Both candidates in the nonpartisan race for District 1 Orange County Commission seat are lifting up the message of “Every vote matters” as their race heads to a likely recount in the coming days.
The two candidates — incumbent Nicole Wilson and challenger Austin Arthur — are separated by just five votes, as of Wednesday morning, with Wilson just barely ahead. Because of the tiny margin between them, the race is expected to go to a recount, while two other close county commission races for District 3 and District 5 will head to a runoff election this November.
Wilson received 50.01 percent of the vote — or 14,052 votes — according to county elections data, while Arthur received 14,047 or 49.99 percent of the vote.
Wilson, the incumbent, was out-fundraised by Arthur in the race more than five to one, with Arthur securing a strong backing from development interests, as well as groups that often back business-friendly Republicans, like the local police and Sheriff’s Office unions, Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association, and the I-Drive Chamber of Commerce.
Arthur, a Republican running in a district that just barely leans red (in an otherwise blue-ish county), owns a gymnasium in Winter Garden, runs a marketing firm, and is a board member for the Eustis-based Life’s Choices Women’s Clinic— an anti-abortion pregnancy center that claims to offer free ultrasounds, free pregnancy tests and STD testing for pregnant people, despite lacking a state medical license.
On its website, Life’s Choices offers misleading information on “abortion pill reversal” — a concept that is not supported by science — but acknowledges at the very bottom of its page, “Because we are pro-woman and a non-profit, we do not provide or refer for abortion services.”
As a board member, Arthur is unpaid for his role with Life Choices Women’s Clinic, according to the nonprofit’s most recent tax filing.
Wilson, on the other hand, is a registered Democrat in the officially nonpartisan race and licensed attorney who assumed office as Orange County commissioner in 2020. Wilson is an advocate of “smart growth” who has been endorsed by the Save Split Oak campaign, and has advocated for responsible land use and environmental conservation in a way that has irked developer interests that have opted to instead throw money at Arthur, according to reporting from the Orlando Sentinel.
Wilson has nonetheless scrutinized progressive proposals — like Orange County’s medical debt relief plan — with an eye to making sure they hold up on the practical end before lending her support. She has also supported investment in addressing other key issues in the county, such as affordable housing and homelessness services. Arthur has been vague on conservation issues, according to the Sentinel, and agrees with the anti-rent control real estate lobby that more affordable housing can, in part, be best achieved by "removing unnecessary and burdensome regulations" when it comes to development. (Industry lobbyists used that argument to gut local tenants' rights laws, too.)
Meanwhile, two other County Commission races on the ballot this year will head to a runoff on Nov. 5 due to the fact that none of the candidates in either race secured more than 50 percent of the vote. In the District 3 race, incumbent Mayra Uribe will face off against challenger Linda Stewart, a term-limited Democratic state Senator who has had a cozier relationship lately with Big Tourism as of late than Uribe, who has been wary of throwing money at an industry that largely supports low wages for the workers whose labor fuels the local economy. Uribe was endorsed for re-election by Unite Here Local 737, a local labor union that represents thousands of tourism industry workers at Disney World, local hotels, and the Orange County Convention Center.
Uribe received 44.7 percent of the vote during Tuesday’s Primary Election, while Stewart received 34.69 percent of the vote. A third candidate on the ballot, Gus Martinez, received just over 20 percent of the vote.
In District 5, UCF professor and community activist Kelly Semrad — who secured the higher number of votes during Tuesday’s election, with 41 percent of the vote — will face off against developer Steve Leary, who got the second-highest number of votes. Emily Bonilla, the sitting county commissioner for District 5, is not seeking re-election and endorsed Semrad to replace her on the dais.
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