Lee Mangold files for another shot at HD 28

Lee Mangold
Mangold enters a Democratic primary with Elizabeth McCarthy.

Democrat Lee Mangold of Casselberry has filed for another try to win the House District 28 seat, which he lost in a close battle last fall to Republican state Rep. David Smith.

Mangold, a cybersecurity business owner, first may have to get through a Democratic primary, as Democrat Elizabeth McCarthy of Sanford already has entered the contest.

Mangold plans a May 8 kickoff for his 2020 election campaign.

Smith, of Winter Springs,  defeated Mangold 51 percent to 49 percent last November. In supporting him, Smith’s campaign spent $283,000, more than five times as much as Mangold’s. Smith has filed for re-election.

HD 28 covers much of north and east Seminole County.

Mangold, 37, holds a doctorate in computer information services, spent years working as a government contractor developing training systems and cybersecurity technologies for the Army, Air Force, Department of Homeland Security, and other government agencies, and now runs a cybersecurity company in Winter Park.

Mangold campaigned on a somewhat progressive Democratic platform in a county that long had been solidly Republican, but is turning purple. As he lost by a little more than 2 percentage points, the county showed similar purple shades up and down the ticket.

Scott Powers

Scott Powers is an Orlando-based political journalist with 30+ years’ experience, mostly at newspapers such as the Orlando Sentinel and the Columbus Dispatch. He covers local, state and federal politics and space news across much of Central Florida. His career earned numerous journalism awards for stories ranging from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster to presidential elections to misplaced nuclear waste. He and his wife Connie have three grown children. Besides them, he’s into mystery and suspense books and movies, rock, blues, basketball, baseball, writing unpublished novels, and being amused. Email him at [email protected].



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