Rachel Plakon holds on in HD 36, fending off challenge by Kelley Diona Miller

Rep. Rachel Plakon will represent House District 36 for a second term after fending off a challenge by Democrat Kelley Diona Miller.

The Lake Mary Republican took 53.63% of the vote to Miller’s 46.37%, with all Election Day and early votes tabulated and 99% of all vote-by-mail reported

Plakon won re-election despite Democrats holding a numbers edge. But she felt voters saw a record of accomplishment for the district.

“We put forward a good campaign,” she said. “We’ve pushed back on inflation coming out of Washington, passed $3 billion in tax cuts, and we are keeping Florida’s economy strong.”

Miller ran against what she saw as extremism coming from the Legislature and said the women of Florida deserve better.

An executive committee member for the Seminole County NAACP and diversity chair for the SEMDEMS, the human resources professional has also been active in the Greater Orlando Society Human Resources Management board and the Association of Talent & Development.

She said lawmakers ignored issues impacting day-to-day lives of constituents.

“I am running to resolve the affordable Florida affordability crisis we are suffering here in Florida with our homeowners insurance, our car insurances, and I want to do whatever I can to bring the solution,” she said at a WESH debate.

Miller, who boasted the endorsement of Ruth’s List Florida and other progressive groups, slammed Plakon for a voting record out of step with the arguably moderate district.

Plakon supported a ban on most abortions six weeks into pregnancy, and was the lead sponsor of a law prohibiting transgender individuals from using restrooms at public facilities aligned with their gender identity.

Plakon, for her part, defended her record.

“We didn’t start the culture war,” she said. “Things have been a certain way for hundreds of years. It wasn’t our war to start. We are fighting for what we believe in as conservatives.”

Miller scoffed at the idea transgender people pose a threat to women.

“We are speaking of the ability for a transgender person who is born and who has transitioned into another gender and deciding to go into the bathroom of the gender that they have specified,” she said at the WESH debate. “I don’t believe that this will be an issue with increased violence of any of any kind.”

But Plakon also said lawmakers can multitask and rejected arguments that the Legislature hasn’t done anything to combat rising insurance rates. She pointed to tax breaks for homeowners and efforts to bring the cost of building materials under control. She also said lawmakers took steps to stop lawsuit abuse, which would have reduced rates if not for inflation driven by federal spending.

And she touted a series of appropriations she brought to the district in her first term, including $8.32 million in projects just last year. That included $850,000 for The Family Café, which helps children with disabilities, and $1 million for the Seminole Hope and Healing Center, a treatment center working in partnership with Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma. She also secured $2.6 million for the Sanford nutrient reduction project at Lake Jesup and $2.52 million for the Sanford Airport Authority.

Plakon maintained a resource advantage throughout the race. Through Oct. 18, Plakon’s re-election campaign had raised more than $170,000, and still had almost $73,000 for her final days on the campaign trail. By comparison, Miller collected less than $37,000. She had most of that still heading into the final weeks, but that constituted just under $20,000 cash.