Tiffany Moore Russell and Chris Messina will face off in a November runoff election for Orange County mayor this fall, since neither candidate secured more than 50 percent of the vote in a primary election Tuesday night that featured four very different mayoral candidates.
Tuesday’s results offer a surprising turn of events in the race, pitting a Democrat with years of experience in local elected office (Moore Russell) against a Republican tech entrepreneur who’s never held office before (Messina).
According to unofficial results from the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office, Moore Russell secured 32 percent of the vote — equal to 56,041 votes, as of Wednesday morning — while Messina placed second with 27 percent of the vote, equal to 47,432 votes.
Former U.S. House Representative Stephanie Murphy — the lead fundraiser in the race — placed third, securing 26 percent of the vote, while Orange County commissioner Mayra Uribe placed fourth, securing 14.6 percent of the vote.
The winner of the November general election will succeed outgoing Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, a former sheriff who is term-limited from running for re-election.
“After 15 months of campaigning, knocking on doors, making calls, showing up, and believing in what we were building, Orange County chose Tiffany tonight!” a Facebook post from Moore Russell’s campaign reads. “We won tonight but the work continues to November. I’ll need you to knock on more doors, make more phone calls, and continue to support this campaign that has and will always be backed by the people.”
Although the race is officially nonpartisan, Moore Russell, Uribe, and Murphy are registered Democrats, while Messina was the only Republican in the race. Out of more than 800,000 registered voters countywide, about 38 percent of Orange County voters are registered Democrats, while 27.9 percent are registered Republicans and about 33 percent are registered as No Party Affiliated or “other.”
Moore Russell called out Messina for calling Parramore “a row of rundown homes and junkies” at the WESH 2 debate.
Orange County’s mayor oversees a nearly $9 billion budget and thousands of employees, and is an agenda setter for the Orange County Commission, which deliberates issues ranging from zoning to immigration enforcement, affordable housing policy, conservation, public safety and transportation.
Moore Russell, who currently serves as Orange County clerk of courts, flexed her track record and experience in elected office on the campaign trail. She previously served on the Orange County board of county commissioners — and was the youngest-ever commissioner to be elected at the time — and described herself to Weekly readers as a “pragmatic” leader.
“What they will get in a leader is someone who is very creative and intentional and strategic in how to deliver services. But someone who’s a fighter, someone who is going to defend their interests and protect them as Orange County residents,” she said.
Messina, the only Republican in the race, has never held public office before, but told the Weekly that he felt the county needed something different in a leader than just a “recycled politician.”
“I know how to reach out to businesses to engage them, and I know the issues that are involved,” said Messina, who serves as CEO of a medical marketing technology company. “I feel like we need a new vision for Orange County and not another recycled politician.”
Messina deviated from his three competitors on the campaign trail, in part, by blaming undocumented immigrants for rising housing costs in Orange County and describing the historic Parramore neighborhood — home to the Kia Center, Inter&Co Stadium and the planned Westcourt Sports and Entertainment District — as “a row of junkies” during a mayoral debate hosted by WESH 2 News.
“You go from the Kia Center, which is, you know, nice. And then you go through a row of junkies and rundown buildings to the Inter&Co Stadium, which is pretty nice. And then from there you go to Camping World Stadium to a worse row of rundown homes and junkies.”
Moore Russell was, incidentally, the only candidate to call him out for the “junkies” comment afterward on the debate stage.
“As a community that I used to serve, those are hardworking families who live in that community where we have those stadiums,” she said. “So I’m going to have to defend those who live in the heart of District 6.”
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The post Tiffany Moore Russell and Chris Messina head to runoff in Orange County mayor race appeared first on Orlando Weekly.