Meet the candidates in key Central Florida primary races
Here are some of the key Central Florida match-ups in the Aug. 18 primary, with candidates seeking congressional, legislative and county offices as well as judgeships.
To learn more about who’s running, what they stand for and how they differ, go to orlandosentinel.com/2020 for complete coverage of the election that also includes early voting sites and Orlando Sentinel editorial endorsements.
Congress
District 7
Republicans
Richard Goble, 59, of Lake Mary, a former Seminole Republican state committeeman and businessman, said he wants to provide access to capital markets for smaller businesses and improve the area’s transportation and infrastructure.
Leo Valentin, 34, of Orlando, a radiology doctor, cited his medical background in saying health care, including removing government from health care decisions, is his biggest issue.
Yukong Zhao, 57, of Orlando, a real estate investor, said the biggest issue was restoring and rebuilding the economy in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.
Jose Castillo, 37, of Davenport, said unemployment and illegal immigration were the two biggest issues.
William Olson, 56, of Davenport, a retired U.S. Army Sgt. First Class and a Walt Disney World employee, said reopening the economy was important and the unemployed should be taken care of, but the government should not “pay more for unemployment than the person would get in their regular job.”
Sergio Ortiz, 55, of Kissimmee, a mortgage banker, said his slogan was “faith, family and freedom,” and “we have to change the school system [because] it’s very skewed towards totalitarianism.”
Christopher Wright, 38, of Lake Nona, an attorney, said he was “super-focused on the economy” and the country needs to “change the messaging [on COVID-19] and get tourism up and running again.”
Vennia Francois, 46, of Orlando, a former U.S. Senate aide and former congressional District 7 candidate, said school choice, immigration and human trafficking are the biggest issues
Willie Montague, 32, of Orlando, a pastor and mental health mentor at House of Timothy Regeneration Center in Orlando, said job creation, youth mentorship and human trafficking were his biggest issues.
State Senate
District 9
Democrats
Rick Ashby, 53, of Chuluota, an engineer, wants to expand Medicaid, move toward a single-payer health care system and increase the minimum wage to $15.
Alexis Carter, 35, of Altamonte Springs, an attorney and former public defender, said he wants to repair Florida’s unemployment system and wants more scrutiny of police brutality and misconduct from a state level.
H. Alexander Duncan, 40, of Geneva, the former vice chair of the Seminole County Soil and Water Conservation District Board, wants to “return government control to ‘we the people,‘” protect the environment and promote “honesty and transparency in government.”
Guerdy Remy, 50, of Altamonte Springs, an activist and community organizer, wants
to increase the Medicaid waiver threshold amid the coronavirus pandemic and increase funding for nursing homes, the Department of Education and the public school system.
Patricia Sigman, 53, of Longwood, a labor attorney, said expanding Medicaid was her top priority. She also wants to protect clean water and the environment and fully fund public education.
State House
District 29 Republicans Luther Dowe, 42, moved to the Orlando area from New York state in 2013 after selling his movie theater and nightclub businesses and settled in Longwood. He cited increasing health care coverage and protecting small businesses hurting from the coronavirus pandemic as his top priorities if elected.
Scott Plakon, 61, is a Longwood resident and former business owner who has served in the House for a total of 10 years. He wants to fix Florida’s “train wreck” unemployment system and kickstart the state economy again as it emerges from the coronavirus-induced recession.
District 43 Democrats
Kristen Arrington is in favor of changing the transportation system and how education is handled in Osceola County. She also did not respond to interview requests.
Alex Barrio, 35, is a former legislative aide and has an endorsement from U.S. Rep. Darren Soto. He wants to help the economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic. He believes that his past as an aide puts him at an advantage.
Carlos Irizarry, 64, wants to change the transportation infrastructure and repair the roads. He said his service as a former Kissimmee City Commission member gives him the edge over his opponents.
Andrew Jeng, 57, is a business owner who also wishes to improve transportation and wants to incorporate artificial intelligence into public transportation. He said his background in business separates him from his opponents.
Tamika Lyles, 44, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, is strongly for healthcare reform. She has been an advocate in Kissimmee for many years which she claims gives her an advantage over her opponents.
Ricardo Rangel is strongly in favor of common sense gun laws, including a ban on assault rifles. He did not respond to interview requests.
District 44
Republicans
Frank Edel Blanco, 37, is a defense attorney from Ocoee who is strongly for criminal justice reform. He claims to be a stronger conservative than his Republican opponent.
Bruno Portigliatti, 32, is president of Florida Christian University and CEO of Excellence Senior Living from Doctor Phillips. He wants to support families and small businesses that have been hurt by the pandemic.
Democrats
Andy Farrell, 49, is a technological entrepreneur and software company starter from Hunter’s Creek. He stresses safety from the pandemic, economic stability, defeating systemic racism and the environment.
Geraldine Thompson, 71, the incumbent, previously served three terms in the state House and two terms in the state Senate representing western Orange County. She wants to change the unemployment compensation system and says that she will help the marginalized people of the district. District 47
Republicans
Kevin Morenski, 34, is a criminal defense attorney. He said he favors reforming the criminal justice system and legalizing recreational marijuana to boost revenue and tourism. He has called the incumbent, Anna Eskamani, “revolting” and an “unAmerican, new-age terrorist” and called mandatory mask orders unconstitutional.
Jeremy Sisson, 42, CEO of Evan James and Associates, a commercial real estate brokerage in downtown Orlando, said he’s running to be a voice for businesses and would prioritize helping them receive lowinterest loans and grants to safely and effectively reopen following the pandemic.
Orange County
Orange County Commission District 1
Betsy VanderLey, 61, the incumbent seeking a second four-year term, said she wants to continue advocating for infrastructure improvements and to help plan a regional park in west Orange.
Nicole Wilson, 49, a Windermere environmental lawyer, decided to run after VanderLey voted with the narrow board majority to support the Central Florida Expressway Authority’s preferred route through Split Oak Forest to extend a toll road.
District 3
Pete Clarke, 71, who held this seat previously after serving 17 years as deputy director of the county Health & Family Services Department, said his experience with public health is an asset the county needs.
Bill Moore, 49, holds a real estate license and retired in 2013 after 21 years as an officer with the Orlando Police Department. He’s running on a platform of increased public safety and economic growth.
Mayra Uribe, 46, the incumbent and a business owner who was elected two years ago to finish Clarke’s term as he ran for mayor, said she has tried to make county government more responsive. “I believe government must be accountable,” she said.
District 5
Emily Bonilla, 43, the incumbent seeking a second term, bills herself as a protector of the environment and wildlife, and a guardian against harmful development, unmanaged growth and wealthy political insiders.
Mike Miller, 52, a former GOP state legislator, says the county’s most pressing issues are stopping the spread of COVID-19 and getting people back to work, through rapid testing, business aid and eliminating regulations.
Anjali Vaya, 44, a community advocate who owns a technology marketing company, lists as priorities restoring the economy, increasing affordable housing, improving transportation and protecting rural lifestyles.
State attorney Democrats
Deborah Barra, 44, is Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala’s second-incommand, supervising more than 165 attorneys and managing day-to-day operations. She supports criminal justice reforms like prosecuting fewer juveniles in adult court and wants to set up a task force to “aggressively” pursue human traffickers, as well as a political corruption unit.
Belvin Perry Jr., 70, was chief judge of the circuit when he became a household name presiding over Casey Anthony’s infamous 2011 murder trial in the death of her daughter, Caylee. Perry wants to improve the retention of prosecutors, reevaluate restrictions that limit access to diversion programs and fix the relationship between the state attorney’s office and law enforcement.
Ryan Williams, 39, worked for Ayala as a homicide prosecutor until she refused to seek the death penalty and is now in charge of cases reassigned from Ayala’s office to Ocala-based State Attorney Brad King. Williams wants to expand the office’s diversion program to keep more people out of the criminal justice system; train prosecutors on the consequences of pleas and convictions for immigrants; and assign attorneys to “high crime areas” where they could get to know the community and build trust.
Monique Worrell, 44, was the director of the Conviction Integrity Unit at Ayala’s office before leaving in 2019 to work as chief legal officer for Reform Alliance, the national criminal justice reform organization co-founded by Jay-Z and Meek Mill. The most pressing issues for Worrell, who has said her record as a criminal justice reform advocate stands alone above her opponents, are police accountability, mass incarceration and juvenile justice.
Orange Sheriff
Andrew Darling, 35, has no police experience but is a U.S. Army veteran and former assistant public defender. He has pledged to increase transparency and combat the school-to-prison pipeline, hire mental health professionals to assist deputies and ban arrests of juveniles who are eligible for alternatives.
Jose “Joe” Lopez, 58, a former Florida Highway Patrol chief, wants to implement “grassroots community policing,” increase transparency with internal investigations and make deputies fill out a traffic stop form to collect data on what kinds of stops are being made, so they can be reviewed for bias or misconduct.
Eric McIntyre, 49, was once Eatonville’s interim police chief and remains a lieutenant for the nation’s oldest black incorporated town. He wants to improve agency diversity and increase deputies’ interactions with people in local neighborhoods, while also boosting programs to address mental health and drug addiction.
John Mina, 51, the former Orlando police chief and incumbent seeking his first full term, touts his experience leading two of the largest law enforcement agencies in Florida as unmatched, including during the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre, the coronavirus pandemic and now citizen unrest over police brutality.
Darryl Sheppard, 37, an Orlando businessman with no law enforcement experience, says the Sheriff’s Office needs to focus on community programs, not heavyhanded enforcement. He has been arrested more than a dozen times, but not convicted, and says that experience gives him a broader perspective.
Property Appraiser
Amy Mercado, 46, a two-term state legislator who also has served as director of operations for the National Mango Board, said she decided to challenge the incumbent to restore public trust in the office. She said state law doesn’t require the elected property appraiser to be a certified appraiser. Mercado said she has leadership and integrity Singh lacks.
Khalid Muneer, 68, owner of a real-estate company with an office in Orlando, said he decided to run for property appraiser because of scandals associated with the incumbent. Muneer said he has real estate knowledge from more than two decades of experience evaluating properties. He also cited his business background as an asset
Rick Singh, 57, the two-term incumbent, insists that he is the only qualified candidate in the race because he is the only one with property-appraising experience. He was the subject of a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation into alleged misconduct in office, but prosecutors in July chose not to file charges. Singh said he did nothing wrong. If re-elected, he said he will continue to use technology to improve appraisal accuracy.
Orange School Board District 4
Prince Brown, 57, a public health advisor with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said he decided to run because as a father of three school-age children and the husband of an Orange teacher he has “skin in the game” and can be an advocate for parents and teachers. He would work to build schools in fast-growing west Orange more quickly, eliminate portables, boost teacher morale and improve students’ academic performance.
Dayna Gaut, 58, a former paramedic and teacher, said she decided to run because her experience in the classroom and as a parent volunteer can help the board find solutions to ongoing education problems. She would work to relieve crowding and reduce portables in Horizon West schools, push for an end to the heavy reliance on standardized testing and work to boost teacher morale.
Pam Gould, 57, has held the seat since 2012. The CEO of Shepherd’s Hope, which provides free medical care to low-income residents, Gould said she decided to run again to continue the work she’s started, including efforts to get schools in fast-growing Horizon West built more quickly and to expand career and technical programs.
District 5
Bruce Antone, 59, is a state legislator who has served 12 years in Tallahassee. He said his experience in the Florida House has given him skills in policy making and budget setting. If elected, he said he’d work to address poverty-related issues in the district, including a lack of home internet access and the challenges of fully staffing schools with qualified teachers. He’d also push for more mental health services for students and better pay for teachers.
Vicki Felder, 63, is a longtime teacher who currently works at Edgewater High School. Her 39 years in public education in Orange County, she said, gives her deep knowledge about the system that would benefit the school board. If elected, she’d work to improve communication between parents and teachers and the district, increase technology training and boost teacher pay and morale.
Michael Scott, 38, coordinator for Orlando’s My Brother’s Keeper program, said he would bring the experience of the “everyday family” to the board. If elected, he would work to make sure parents’ concerns are heeded, he said, and the challenges students with disabilities face aren’t ignored. He’d also push for more occupational training and more internships for students and better mental health services.
District 6
Karen Castor Dentel, 51, won the seat two years ago. She is a former elementary school teacher who also served a term in the Florida House. If re-elected, she said she would push to “elevate the voices” of teachers in district decisions, encourage more social and emotional learning programs, make district budget decisions more transparent and improve racial equity.
Jonathan Hacker, 40, works in the hospitality industry. A former methamphetamine addict arrested on drug charges, Hacker said he got clean and left the “gay lifestyle” after he “accepted Jesus.” He thinks his story will resonate with other families who’ve faced struggles. If elected, he said he would expand school choice programs, improve anti-bullying programs, boost teacher pay and make sure “aggressive sexual education” programs aren’t introduced into county schools.
District 7
Ericka Bell, 40, said she is a small business owner who decided to run because the “voices of people were not being heard.” If elected, she said she’d work to improve graduation rates, boost community involvement in schools and add more trade programs to district high schools. She’d also work to increase teacher pay and make sure any budget cuts don’t harm local schools, she said.
Melissa Byrd, 44, won the seat two years ago and is seeking re-election. She is a former teacher who cites among her accomplishments changing the student dress code that many viewed as unfairly targeting girls and plans for a new kindergarten-toeighth-grade school in the Apopka area to relieve crowding at existing campuses. If re-elected, she said she would also push for fair discipline policies and continue to hold community meetings to hear the public’s concerns.
Jeannetta Maxena, 30, is a teacher who grew up in Apopka, taught most recently in Lake County and said she wants to be a voice for the district’s low-income neighborhoods, which often feel “marginalized.” If elected, she would push for more reading programs and incentives to keep talented teachers in the classroom.
Seminole County
Seminole tax collector
Brian Beute, 46, of Chuluota, is a teacher at Trinity Preparatory school. He wants to hire an independent auditor to study the tax collector’s office’s revenues and expenditures over the past eight years.
J.R. Kroll, 49, of Sanford, is a real estate broker and owner of JR Kroll Realty. He advocates for more transparency and says the tax collector’s budget should be posted online, detailing where every dollar is spent.
Seminole School Board District 3
Veronica King, 45, who works for Eatonville’s mayor, is a longtime community volunteer making her first bid for elective office. King said she is a “public servant at heart,” eager to put her energies to work for public education. If elected, she’d work to improve how schools deal with the family and health issues that can impact academic performance and how they support children with disabilities. She’d also work to boost teacher pay and to make sure district hiring and promotion policies were free of bias.
Abby Sanchez, 53, is a former teacher who left the classroom when she won a seat on the board four years ago. She is seeking reelection because she remains convinced the school board needs a teacher who understands classroom challenges and can share those with school leaders. If reelected, she would push for better teacher pay, more career and technical programs, a “balanced child” education program and a reduction in standardized testing.
Seminole County Commission District 1 Republicans
Bob Dallari, 61, the Oviedo incumbent and a Disney employee, was first elected in 2004 and is seeking his fifth term. He vows to protect the rural boundary from incursions by major developers. “I’ve always said: ‘Let’s keep it rural.’”
Matt Morgan, 43, Longwood’s mayor and a former WWE professional wrestler, says he supports preserving the rural boundary and that any new high-density development would lead to urban sprawl. Large developments “wouldn’t make any sense because the infrastructure isn’t there.”
District 3 Republicans
Lee Constantine, 67, the incumbent commissioner first elected in 2012, says protecting the rural boundary is one of the most important issues in Seminole County. “The rural boundary is so vital to the future and soul of Seminole County,” said the Altamonte Springs resident.
Ben Paris, 36, a Longwood city commissioner, said protecting the rural boundary is important, but helping businesses suffering from the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic is also critical. ”My main concern is to get the economy back on track.”
District 5 Democrats
Pernell Bush, 32, a Sanford resident and a Marine Corps veteran who served in the Iraq War and is now a mental health therapist, said his priorities are transparency in government, keeping taxes low, affordable housing and protecting the rural boundary.
Mike Clelland, 56, an attorney and former state legislator, is a Lake Mary resident who advocates for keeping neighborhoods safe, protecting tax dollars from waste and fraud and ensuring natural resources are protected.
Osceola County
Osceola County Commission District 1
Democrats
Jose Alvarez, the mayor of Kissimmee, is running on an economic development platform. Alvarez, a Republican until 2012, said he’d push the county toward diversifying its hospitality-based economy and would push tourism giants to partner with the county to build workforce housing for its low-income workers.
Peggy Choudhry is a first term incumbent commissioner who is a former immigration officer and currently owns a hotel on U.S. Highway 192. She unsuccessfully pushed for a $1 million county contribution to open an around-the-clock crisis center for the homeless but later contributed $50,000 toward a nonprofit-operated facility. She also was an opponent of a controversial county-backed penny sales tax increase to fund road improvements.
Michael Harford is a former county commissioner defeated by Choudhry four years ago. He said he’s running in part to shine a light on the influence of special-interest money in politics and has pointed to developers funding his opponents. Harford touted his efforts to pass a wage-theft ordinance when he was on the board and desires to expand recreation and transit.
District 5
Republicans
Ricky Booth is an Osceola County School Board member and cattle rancher. He said he’ll stick to conservative principles of low taxes and limited government if elected, but also said he’ll be able to get things done with a likely Democratic majority. Booth said the county needs to curtail “out of control” residential growth and craft a development plan to better pay for schools, roads and other infrastructure.
Wayne Liebnitzky is a U.S. Navy veteran, who twice was defeated by U.S. Rep. Darren Soto in runs for Congress. Liebnitzky said he opposed a controversial deal to dump coal ash from Puerto Rico in a landfill and helped shoot down the penny sales tax proposed last year. He said his platform includes slowing growth and eliminating mobility fee credits.
Osceola sheriff Democrats
Mike Fisher was a member of the Sheriff ’s Office for almost 30 years before retiring as a captain in 2016. He has said he would increase the number of patrol deputies to focus on community policing, launch a “Homeless Outreach Team” with community partners and increase transparency.
Russ Gibson, the incumbent, is a 35-year law enforcement veteran. He was elected in 2016 and has since boosted the number of Hispanic deputies on the force. He is expanding the use of body-worn cameras, something he pledged as a candidate four years ago and which his opponents say is overdue.
Marco Lopez is a U.S. Navy veteran who was an Osceola County deputy for 17 years. He has pledged to increase the percentage of minority deputies and staff and build stronger ties with the community, including by creating a review board to give citizens some oversight of the agency.
Judges
Ninth Circuit Judge
Group 1
Rhiannon Arnold, 40, is the founding partner of her law firm, which specializes in personal injury, premises liability and vehicle collisions. She joined the Florida Bar in 2006 and practiced criminal defense in state and federal courts until 2014.
Mikaela Nix, 37, runs a law firm focused on representing men in custody, divorce and child support cases. She ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for state House District 47 in 2018. She touts her experience in family law as valuable to the bench.
Group 21
Alan Apte, 53, has been a circuit judge since 2002. Earlier he was a prosecutor and civil litigator who touts extensive trial experience. He has served on the boards of the Boys and Girls Club of Central Florida, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Florida and on the Orange County Domestic Violence Commission.
Christy Collins, 41, practices real estate law and is a former public school teacher and traffic hearing officer. She touts herself as a candidate with a “variety of legal and life experience, and most importantly, a servant’s heart.”
Group 32
Mike Kraynick, 37, the incumbent, is assigned to the family division, presiding over domestic violence, paternity and divorce cases. Prior to being appointed to the bench about a year ago, he practiced in business and construction litigation.
Amrita Singh, 35, specializes in real estate law and is deputy director of the real estate division for the state Department of Business & Professional Regulation.
Group 39
Vincent Falcone, 38, is an Orlando lawyer who specializes in commercial disputes. He was involved in representing the League of Women Voters of Florida and other groups in successfully challenging Florida’s 2012 redistricting plans as gerrymandered.
Mark Van Valkenburgh, 54, is a Winter Park mediator who handles commercial, real estate and employment disputes. He’s a former general counsel for the Ninth Circuit Public Defender’s Office and also has experience in the federal courts.
18th Circuit Judge Group 15
Tesha Scolaro Ballou, 50, was appointed to the bench by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year. She is assigned to felony criminal cases, having earlier been a general magistrate presiding over dependency and truancy cases. She also worked for the Seminole County Sheriff ’s Office and Florida Department of Children and Families.
A. Michael Bross, 64, went to law school after serving in the U.S. Army. Since joining the Florida Bar in 1986, the attorney said he’s litigated over 10,000 civil and criminal cases, from dealing with traffic tickets to fighting to keep clients off death row.
Group 18
Steve Henderson, 52, runs a firm with his wife representing clients involved in dependency, delinquency, criminal, family and civil cases.
Michael Peacock, 37, left Morgan & Morgan to open a law firm in Melbourne focusing on personal injury, wrongful death, small claims, contract disputes, landlord and tenant claims, and business litigation.
Group 21
Donna Goerner, 49, said she has tried more than 135 criminal jury trials as a prosecutor and defense attorney. She’s board certified in criminal trial law and is a former Florida Supreme Court certified mediator.
Marc Jones, 45, runs a litigation firm with clients ranging from individuals to corporations and local governments. A Florida Supreme Court certified mediator, Jones has been general counsel to the Seminole County Value Adjustment Board for almost seven years.
Group 25
Sam Bookhardt, 57, worked as a prosecutor before joining a large law firm where he represented hospitals, insurance companies, financial institutions, construction companies and criminal defendants. Bookhardt currently runs his own practice in Cocoa.
Oscar Hotusing, 53, began his career as a prosecutor in 1994. He was appointed a county court judge in 2006. After leaving the bench in 2009, Hotusing started a solo practice in Melbourne handling criminal, family, civil, probate and small claims cases.
Seminole County Judge
Wayne Culver, 51, has worked at the 18th Circuit Public Defender’s Office for more than a decade. Before that, he was a prosecutor for three years in the same circuit and started his own practice focused on real estate, bankruptcy, family law, criminal defense and dependency.
Jessica Damoth, 46, has been running her own practice in Daytona Beach since 2007. She focuses on DUIs, drug charges and criminal traffic offenses. She previously worked as a juvenile probation officer and was a prosecutor for a short period before entering private practice.
Lake County
Lake County Commission District 1
Doug Shields, 59, is a certified public accountant and business owner who moved to Clermont in 2010 and became active in fights against high-density growth with Keep Clermont Rural. He says he favors “smart growth” that protects the environment, but says he is not “anti-growth.” He criticizes the current commission, which he says does not follow the comprehensive land use plan, which sets forth how and where the county should grow.
Incumbent Tim Sullivan, 66, of Leesburg, is a financial professional and retired brigadier general from the Florida Army National Guard. He is finishing his third term as a county commissioner and previously was a Fruitland Park commissioner and mayor as well as a Lake County School Board member. Sullivan also talks about “smart growth,” but says the county needs to continue to diversify its tax base with more businesses like the $121 million Kroger-Ocada grocery fulfillment center in Groveland.
District 3
Wendy Breeden, 70, of Leesburg, is finishing her first term on the county commission after serving as the county’s Public Resources Department director from 2009 through 2016. She started her career at the county as a library coordinator in 1992. Breeden said she believes Lake County needs to continue to channel its growth, following the comprehensive land use plan as much as possible, which sets forth where and how Lake should grow. She has called for a reduction in the millage rate this year.
Kirby Smith, 52, of Tavares, is a senior engineering construction manager with CenturyLink and former EMT/firefighter. He served as a member, vice mayor and mayor on the Tavares City Council from 2009 to 2019. Smith said his background as a businessman and certified building contractor will help as the county continues to grow, but said, “We have to do it smart.”
District 5
Josh Blake, 39, was elected to the commission in 2016 after working as a legislative aide in Florida House District 33. He lives in unincorporated Lady Lake and also has worked with the career development center at Beacon College in Leesburg. Blake said it is important for the county to continue to diversify its tax base and keep up with infrastructure needs. He has voted against millage increases that would increase property tax bills. Blake supported the move of the statue of Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith to Lake, because he said it’s “none of the County Commission’s business” telling an independent museum board what it could or could not do.
Todd Luce, 54, worked in law enforcement from 1985 until his retirement in 2019. He reached the rank of captain with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, where he worked from 1989 until he retired. He lives in Umatilla. Luce said fast-growing Lake needs to keep up with its infrastructure, but said he is concerned that infrastructure money that could go to roads can be used for other projects, such as the new $7.8 million animal shelter. Luce said he is “more in favor of a status quo position at this time … and not rolling back the tax rate.” He said he was against moving Smith’s statue to Lake.
Lake School Board District 2
Kristi Burns, 43, of Leesburg, was elected to the School Board in 2016 and is its current chairman. He holds a doctorate in chemistry/biochemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology. Burns came into office pushing to return and then successfully expand recess for children. She advocates for fiscal responsibility and the expansion of vocational, arts and expanded advanced educational opportunities for students. Burns said she wants to build on the mental health health advocacy efforts in schools.
Patricia Nave, 67, of Leesburg, worked for 37 years in education, including as Lake’s Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. Nave said she wants to bring her experience with student performance to improve Lake County schools and focus on students both physically and emotionally. She said her work both in the class and in administration gave her leadership opportunities in academics, policy and finance.
District 4
Mollie B. Cunningham, 59, of Tavares, worked 36 years as a teacher and school administrator, retiring as principal of Carver Middle School in Leesburg. She touts her experience working in Lake County schools and said teachers and all employees deserve a raise. “We lose a lot of teachers because our salaries are not commensurate with surrounding counties,” she said. Cunningham said if elected she will work to be sure all voices are heard, including through planned regional town hall meetings.
Betsy Farner, 61, of unincorporated Tavares, taught 37 years, including at Tavares Elementary, Middle and High School, with 20 of those as a science teacher. She retired in June. Farner also served 12 years on the Lake Soil and Water Conservation Board. Farner said her experience in the classroom gives her a unique perspective on the needs of students. She favors the move away from Common Core, which she said focused too much on testing and college prep. Farner wants to see Lake work to improve its graduation rate and said more vocational education will help lower the dropout rate.
Sandy Gamble, 62, of Tavares, is the incumbent District 4 School Board member, elected in 2016. He worked for the district in classified support roles for more than 20 years and also is pastor of the Church of God of Prophecy in Tavares. He said his experience on the board and background in maintenance and supply helped save money through new purchasing arrangements. Gamble said the board needs to pay as you go for new construction needed for growth in Lake.
Michael A. Garcia, 54, of Mount Dora is a Mount Dora police officer who has worked as a school resource officer. Garcia said his experience working closely with students, parents, teachers and administrators will help him assure that funding goes where it is needed most. He also said his background in school safety, drug prevention, cyber safety and anti-bully campaigns will be an asset to the district. Garcia said schools need more transparency to show residents where the money goes and how it is being spent.