Two challengers to Singh drop out

Two candidates to unseat Orange County Property Appraiser Rick Singh have dropped out of the race but neither challenger is yielding thier support to the incumbent.

Fellow Democrats Matt McDonald and Yesenia “Jesi” Baron are out of the race for Singh’s post with Baron announcing Friday.

“I wish much success to Rep. Amy Mercado and Mr. Khalid Muneer in focusing on beating the incumbent,” Baron said. “Our county certainly deserves better.”

Mercado and Muneer, also Democrats, remain as candidates to oust Singh. He is seeking a third term, but this time under an ongoing criminal investigation into potential official misconduct.

Baron, a retired Florida Department of La Enforcement agent, cited economic hardships caused by the on-going coronavirus health crisis as a factor in her decision.

McDonald, who worked for

Singh from 2015 to 2017 as a residential field appraiser, withdrew Wednesday, saying he would support Mercado, a twoterm legislator.

He took issue with what he called Singh’s wasteful spending, particularly with Singh branding his name on staff vehicles.

“To have your name almost a dozen times on each of the county appraisers’ vehicles takes vanity to the extreme,” McDonald said.

All the candidates so far are Democrats, though the position was held by Republicans for decades before Singh ousted incumbent appraiser Bill Donegan in 2012.

Singh offered no comment on the thinning of the candidate field, but thanked both McDonald and Baron for running.

“Running is not easy,” he said. “It’s difficult. It’s time-consuming. It takes a lot of money.”

Singh leads all candidates in that category, boasting a campaign fund of about $189,000 through the end of the April reporting period.

Muneer, a licensed real-estate broker, has raised about $40,000 while Baron had raised about $5,900 and McDonald $1,000.

Mercado, who entered the race earlier this month, has not filed a campaign report.

She was elected in 2016 and made history with her father, state Sen. Victor Torres. They are the first father-daughter Latinos to serve in the Legislature at the same time.

Singh is awaiting a prosecutor’s decision on an FDLE probe.

State Attorney R.J. Larizza of Volusia, Flagler, Putnam and St. Johns counties, is reviewing “10 counts of official misconduct” against Singh, according to an email exchange between the governor’s office and prosecutors.

Neither FDLE or Larizza’s office will comment on the exact nature of the probe or a timeline for when it might end.