Incumbent Orange County District 6 Commissioner Michael \u201cMike\u201d Scott faces a primary field of mostly familiar faces to hold onto his post.<\/p>\n
Three of the four challengers \u2014 Lawanna Gelzer, Cynthia Harris and Hedder Pierre Thomas \u2014 were part of a similar cluster of candidates four years ago that led to a tight race and forced a recount of primary election ballots. Ultimately Scott slipped past Harris for the last of two spots on the ballot in the general election.<\/p>\n
Scott then edged Gelzer by 656 votes in a run-off in which 4,597 voters did not mark their ballot for either.<\/p>\n
While the candidates are mostly the same \u2014 the Aug. 18 ballot also includes first-time candidate Loody Delice, who heads the Haitian Community Center \u2014 the district was reshaped by a countywide process to add two new commission seats. District 6 no longer includes any part of Pine Hills or Orlovista.<\/p>\n
It still includes International Drive, the Orange County Convention Center, Universal theme parks and SeaWorld Orlando.<\/p>\n
Voters in District 6 who identify as Black dominate the district with 42% of its 62,250 registered voters, while those identifying as White total 24% and those identifying as Hispanic at\u00a022.1 %.<\/p>\n
Registered Democrats are a majority of the electorate at 52.6%.<\/p>\n
The job, which paid $91,000 four years ago, now pays $130,262 a year, but could rise to $135,000 under the proposed county budget.<\/p>\n
Scott<\/a>, who works for the city of Orlando with nonprofit groups providing mentoring, literacy and life-skill services to youths, represents Orange County on the Central Florida Expressway Authority, appointed recently by Mayor Jerry Demings, who also is a member of the road-building agency\u2019s board.<\/p>\n He said he has prioritized connecting with constituents and adding affordable housing, and would keep those priorities in a second term, too.<\/p>\n He has advocated for diversifying the inventory of affordable housing to include cottages and so-called \u201ctiny homes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need more than just single-family homes and apartments,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n He said he also knows the challenges of the district\u2019s residents. \u201cI understand what it is like to work two jobs just to be able to provide for my family,\u201d he said. \u201cI understand what it\u2019s like to be on public assistance, food stamps, rental assistance and unemployment because I have experienced these challenges within the past 10 years, most recently in 2022.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawanna Gelzer<\/a>, an outspoken community firebrand, said housing affordability and transparency are her top priorities.<\/p>\n A long-time owner of a child-care business, she said district residents need someone like her on the commission who \u201cunderstands the art of negotiation, who\u2019ve had to make payroll, who\u2019ve had to hire . . . I\u2019m bringing that to the table to make sure that District 6, and not just District 6, but all of Orange County grows in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n She pledged to create a community council of neighborhood leaders \u201cfrom every corner of District 6\u201d with regular, open meetings.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve spent more than forty years organizing on the ground, and I know that real change only happens when the community drives the agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n Gelzer said she\u2019s never been shy about \u201cmaking noise\u201d and will encourage constituents to be heard and seen.<\/p>\n \u201cWe aren\u2019t going to just sit around and wait for the government to notice our crumbling roads, broken sidewalks or failing drainage systems,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are going to empower our residents to snap pictures of potholes, broken streetlights and flooding issues to upload as indisputable evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n