Orange Democrats set sights on House
After ’17 ‘fiasco,’ party sees winning field
The results of a special election for state House District 44 last year had Democrats admitting they dropped the ball over a west Orange County seat they had a chance to take away from Republicans.
This year, though, the race has attracted four Democratic candidates, ranging from last year’s candidate, Eddy Dominguez, to a big local name in former state senator and congressional candidate Geraldine Thompson.
“Even with the fiasco that was the [special] election [last year], Democrats performed pretty well,” said Orange County Democratic Chair Wes Hodge. “That was a green light for a lot of people to think, ‘Maybe this isn’t as much of a Republican stronghold as it used to be.’ ”
Although Dominguez lost in October to Republican Bobby Olszewski, who is running again this year, the Democrats did earn special election legislative victories with Margaret Good in Sarasota and Annette Taddeo in Miami-Dade County over the past year.
But overall, the District 44
loss is emblematic of how the party hasn’t been as well-organized as the Republicans since it lost control of the Legislature in 1996, said Aubrey Jewett, a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida. “And nobody is more self-aware of this than they are,” he said.
This year, Thompson and Dominguez are joined by Matthew Matin, a Winter Garden Planning and Zoning Board commissioner, and former stockbroker Margaret Gold in the Aug. 28 primary for the district that includes Winter Garden, Windermere and the Walt Disney World area.
“They have a much stronger slate in terms of quality candidates,” Jewett said. “Whoever emerges is a much stronger candidate than last time – even if it’s the same guy who ran last time.”
Olszewski, who fought off challenges from his own party’s establishment to win his primary last year, remains confident.
“Being the incumbent does get more of your phone calls answered, but fundraising is still hard work,” said Olszewski, 40, of the more than $43,000 raised by his campaign so far. “Nothing changes as we always run a grassroots campaign.”
He faces a perennial candidate, physician Usha Jain, 67, in the GOP primary.
Dominguez, 38, entered last year’s race just three weeks before the special election under unusual circumstances.
The lone original Democrat, Paul Chandler, was caught up in a lawsuit challenging his eligibility. He clashed with the Orange County Democrats and dropped out just after the printing deadline for the ballot passed. The party picked Dominguez to replace him, but Chandler’s name stayed on the ballot.
Despite that, Dominguez raised $23,000 (to Olszewski’s $127,000) and still did better than any Democrat had done in that district in years, with 44 percent to Olszewski’s 56 percent.
After his loss, Dominguez immediately said he was running again this year and has loaned himself $12,000 for a total fundraising take of about $15,000 so far. But now he faces a fierce challenge from Thompson, 69, who served four years in the state Senate before making an unsuccessful bid for Congress in a primary won by U.S. Rep. Val Demings, D-Orlando
“I’m not feeling that as a negative,” Dominguez said. “The blue wave has motivated individuals to step up and run for office. … The party at the local and state level has finally come up with a winning formula to make races competitive.”
Matin, 39, said he joined early out of a sense of frustration stemming from last year’s race.
“I couldn’t believe three Republicans spent [an average of ] $100,000 each fighting it out for the Republican nomination and one person filed to run as a Democrat,” he said. “And that person didn’t even make it to the election. It just made me so angry.’’
That Dominguez did well despite being the equivalent of a “generic Democrat” on the ballot, Matin said, “told me, A, I’m not happy with the situation, and B, clearly the people of District 44 aren’t happy. … I thought, ‘If no one’s going to run, I’ll run myself.’’
So far, Matin has raised about $12,000.
Gold, 53, a former member of the San Francisco Stock Exchange, said she was also excited about the number of “great” candidates in the race.
The latest entry is Thompson, who filed in March. She said District 44 was finally competitive after being “so gerrymandered for years, Democrats were not viable.”
Thompson said she worked with many officeholders and officials in west Orange over the years “and felt I could continue to assist them in the Florida House to enhance the community.”
She said she also was motivated by students in schools from Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland to West Orange High School in the district who were “mobilized and energized” about gun reform after the Feb. 14 shooting in Parkland but disappointed by Olszewski’s vote to not debate an assault-style weapons ban.