{"id":56783,"date":"2025-11-22T16:29:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T16:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/56783\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T16:29:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T16:29:12","slug":"one-of-roger-chapins-former-opponents-is-getting-paid-by-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/56783\/","title":{"rendered":"One of Roger Chapin’s former opponents is getting paid by him"},"content":{"rendered":"

After losing in the Orlando City Council election, Chris Durant posed arm-in-arm with his former opponent Roger Chapin<\/a> and wholeheartedly endorsed him for next month\u2019s runoff against Mira Tanna<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Durant\u2019s endorsement posted on social media Nov. 9<\/a> and Chapin\u2019s new mailer highlighting his friendship with Durant doesn\u2019t tell the full story.<\/p>\n

Chapin paid Durant $1,500 on Nov. 10 for \u201ccontract labor,\u201d according to Chapin\u2019s campaign finance report<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both Durant and Chapin denied Durant was compensated for his endorsement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an interview, Durant described the nature of the $1,500 work as doing canvassing and offering messaging strategies for Precinct 45 for the Rosemont neighborhood where Durant lives.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe financial transaction had nothing to do with my verbal or my public endorsement,\u201d Durant said. \u201cHe\u2019s the one that offered. It was in recognition that I was a hard worker and a hard canvasser. \u2026 I knocked on more doors than anybody else. And Roger recognized my hard work and he wanted me to be on his team because he recognized that I\u2019m indispensable. I\u2019m someone that could help him win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Tanna\u2019s campaign countered that she doesn\u2019t pay money to people who endorse her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud of the campaign and vision we\u2019ve built. All of our endorsers and volunteers believe in that vision and that\u2019s why they\u2019re backing us without any financial incentive,\u201d Tanna said in a statement. \u201cThat\u2019s why they have been tirelessly knocking on doors with us, showing up at events, making phone calls, and donating their hard earned resources to this campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chapin has led Tanna in fundraising<\/a> by 3 to 1 for the District 3 nonpartian race<\/a> that covers Baldwin Park, Audubon Park, College Park, Coytown, Rosemont and a few other neighborhoods north of downtown Orlando.<\/p>\n

Durant, 24, who had never run for political office before, finished third<\/a> in the Nov. 4 election. Nearly one out of every five voters chose Durant, a real estate wholesaler looking for residential properties not yet on the market while also coaching youth basketball on the side.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI consider myself a super canvasser,\u201d Durant said about his success. \u201c Walked and knocked. I did it every single day from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. \u2026 I did that for five months straight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durant\u2019s finish surprised some people although Durant said he was disappointed because he expected to make the runoff.<\/p>\n

Instead it was Chapin and Tanna, both Democrats separated by a mere 14 votes, who advanced to the Dec. 9 runoff<\/a> out of the initial field of five candidates.<\/p>\n

After the Nov. 4 election, Durant\u2019s phone blew up. He got calls from state Rep. Anna Eskamani and U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, two popular Orlando Democrats backing Tanna.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Frost \u201ctried to get him not to endorse me, and Chris still stuck with me. Having a U.S. Congressman call you is pretty big,\u201d Chapin said in a earlier interview with Florida Politics. \u201cI think that having a former opposition endorsing you speaks volumes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his timeline for events, Durant said he spoke to both Tanna and Chapin Nov. 5 and decided afterward he was all in on Chapin.<\/p>\n

The next day, that\u2019s when Chapin and his campaign manager called him, offering him paid work for the runoff election, Durant said. He added he had not been promised any city hall jobs if Chapin is elected.<\/p>\n

\"\"Roger Chapin\u2019s new mailer.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The roots of Durant and Chapin\u2019s friendship grew on the campaign trail where Durant said his opponent was genuine and complimentary as they crossed paths at events. They started reaching out if one knocked on the door of a resident supporting the other one, Durant said. Chapin even called asking for advice the best way to leave a message on residents\u2019 Ring cameras if they weren\u2019t home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0 campaign really exposes who you are,\u201d Durant said of Chapin\u2019s personality. \u201cIt didn\u2019t matter what Maxwell Frost told me. I was going to go with Roger because I believed in him. I believed in who he was, and I believe he would be the best person for this district.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frost declined to comment about Durant\u2019s $1,500 contract work but he elaborated on his support for Tanna, the Orlando city grants manager<\/p>\n

\u201cShe understands the inner workings of what the city does, but also more importantly, how to utilize the federal and state resources to get the mission completed,\u201d Frost said in an interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The District 3 runoff comes at a time of major transformation for Central Florida since both Orange County and Orlando are getting new mayors in the upcoming years and the community is grappling with big challenges, from an affordable housing crisis to traffic congestion and a broken and underfunded public transit system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people just want to know, \u2018Are you going to make sure my trash gets on time, that we fill the potholes,\u2019\u201d Frost said. \u201c\u2019And are you going to make sure that you\u2019re going to City Council with brand new ideas that can actually move our city forward?\u2019 I think Mira checks both of those boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After losing in the Orlando City Council election, Chris Durant posed arm-in-arm with his former opponent Roger Chapin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2217,8786,2223,8790,139,13534,8792,141,140,8793],"class_list":{"0":"post-56783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-anna-eskamani","9":"tag-chris-durant","10":"tag-maxwell-frost","11":"tag-mira-tanna","12":"tag-orlando","13":"tag-orlando-city-council","14":"tag-orlando-city-council-district-3","15":"tag-orlando-headlines","16":"tag-orlando-news","17":"tag-roger-chapin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56783","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=56783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}