2 weeks Ago By Jeffrey Schweers
Gov. Ron DeSantis has set a special election for Senate District 15, so voters in September can fill a vacancy created by the death of veteran Orlando lawmaker Geraldine Thompson , who died Feb. 13 at the age of 79.
The primary will be held on June 24 with the general election on Sept. 2, according to the executive order signed by DeSantis on April 8. The west Orange County district includes Eatonville, Apopka, Ocoee and parts of Orlando and has not had representation during the Legislature’s current session in Tallahassee.
State Rep. LaVon Bracy-Davis, whose mother was one of Thompson’s oldest friends, has announced she was running for the seat and submitted a letter of resignation from the House of Representatives effective Sept. 1 to comply with state election laws.
“With the support and endorsement of the late Geraldine Thompson’s family, and in honor of her remarkable legacy of service, I am stepping forward to continue her work and fight for the values she held dear,” Bracy-Davis said in her April 10 resignation letter. She called Thompson a “trailblazer, a fierce advocate, and a tireless champion for justice, education, and equity.” Bracy-Davis will face off against her brother , Randolph Bracy, in the Democratic primary.
Bracy is a former House member who held the senate seat for one term, before resigning to run for Congress only to lose in the primary to Maxwell Frost. Bracy unsuccessfully ran against Thompson last year in a bitter race full of name calling and accusations of ethical breaches. “I love my brother, and I wish him well,” Bracy Davis, D-Orlando, said when asked about Bracy’s plans.
“I am not going to be running ‘against’ anyone. I’ll be running for the people of Senate District 15.” “This is a sad day for the Bracy name,” Randolph Bracy wrote in a text to the Orlando Sentinel that day.
“My sister choosing to run against me dishonors our father’s legacy in every way possible.” Their father, the Rev, Dr. Randolph Bracy Sr.
, who died in 2023, was a local civil rights leader and, with his wife, co-founded the New Covenant Baptist Church in Orlando. Bracy-Davis has been endorsed by their mother, LaVon Wright Bracy, a civil rights activist who was Thompson’s roommate in college at the University of Miami and was a bridesmaid at her wedding to Emerson Thompson, who would go on to be the first Black judge in Orange County..
