ORLANDO | Voters called for a bluer state Nov. 6 as progressive candidates won several key races and many Democrats held onto their Central Florida Congressional and Legislative seats in the 2018 midterms.
State representative races placed a big blue dot in the middle of Florida as Rep.-Elect Geraldine Thompson, Rep.-Elect Anna Eskamani, Rep. Amy Mercado and Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith all won in their districts.Thompson defeated Republican incumbent Robert Olszeski 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent in District 44. The district includes Orlando’s tourism hotspots and is home to Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, SeaWorld, International Drive and the Orange County Convention Center.
Thompson previously represented the state as a member of the Florida Senate from 2012-2016.
Eskamani defeated Republican opponent Stockton Reeves in the Florida House race for District 47. Eskamani won 57.3 percent of the vote compared to Reeves’ 42.7 percent.
Eskamani’s win flips District 47 which had been represented for the last four years by Republican Mike Miller. Miller ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in District 7 this year, but lost to Democratic incumbent Stephanie Murphy 57.7 percent to 42.3 percent.
With her win, Eskamani becomes the first Iranian-American woman lawmaker elected from Florida.
Mercado and Guillermo Smith — Districts 48 and 49, respectively — easily held onto their seats in the Florida House. Mercado defeated Republican challenger George Chandler 73.4 percent to 26.6 percent and Guillermo Smith beat his Republican opponent Ben Griffin 64.2 percent to 35.8 percent.
The wins in Districts 44, 47, 48 and 49; along with Rep. Kamia Brown in District 45 and Rep. Bruce Antone in District 46, place all but one Orange County state representative in the blue column.
Rep. Rene Plasencia — who won his re-election against Democrat Pam Dirschka in District 50, 55.3 percent to 44.7 percent — is the sole Republican to have any part of their district in the county.
It was more a purple night for the four U.S. House seats up for grabs in Central Florida. Along with Murphy, U.S. Rep. Darren Soto (D-9) defeated Wayne Liebnitzy 58 percent to 42 percent.
Republicans took U.S. House seats in Districts 6 and 8, with Michael Waltz beating Democratic challenger Nancy Soderberg 56.3 percent to 43.7 percent in District 6 and incumbent Bill Posey easily holding his District 8 seat against Sanjay Patel 60.5 percent to 39.5 percent.
In other Central Florida key races, current Orlando Police Department Chief John Mina became Orange County Sheriff, defeating ex-Florida Highway Patrol trooper Jose Lopez and Orlando businessman Darryl Shepard. Mina carried 45.5 percent of the vote while Sheppard took 40.7 percent and Lopez got 13.9 percent.
Susan Makowski narrowly missed becoming the first openly LGBTQ commissioner in Orange County when she lost her run for District 4 to Maribel Gomez Cordero 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent.
