![\"Orange](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tos-l-ELECTION-messina-1.jpg\")
Orange County mayoral candidate Chris Messina celebrates his advancement to a November runoff with his family and supporters during an election night watch party at Grills Lakeside in Orlando on Tuesday. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\nOrange County Democrats believe they can start off 2027 in control of all eight county commission seats and the mayor\u2019s chair after Tuesday\u2019s primary election teed up a number of showdowns with GOP candidates in November.<\/p>\n
Republicans, though, think the property tax amendment on the ballot will give them an electoral boost.<\/p>\n
While the county races are officially nonpartisan and party affiliation won\u2019t appear on the ballot, party registration will certainly be a factor in deep blue Orange. Official Democratic Party backing will crank up a well-oiled machine of canvassers, volunteers and fundraisers for which the county\u2019s progressive standard bearers, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost and state Rep. Anna Eskamani, have become known.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t believe in empty endorsements,\u201d Frost said at a Thursday rally, throwing his weight behind the local Dems. \u201cWe\u2019re going to knock doors, we\u2019re going to raise money, we\u2019re going to do the events and we\u2019re going to do the work necessary to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a bruising summer mayoral campaign that included three Democrats, Clerk of Courts Tiffany Moore Russell made it to November as the lone member of the party remaining. Republican Chris Messina, who was endorsed by the county GOP months ago, edged out former U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy for the second slot in the November runoff.<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s slate of Orange Democrat endorsements also includes former State Reps. Kamia Brown in District 2 and Johanna Lopez in District 4, former Pine Hills Community Council president Patricia Rumph in District 7 and former State Sen. Vic Torres in District 8.<\/p>\n
While the party isn\u2019t formally backing a District 6 candidate because the runoff features two Democrats, Moore Russell offered her own public backing of incumbent Mike Scott.<\/p>\n
While Democrats hold a substantial edge in voter registration in Orange County \u2013 39% of the county electorate, compared with 29% with no party affiliation and 28% registered Republicans \u2013 Republicans have long maintained a presence on the board, specifically in District 2 representing the Apopka area.<\/p>\n
Orange County mayoral candidate Chris Messina celebrates his advancement to a November runoff with his family and supporters during an election night watch party at Grills Lakeside in Orlando on Tuesday. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n
Republican Christine Moore served nearly 8 years in the seat before resigning her term early to unsuccessfully run for Apopka Mayor. Before her, Bryan Nelson held the post for four years before also running for Apopka mayor.<\/p>\n
Other recent Republicans have included Betsy Vanderley, who represented District 1 in west Orange from 2016 to 2020, and Teresa Jacobs, who served as mayor from 2010 to 2018.<\/p>\n
But the board is now larger after voters decided to add two new districts and expand it from seven voting members to nine, including the mayor. All but District 1 \u2013 occupied by incumbent Democrat Nicole Wilson, who isn\u2019t up for election this cycle \u2013 have more registered Democrats than Republicans, elections data shows.<\/p>\n
A University of North Florida poll shows Florida voters are most concerned with affordability, which the candidates will have to grapple with as they make their cases to voters in the coming months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact of the matter is, Democrats nationwide, we\u2019ve got an issue. And the issue is that the most expensive places to live in this nation are run by our party,\u201d Frost said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why new leadership is important,\u201d he added. \u201cThese are folks saying we\u2019re going to ensure that we go down a path where people can afford to live in Orange County and where people can afford to live in the State of Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moore Russell said the Democratic commission candidates will be crucial to carrying out her vision for the county if she wins in November, telling rallygoers they will \u201cstand up for working families\u201d and will be \u201cleaders who understand that growth must come with infrastructure, leaders who understand that transportation is not just about roads.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all still different in how we lead and how we move forward \u2013 but the one thing that\u2019s consistent is we all have the same vision for how families are struggling,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want more housing, we want more transportation solutions, we want to create high-wage jobs. As long as we have a shared vision, how we get there we can work through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erin Huntley, the Orange County Republican Party chairwoman, said the party is excited about its own slate of candidates, who will campaign with state-level Republicans atop the ticket as well. She said their message of reducing taxes and spending offers a clear contrast.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly the Republican candidates have real solutions for that,\u201d said Huntley, herself a candidate in state House District 45. \u201cThere is one party that wants to tax and spend more. And there\u2019s another \u2013 our party \u2013 that wants to put money back in their pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Messina and Huntley each said he was boosted in the primary by his position as the only candidate in the race in favor of Amendment 3, which would roll back property taxes, as well as his business-minded views of how to run a county.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be making my case to all of the voters about economic empowerment, about wanting to have a safe Orange County and an Orange County where our youth have hope,\u201d Messina said this week.<\/p>\n
The District 2 race will technically feature an incumbent Republican in Mike Crabb, a now-retired sheriff\u2019s office lieutenant who was appointed to the seat by Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier in the month, just ahead of the primary. Crabb has yet to formally take office, and is expected to be sworn in next week.<\/p>\n
Crabb received about 25% of the vote last week to secure a spot in the November runoff, seven points behind Brown.<\/p>\n
Republican Jeannette Quinones Hernandez, a former Hispanic outreach director for former U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, also made the runoff in District 8 with 18% of the vote to Torres\u2019 31%.<\/p>\n
Brian Jones, also endorsed by the Orange County Republicans, will face Lopez in November in District 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orange County Democrats believe they can start off 2027 in control of all eight county commission seats and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[28,114,266,115,1335,139,141,140,109],"class_list":["post-378990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-florida","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378990","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=378990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}