ORLANDO, Fla. – Special election dates were officially set Tuesday for a new Florida senator to represent part of west Orange County.
Gov. Ron DeSantis issued the executive order calling for a special election to fill the seat left vacant by the unexpected death of State Sen. Geraldine Thompson in February.
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A special primary election will be held on June 24, with a special general election on Sept. 2.
Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd will set the rest of the deadlines for things like candidate qualifying and voter registration in the near future.
Florida Senate District 15 covers all of northwest Orange County down to State Road 408 in Ocoee, and then extends further south to Sand Lake Road. It includes part of Winter Garden, Oakland, Pine Hills, Metrowest, College Park, Parramore, Holden Heights, and the Oak Ridge area.
State Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, represented much of this area in both the Florida Senate and House for close to 20 years. Thompson was also a teacher and a civil rights icon who helped save the historic Wells’Built Hotel in Parramore and turned it into a museum for Black history. She died from complications from knee replacement surgery at the age of 76.
So far three people have announced plans to run for Thompson’s seat.
State Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis and former State Sen. Randolph Bracy will run for the Democratic nomination in the June primary. Bracy Davis and Bracy are siblings. Relations in the family have been strained since Bracy challenged Thompson for her seat last year. Thompson was a close friend of the Bracy family.
Among Republicans, so far, Willie J. Montague has announced plans to run for the seat. Montague runs a faith-based youth program called House of Timothy, and is a member of several county boards. He also ran an unsuccessful campaign in November to unseat U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost in the District 10 race.
