Vennia Francois swaps races to run in CD 10

Vennia Francois
Francois will now offer a conservative alternative to incumbent Val Demings.

Republican congressional candidate Vennia Francois is switching her candidacy  to Florida’s 10th Congressional District from Florida’s 7th Congressional District, seeking to  take on U.S. Rep. Val Demings rather than be in the multi-Republican field targeting U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy.

Francois switches to CD 10 after the leading Republican candidate there, Kirk Troen, withdrew his candidacy earlier this month.

That puts Francois in competition with Republican Angela Marie Walls-Windhauser, a perennial candidate for various offices, including for President this year.

 Francois, 46, was living in CD 7, in Seminole County.

CD 10 covers western Orange County. The U.S. Constitution requires members of Congress to live in the state they represent, but not necessarily the district.

“I started this journey to bring your voice to Washington D.C. and support our president by taking back the House of Representatives. We have a great opportunity here to win and I’ve been asked to take on a new challenge. Developments here in District 10 have opened up new opportunities that I’ve had to seriously consider. Today I want to announce that I have decided to give the people a choice by running against Val Demings,” Francois said in a news release.

“I want my supporters in District 7 to know that I will be a Congresswoman for all of Central Florida,” she added.

Her departure from the CD 10 race still leaves a crowded field there. Other Republicans in that field include health care executive  Chelle DiAngelus of Longwood, Orlando Dr. Leo Valentin, Lake Mary mortgage broker Richard Goble, Orlando businessman Yukong ZhaoDeBary City Councilman Stephen Bacon, and Orlando businessman Thomas Delia.

Francois, a lawyer who had interned for Murphy’s predecessor Rep. John Mica and later worked for Sen. Mel Martinez and his successor Sen. George LeMieux, is making her second bid for Congress. In 2018 she ran in CD 7 but lost in the Republican primary.

She’s pushing justice reform, keeping unemployment low, safeguarding Social Security, making the 2017 tax cuts permanent as well as on immigration reform, community development, and education.

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].


One comment

  • Carol

    February 20, 2020 at 12:34 pm

    So very happy to hear we have a choice.

Comments are closed.


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