Gabrielle Russon
No candidate cleared a majority of the votes, so the razor-tight Orange County Commission race is heading to a runoff in the November General Election instead of a recount, Orange County officials said Thursday.
In the District 1 race, incumbent Nicole Wilson, a Democrat, was up for re-election against her better funded challenger Austin Arthur, a Republican.
In a race where 28,000 people voted, the number of votes separating Wilson and Arthur in the nonpartisan race could be counted on one hand.
Wilson was up with 14,062 votes versus Arthur’s 14,060 votes, according to the latest numbers released Thursday. Write-in candidate Stephen Davis won 28 votes, playing spoiler in keeping either candidate from reaching at least 50%.
Arthur said he feels confident going into the General Election.
“The momentum is with us and we will win with a huge margin in November,” Arthur said in a statement.
Wilson said she believes higher voter turnout plays into her favor with a packed November ballot for U.S. President, high-profile state amendments on abortion rights and marijuana legalization, plus two Orange County ballot questions dealing with sprawl.
“I’m extremely confident,” Wilson said.
Wilson seemed vulnerable to losing her seat after Arthur raised $275,000, Her stances opposing development and supporting freeing up the tourism development tax to be spent on other community needs have upset powerful business interests in Central Florida. Arthur is backed by the hospitality industry and developers.
The Orange County Canvassing Board met Thursday to review provisional ballots and vote-by-mail ballots that cut Wilson’s previous lead of five votes down to two.
“I want to thank our entire election team of more than 2,200 people for all of their hard work throughout this process as we ensured every possible vote that could be legally counted was counted,” Orange County Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean said in a statement. “The canvassing board serves a critical function in giving the voting public a transparent view of how votes are counted after every election.”
The next step is for the canvassing board to audit the election and send final results to the state.
