Florida Democrats capture Orange County Mayor's Office ending 20 years of Republican rule.

safety with term-limited County Mayor Teresa Jacobs in the campaign’s final week, avoided a runoff Tuesday and was elected to succeed her in a landslide.

Demings, the first African-American to be elected county sheriff and the first African-American to serve as Orlando police chief, is now the first African-American to be elected county mayor, the county’s top executive post. He won with 62 percent of the vote.

His wife, U.S. Rep. Val Demings, the first woman to serve as Orlando police chief, also won her primary Tuesday, effectively propelling her to a second term because there is no Republican candidate. She stood at his side on stage.

The sheriff, 59, who celebrated his victory with his family — including his 96-year-old father — easily defeated Orange County Commissioner Pete Clarke, who received 22 percent of the vote, and Winter Park businessman Rob Panepinto, who trailed the field with 16 percent.

“We have won this race! We have won this race!” he said during a victory speech at the Florida Hotel & Conference Center at the Florida Mall. “The son of a maid and a taxicab driver has been elected.”

He said the landslide win “speaks volumes just how far this community has come.”

“I hope that this inspires every boy or girl if you work hard and you play by the rules you can become whoever you dream to be,” Demings said.

In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, the county’s top lawman since 2008 said the vote also affirmed his view that the disagreement with Jacobs — who won a race Tuesday for School Board chair — over school resource officers “had nothing to do with school safety or security and everything to do with politics. It clearly didn’t resonate with voters. They know me and have trusted me now for years.”

“I look forward to the future,” he said.

Demings is a Democrat, and his victory also ends 20 consecutive years of Republican leadership at the helm of county government, although elections for county mayor and county commission are nonpartisan contests in which voters can cast ballots regardless of their party affiliation.

Though the candidates’ political-party affiliations didn’t appear on the ballot, Demings enjoyed a distinct advantage over his two Republican foes in fundraising, name recognition and political orientation.

Registered Democrats outnumbered their GOP counterparts by 120,000 in Orange County, according to pre-election tabulations by Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles.


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orange/os-florida-primary-orange-county-mayor-20180822-story.html