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Samuel Vilchez Santiago, the chair of the Orange County Democratic Party, is hoping to succeed his mentor, State…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2811,28,114,115,1335,139,141,140,99,109],"class_list":["post-356091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-election","tag-florida","tag-latest-headlines","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356091","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=356091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}