State Rep. Joy Goff-Marcil was one of eight Democrats to flip a Republican-held House seat last year, and this week she took the first step to hang onto her House District 30 seat.
According to the Florida Division of Elections, Goff-Marcil opened a campaign account Monday to seek a second term in the Orange County district.
As of Tuesday afternoon, she is the only candidate seeking the seat. She could be in for a tough reelection, however.
The former Maitland City Councilwoman ousted Republican state Rep. Bob Cortes by six points in November, but that margin conceals the seat’s swing-district status.
Cortes defeated former Democratic Rep. Karen Castor Dentel by three points in 2014 and then held onto the seat with a six-point win of his own in 2016 despite the district voting blue by 8 points in the presidential election.
Still, the district, covering the inner-Orlando suburbs of Winter Park, Maitland, and Altamonte Springs, has been trending toward the Democratic party for years and currently has a five-point Democratic advantage in voter registration.a