Gabrielle Russon
The Senate District 15 race has morphed into an ugly fight between Sen. Geraldine Thompson and former Sen. Randolph Bracy in Orange County.
In the contest for Aug. 20 Primary, both Democrats have accused each other of living outside the district and threatened to sue over it.
Bracy’s own sister, Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, also threw in an endorsement — for her brother’s opponent.
And Bracy held a press conference that Thompson crashed.
Thompson has been elected twice to both the House and the Senate. Bracy won Thompson’s Senate seat in 2016 and served until he ran for Congress in 2022, when he lost in the Democratic Primary to Maxwell Frost, who went on to become the first-ever member of Generation Z to be elected to U.S. Congress.
Bracy argues that Thompson is ineffective at her job.
“She’s been there for 20 years plus, almost a quarter century, and does not have much to show for it. She’s at the point where now she’s trying to take credit for my work,” Bracy said on social media, arguing he has a record of supporting his constituents, including getting funding for a Jewish center.
Thompson has stood up for her record.
“To encourage stronger participation in our democracy, I sponsored legislation which allowed all voters to cast their ballot by mail and to promote fair treatment of all workers, and I sponsored legislation which outlawed discrimination against pregnant women in the workplace,” she says on her campaign website.
Democrats appear to be supporting Thompson.
“It’s not accurate to accuse Thompson or her supporters of being ineffective,” Rep. Anna Eskamani told the Orlando Sentinel. Eskamani was among the Democratic Members of Orange County Legislative Delegation endorsing Thompson.
The Thompson-Bracy race is open to all SD 15 voters in the Aug. 20 Primary since there is no Republican on the ballot. That means the Primary contest will decide the winner outright.
