Orange County Dems had a lot to celebrate last night.
Democrats were at a watch party at The Abbey in downtown Orlando on Tuesday.
Congressman Maxwell Frost, Congressman Darren Soto, Florida Representative Anna Eskamani, Commissioner Nicole Wilson and Commissioner Mayra Uribe all were reelected. Wilson and Uribe hold nonpartisan seats.
Kelly Semrad also won a nonpartisan seat on the Orange County Commission while Anne Douglas was elected to represent District 4 as a member of the nonpartisan Orange County School Board.
Orange County Democrats Chair Samuel Vilchez Santiago said that the Democratic wins are something to celebrate.
“In general, what we take away from this election is our ability to work together as one in the Democratic agenda, in the Democratic Party, to get out the vote, to talk to voters, and I think we've done a phenomenal job of doing that here in the county, and I hope that that model can be replicated across the state,” said Vilchez Santiago.
Vilchez Santiago said despite these wins Amendment 3 and 4 didn’t pass which he calls disappointing.
“And with the amendments, obviously, that's a bummer. Nobody said that flipping Florida Blue will be easy. Republicans have been working on it for decades, and we're dealing with issues like corporate money being thrown against our candidates, voter suppression, but we have to start somewhere, and I think what we're building here provides that starting point,” said Vilchez Santiago.
Voters in Florida ultimately rejected both Amendments 3 and 4, which would have legalized marijuana and enshrined abortion rights into the state constitution.
Florida State Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith who won a seat in the state Senate in an unopposed race said along with fighting for abortion rights and gay rights, he wants to fight for solutions to the problems that he has heard about from so many local voters and residents throughout this election season.
“Look, what we keep hearing from voters, over and over again is how we have real problems that need to be solved, rather than culture wars,” said Guillermo Smith.
He said that includes issues like rising insurance premiums and also tourist development taxes and funding for the arts.
“You know, we have to do something about bringing down property insurance premiums, which the legislature has consistently ignored and distracted us from with their culture wars,” said Guillermo Smith. “I personally also am very committed to making sure that we do something about reforming how we spend tourist development tax dollars. You know, we need to give our local governments, particularly Orange County, more flexibility on how we spend hotel taxes.”
