ORLANDO, Fla. – A special election has not been set yet to fill the vacancy left in the Florida Senate by Sen. Geraldine Thompson’s death. But on Friday, State Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis said she would run to take the job, as first reported by our News 6 partners at Vox Populi.
Thompson, a Democrat who represented much of west Orange County, passed away in February from complications caused by knee replacement surgery.
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Bracy Davis, whose Florida House district coincides with Thompson’s Senate district, would be running to represent an area of the county she knows well.
“ We see families working hard but still struggling to afford a place to live. We see the right to vote under attack; gun violence robbing us of our loved ones; the Medicaid waiver wait list with over 22,000 disabled Floridians desperately waiting for services; women’s freedoms being stripped away; rising health care costs are shrinking opportunities. The list unfortunately goes on," said Bracy Davis at a news conference announcing her candidacy on Friday.
“These challenges are not new, and they are not impossible to overcome if we have the right leader in place to lead,” Bracy Davis continued. “And I stand here today to say, I will not waver. I will not retreat. I will continue to fight with every ounce of my being to ensure that Florida works for us all. Because that is what Sen. Geraldine F. Thompson taught us. She showed us that progress is not promise, it is fought for. She showed us that justice is not given, it is demanded. She showed us that leadership is not about personal gain, it is about service, sacrifice and an unshakable commitment to the people.”
Bracy Davis not only served with Thompson in the Florida Legislature but she was also a family friend. Bracy Davis' mother, Dr. LaVon Bracy, was Thompson’s college roommate at the University of Miami, and the two stood at each other’s weddings.
Bracy Davis told Vox Populi that she had had a number of conversations with the Thompson family and her own before deciding to run.
Bracy Davis is not the only one who has announced plans to run for Thompson’s seat.
Her brother, former State Sen. Randolph Bracy, also announced that he planned to run for Thompson’s seat.
Bracy announced he was running in February after she died.
Bracy, also a Democrat, held the seat until 2022 when he resigned to mount an unsuccessful run for Congress.
In 2024, he challenged Thompson in a Democratic primary that turned ugly when he accused her of not living in District 15 and threatened to sue to kick her off the ballot. He never filed the lawsuit.
Thompson won the primary and the election.
Again, Gov. DeSantis has not yet called a special election for District 15, which runs from the border of northwest Orange County down into northern Winter Garden and Ocoee, then southeast to encompass Pine Hills, College Park, Paramore, Holden Heights, Metrowest and the Oakridge area.
Once the election is called, candidates will be able to formally file to run for the seat.
In the meantime, Bracy Davis is sponsoring several bills in the Florida Legislature this session, including several bills looking at ways to reduce youth violence, and a bill expanding voting rights that both Bracy Davis and Thompson had worked on in the past.