Moore, Uribe, Cordero win commission seats
Voters in Orange County chose three new commissioners — all women, Christine Moore, Mayra Uribe and Maribel Gómez Cordero — meaning the board for the first time will have six female commissioners.
Cordero had the closest race, winning by 100 votes while more than 9,000 voters did not choose a candidate in the race.
Because the margin of victory is less than a half percent, a recount is mandatory.
In the board’s pivotal race, Democrat Uribe defeated Pete Crotty, a Republican and brother of Rich Crotty, who was mayor/commission chairman from 2001-2011.
With Uribe’s win, the commission also swings from Republican to Democrat control, although the races are officially nonpartisan.
Uribe, Cordero and fellow commissioners Emily Bonilla and Victoria Siplin are Democrats as is Mayor-elect Jerry Demings.
Moore, a Republican who served 10 years on the Orange County School Board, got 55 percent of the vote to narrowly defeat Patricia Rumph, who was bidding for her first elected post.
The district covers northwest Orange County, including Apopka, Ocoee, Zellwood and a part of Pine Hills.
The seat opened in March when incumbent Bryan Nelson was elected Apopka mayor.
Although registered Democrats outnumber Republican counterparts in the district by about 20,000, the nonpartisan seat has been filled by a Republican since 2006.
Rumph, a graduate of the University of Central Florida, is a retired 30-year veteran of the state Department of Corrections, who served in several roles, including parole officer.
Uribe, who previously worked on the area staff for U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, will serve the two years left on the four-year term of Pete Clarke, who was required by law to resign to run for mayor. He lost his mayoral bid to Demings.
She won about 57 percent of the vote, defeating Crotty, owner/operator of poolside concierge businesses.
Uribe, owner of Kevin Sutton Solutions, a construction company, raised $173,000 and spent $119,000 in her campaign bid. Crotty, who made his personal struggle with addiction part of his campaign, raised $98,000 and spent $93,000.
The district covers areas east and south of downtown Orlando, including unincorporated communities of Azalea Park, Conway, Pine Castle, Rio Pinar and Sky Lake.
About 39 percent of its 132,000 registered voters identify as Hispanic.
Political newcomer Cordero won despite losing the campaign fund-raising battle $196,000 to $17,000.
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Cordero pulled the upset in a district where voters who identify as Hispanic account for 40 percent of the 143,000 registered voters.
Throughout the campaign, Makowski, who served seven years as an aide to two-term District 4 Commissioner Jennifer Thompson, insisted she was the best choice to represent the growing district because of her familiarity with county processes.
Though close to her ex-boss, Makowski told voters she was her own candidate and rejected insinuations she was an extension of Thompson.
The district spans much of south Orange County, including Orlando International Airport, neighborhoods surrounding the Orange County landfill and the fast-growing communities of Avalon Park and Lake Nona.
Commissioners are paid an annual salary of $81,000.