Scott Powers
Orange County Mayor-elect Jerry Demings is setting out to help shape the Orange County Commission with which he’ll work.
He’s hosting a fundraiser set for next week to support Mayra Uribe‘s quest to be elected in District 3.
Demings, currently the Orange County Sheriff, was elected Mayor of the county in the Aug. 28 election, when he bested two opponents and managed to top 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff. He takes office in December.
Uribe came out of the Aug. 28 election headed for a runoff election with Pete Crotty. They finished first and second, respectively, among six candidates.
Although the Nov. 6 election is officially nonpartisan, and the positions of Orange County Mayor and Orange County Commissioner are both nonpartisan, there are major partisan ramifications. Demings is the first Democrat to be elected county mayor since Linda Chapin left office [then called Orange County Chair] in 1998. The Orange County Democratic Party now is eyeing the potential to place a majority on the commission for the first time since 1998, needing to flip one of three seats open on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Uribe is a Democrat and Crotty a Republican. The other two Orange County Commission elections feature Democrat Patricia Rumph against Republican Orange County School Board Member Christine Moore in District 2; and Democrat Maribel Gomez Cordero against Republican Susan Makowski in District 4. They also emerged from multi-candidate Aug. 28 elections, headed for runoffs.
The new Orange County Commission also will be seated in December.
The fundraiser hosted by Demings is set for Tuesday, Sept. 25, at the law office of Nelson Mullins Broad and Cassel in Orlando. Chapin is among other listed hosts for the event.
