Primary Day 2024 election results for Orange County and Orlando, Florida

Polls were open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 20, as thousands of local voters headed off to the polls for Florida's Primary Election Day. Fewer than 1 in 4 registered voters turned out for Tuesday’s primary elections — with nearly 99 percent of precincts reporting, the turnout was 22 percent statewide, according to data posted on the state Division of Elections website.

There are roughly a couple dozen Orange County seats up for election this year, from County Commission seats to school board races and others. Additionally, there are also state House, Senate, and U.S. House and Senate seats up for election.

Some races, including a local school board race, became contentious. Campaign season kicked off with disparaging mailers and candidates pointing to their opponents' revealing campaign contributors and track records.

Florida is a closed primary state, meaning if a race is partisan, you will only see candidates on your ballot that are registered with the same party you are (with few exceptions). School board races and some others (including county commissioner and judicial office races) are nonpartisan, and will show up on your ballot regardless of your party affiliation.

The only statewide office on all voters' ballots was for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Rick Scott, who garnered several challengers on the Democratic side — one of whom will face off against Scott in November. (We won't spoil it: Read below.)

Proposed constitutional amendments, including a ballot measure that seeks to enshrine abortion rights into Florida's state constitution, will appear on the General Election ballot in November.

State of play

Going into Election Day, more than 1.9 million voters in Florida had already cast their ballots, either through vote-by-mail or during the early voting period. As of about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, voter turnout in Orange County, specifically, stood at about 12 percent. By the time the polls closed at 7 p.m., voter turnout was at 16 percent, with just under 129,000 out of 811,612 eligible voters having cast their votes.

As of Election Day, there were 326,469 voters registered as Democrats in the Democratic-leaning Orange County, according to county data — representing about 38 percent of registered voters — as well as 217,407 registered Republican voters, 248,723 registered with "No Party Affiliation" and 24,056 registered as "Other."

As of Wednesday morning, here are all of the Primary Election Results pertinent to the Orange County/Orlando area and unopposed candidates up for re-election this year:

Election results

Note: The winner of each race is listed in bold font.

You can view Election Results posted on the Orange County SOE's Office here and state election results here.

U.S. SENATE

Democratic Party:

• Stanley Campbell
  
• Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
• Rod Joseph
• Brian Rush

Republican Party:

• Rick Scott
• Keith Gross
• John S. Columbus

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

U.S. House District 9

Democratic Party:

• Darren Soto (incumbent, unchallenged)

Republican Party:

• Jose Castillo
• Thomas Chalifoux
• John "Q" Quinones

U.S. House District 10

Democratic Party:

• Wade Darius
• Maxwell Alejandro Frost (incumbent)
• V. "Issa" White

Republican Party:

• Tuan Le
• Willie J. Montague

PARTISAN STATE RACES

State Attorney

Republican Party:

• Thomas Feiter
• Seth Hyman

Note: The (appointed) incumbent State Attorney, Andrew Bain, is running as an NPA candidate and will appear on the November ballot. Monique Worrell, a Democrat formerly elected to the seat before being ousted by Gov. DeSantis, will also appear on the November ballot.

Public Defender

• Lenora Easter (DEM)
• Melissa Vickers (DEM)

Note: No GOP candidates filed to run for this seat.

FLORIDA SENATE

Florida Senate District 13

Democratic Party:

• Stephanie Dukes (unopposed)

Republican Party:

• "CJ" Blancett
• Bowen Kou
• Keith Truenow

Florida Senate District 15

Democratic Party:

• Randolph Bracy
• Geraldine Thompson

Note: No GOP candidates filed to run for this seat.

Florida Senate District 17

Democratic Party:

• Carlos Guillermo Smith (unopposed)

Note: No GOP candidates filed to run for this seat. Smith, a former State House rep, will return to the State Senate, uncontested.

Florida Senate District 25

Democratic Party:

• Kristen Arrington
• Alan Grayson
• Carmen Torres

Republican Party:

• Jon H. Arguello
• Jose Martinez

FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Florida House District 37

Democratic Party:

• Nate Douglas (unopposed)

Republican Party:

• Susan Plasencia (incumbent; unopposed)

Florida House District 38

Democratic Party:

• Sarah Henry (unopposed)

Republican Party:

• David Smith (incumbent; unopposed)

Florida House District 39

Democratic Party:

• Marsha Summersil (unopposed)

Republican Party:

• Doug Bankson (incumbent; unopposed)

Florida House District 40

Democratic Party:

• LaVon Bracy Davis (incumbent; unopposed)

Republican Party:

• Belinda Ford (unopposed)

Florida House District 41

Democratic Party:

• Bruce Antone (incumbent)
  
• Jane't Buford Johnson

Note: No GOP candidates filed to run for this seat.

Florida House District 42

Democratic Party:

• Anna Eskamani (incumbent; unopposed)

Republican Party:

• Gregory Pull (unopposed)
  

Florida House District 43

Democratic Party:

• Johanna Lopez (incumbent; unopposed)

Republican Party:

• Joseph "Joe" Melendez (unopposed)
  

Florida House District 44

Democratic Party:

• Jennifer "Rita" Harris (incumbent)
• Daisy Morales

Note: No GOP candidates filed to run for this seat.

Florida House District 45

Democratic Party:

• Leonard Spencer (unopposed)
  

Republican Party:

• Carolina Amesty (incumbent; unopposed)
  
  

PARTISAN COUNTY OFFICE

Tax Collector:

Democratic Party:

• David Nelson Freeman
• Scott Randolph (incumbent)

Note #1: No GOP candidates filed to run for the Tax Collector seat.

Note #2: The Clerk of Courts, Property Appraiser and County Comptroller seats were up for reelection this year, but were uncontested. The Sheriff and Supervisor of Elections races will be on the November ballot.

NONPARTISAN COUNTY OFFICE

Orange County Board of Commissioners — District 1

• Nicole Wilson (incumbent)
• Austin Arthur
  
  This race was too close to call, with Wilson leading Arthur by just five votes as of Wednesday morning. Therefore, both candidates will head to a runoff in November.
  

Orange County Board of Commissioners — District 3

• Mayra Uribe (incumbent)
• Linda Stewart
• Gus Martinez
  
  While Uribe led the three candidates in the polls (garnering 44 percent of the vote), this race will also head to a runoff in November, with Uribe facing off against Stewart for the District 3 seat.
  

Orange County Board of Commissioners — District 5

• Joy Goff-Marcil
• Steve Leary
• Joel Antonio Montilla
• Kelly Semrad
  
  While Semrad led the pack with the highest number of votes (41% of the vote), this race will also head to a runoff in November, where Semrad will face off against Leary, who trailed behind her in the polls.
  

Orange County School Board — District 4

• Anne Douglas
• Kyle Roger Goudy
• Jake Petroski
  
  While Goudy led the pack in this race, receiving 37 percent of the vote, he did not surpass the required 50% threshold to avoid a runoff. Therefore, in November, Goudy will face off against Douglas, who came in second place Tuesday, in a runoff election for the District 4 seat.
  

Orange County School Board — District 5

• Vicki-Elaine Felder (incumbent; unchallenged)

Orange County School Board — District 6

• Jeni Grieger
  
• Stephanie Vanos
  

Orange County School Board — District 7

• Melissa Mitchell-Byrd (incumbent; unchallenged)

NONPARTISAN JUDICIAL OFFICE

Circuit Judge, 9th Judicial Circuit, Group 5

• Joy Goodyear
• LaShawnda K. Jackson

Circuit Judge, 9th Judicial Circuit, Group 15

• Jeffrey Ashton
• Chris Mack
• Alicia L. Peyton

Circuit Judge, 9th Judicial Circuit, Group 37

• Jason Willis
• Tanya Davis Wilson

Circuit Judge, 9th Judicial Circuit, Group 43

• Stephen Brown
• Craig McCarthy

County Judge

• Lisa Gong Guerrero
• Adam McGinnis

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