ORLANDO, Fla. (June 10, 2025) – Local elections matter and the people who represent us matter too! Early voting starts this Saturday, in advance of the June 24 Special Primary Election to fill two vacant seats in the Florida legislature: Senate District 15 and House District 40.

Early voting runs through Sunday, June 22. Hours: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. There are four early voting locations: Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office, 119 W. Kaley Ave., Orlando; West Oaks Library, 1821 E. Silver Star Road, Ocoee; Apopka Community Center, 519 S. Central Ave., Apopka and Eatonville Town Hall, 307 E. Kennedy Blvd., Eatonville.

If you live in College Park, Eatonville, Parramore; Metrowest, Pine Hills, Winter Garden or Apopka and you are a registered Democrat, check your mailbox for your Sample Ballot. It’s vote time for you so research the candidates and go vote! (Don’t just talk about how bad things are. Get out and vote – make your voice heard.) You have the opportunity to select whom you want to represent you in Tallahassee.

Book banning, cuts and teacher shortages in our education system, homelessness, along with rising costs of homeowners insurance and groceries, are just some of the issues Florida residents are facing.

Florida is a closed primary state so for the upcoming Special Primary Election, only voters who are registered in the Democratic Party will have the opportunity to vote. That’s because there is no Republican special primary election this time. The two Republican candidates for the senate and the house had no opposition.

There are four Democrats running for the senate seat: Coretta Anthony-Smith, Randolph Bracy, LaVon Bracy Davis and Alan Grayson. (The group is comprised of an attorney, two siblings who have experience in the Florida Legislature and a former U.S. Representative, respectively.)

The winner of the Democratic Party senate race will run against Republican Willie J. Montague, a non-profit founder, in the Special General Election on Sept. 2.

Two candidates are vying for Bracy Davis’ house seat in the primary election: Travaris McCurdy and RaShon Young. McCurdy is a former state representative, and Young is the former chief of staff for Bracy Davis, according to reports.

The winner of the Democratic Party house race will face off, in the Sept 2 Special General Election, against Republican Tuan Le, who ran last November for Congress and write in candidate Chris Lynn Hall.

The senate race has been more talked about than the house race and by many accounts, more contentious. There has been open criticism on social media and negative political ads distributed ever since Bracy announced in February his candidacy in a Facebook Live post not long after news broke that then Sen. Geraldine Thompson had passed. Bracy Davis resigned from her District 40 house seat to run for the senate seat, joining her brother. Mrs. Thompson, whom Bracy Davis has acknowledged as a mentor, was a long-time friend of the Bracy family.

For details on early voting for the Special Primary Election, contact the elections office, phone: (407) 836-2070 or online: http://www.ocfelections.com.