Politics
Mike Crabb, Kamia Brown battle in Orange County runoff
Mike Crabb, a Republican, joined the Orange County Commission in the heat of the election season when Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him to the vacant District 2 seat.
Now, Crabb wants voters to elect him to a full term, arguing he brings needed fiscal responsibility to the County Commission.
“I care more about good policy than I do about politics,” Crabb said while knocking on doors, trying to sway moderate Democrats to choose him.
His opponent, Democrat Kamia Brown, is staging a political comeback after serving three terms in the state House from 2016 to 2022. She says she has the experience to lead, pointing to legislation she shepherded through Tallahassee and the connections she built along the way.
“No one can touch the experience that I’ve had,” Brown said.
Brown and Crabb compete in a Nov. 3 runoff in one of the more intriguing local matchups on the ballot. The winner gets a nonpartisan job that pays about $135,000 in the 2026-27 fiscal year.
District 2 incumbent Christine Moore resigned in April to run for Apopka Mayor and lost. DeSantis appointed Crabb on July 31, just as early voting was starting for the August election, and Democrats accused him of meddling in local politics. Crabb will serve the rest of Moore’s term, which ends in December.
Brown and Crabb advanced from a crowded field in August because no one topped 50%. Among five candidates, Brown finished first with 32% and Crabb second with 25%.
District 2, which covers parts of northwestern Orange County, including Apopka and Ocoee, leans blue, with about 44,000 registered Democrats, 34,000 Republicans and 31,000 independents. About 5,000 voters are registered with a third party. Still, Republicans have won there before, including former Commissioners Bryan Nelson and Moore.
Crabb acknowledges his appointment hurts him with Democratic voters, helps with Republicans and is a wash with independents.
“It kind of is what it is,” Crabb said about the DeSantis effect on his chances. “So what I’ve tried to do is from Day 1, I’ve just been working my butt off.”
After his recent Florida Politics interview, he planned to attend eight community events that night.
“I need to be a good Commissioner and a good representative to all my constituents in District 2,” Crabb said. “What I’ve tried to do is just represent myself as a hardworking commonsense approach Commissioner that is worthy of their vote.”
Powerful endorsements
Outgoing Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings backs Brown. “She understands politics,” Demings told Florida Politics.
He has known Brown’s family for years and worked with her when he was president of the Florida Sheriffs Association and she was a lawmaker.
“She’s bipartisan. While she is a Democrat, Kamia has been very effective at being able to work across the aisle,” Demings said.
In a Republican-controlled Legislature, Brown sponsored a bill that passed unanimously creating telehealth maternal health pilot programs for minority women. She also pushed to extend Medicaid coverage for new mothers from two months to a year after delivery; her bill stalled, but the extension passed that year as part of a healthcare budget bill.
“I have always been one who has prided myself on being a collaborator,” Brown said.
Having a child sparked her focus on helping new mothers and combating the health crisis Black mothers face during pregnancy and childbirth.
Crabb said he was surprised by Demings’ endorsement of his opponent. Demings, who was the Orange County Sheriff before he was elected County Mayor, once was Crabb’s boss. Crabb even served as Sheriff Demings’ liaison to the County Mayor’s Office.
Demings said it wasn’t a difficult choice. He accused Crabb of “feeling somewhat obligated” to “appease the Governor” after getting appointed.
“I want someone to be totally objective to represent all the residents,” said Demings, who has clashed with DeSantis.
Demings declined to say what about Crabb’s actions concerned him, but Crabb voted at odds with the rest of the County Commission on a key issue in September.
Crabb cast the lone dissenting vote on the county’s $9 billion budget for 2026-27. “I can’t vote for this budget,” Crabb said at a Sept. 10 hearing as he unsuccessfully sought to roll back the millage rate to cut spending by about $49 million.
Staff and other Commissioners pushed back, saying a rollback would mean employee layoffs or cuts to the jail and other programs. The budget included 4% raises for County Commissioners, which Crabb said was the first thing he would have axed.
While Brown has Demings in her corner, Crabb has the backing of the county’s top law enforcement official. Sheriff John Mina, a Democrat, crossed party lines to endorse him. Mina did not return interview requests for this story.
“I did a good job for him, and he felt like I would do a good job for District 2,” Crabb said of Mina. “It was a big endorsement too.”
Crabb has raised nearly $54,000. His donors include the Florida State Fraternal Order of Police, the Orange County Fire Fighters Association, Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan, former Orange County Mayor and current School Board Chair Teresa Jacobs and Mina, who gave $100. Crabb also lent his campaign $7,000 in June.
Brown’s war chest is about $88,000, with donors including Disney, Universal, the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association’s political committee, Avalon Park Group developer Beat Kahli and Southern Group of Florida PAC.
Crabb, 59, who lives in Ocoee, is married to Pamela Crabb, principal of Lake Whitney Elementary in Winter Garden. They have three adult children.
The couple has a history of financial problems. They filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 1994 and were sued in 2012 for a property foreclosure in Orange Circuit Court, which was dismissed the following year.
Crabb said the bankruptcy was from his failed second business, a printing shop he started when he was 23. The experience taught him valuable lessons, said Crabb, whose next venture was a T-shirt printing company soon celebrating 20 years of business.
The foreclosure stemmed from a mortgage refinancing dispute with his mortgage company that was ultimately resolved, and today they still live in the same house, Crabb said.
Brown, who turns 46 before the election, is a single mother raising her son. She also lives in Ocoee.
Brown and her mom were sued in 2011 for failing to pay more than $9,000 on a student loan. Brown declined to comment on the lawsuit.
A lobbying force
Crabb has never been a typical law enforcement official. His career took him behind the scenes at the County Administration Building and in Tallahassee.
He was the driver and bodyguard for Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty. Under the next Mayor, Jacobs, he served as a liaison between her administration and the Sheriff’s Office, sitting in on her meetings, offering advice and relaying information back to the Sheriff. That exposure sparked his interest in running for office. When DeSantis appointed him, he already knew some county staff and understood how county government worked.
“That assignment has certainly given me a leg up,” Crabb said.
Crabb spent six years as a reserve deputy and then 30 years full time with the agency, retiring as a lieutenant in the mobile unit. He also owns The Shirt Shop USA, which employs two people.
His law enforcement career included helping start a pilot program that paired deputies with probation officers to keep troubled young people out of jail.
He also pushed for what became the Super Speeder law. Deputies regularly caught drivers going 100 mph in a 45-mph zone near Sand Lake Road, and the fastest car they clocked hit 201 mph during a street race on State Road 417. Drivers pulled over acted nonchalantly, unaware how dangerous their speed was, Crabb said. That motivated Crabb to act.
“I came up with that idea and I came up with the language and I pitched it to the Sheriff and he loved it,” said Crabb, who was on a six-person team that advanced Mina’s legislative agenda. That work sets the Orange County Sheriff’s Office apart from most others in the state, he said.
Wearing his green uniform, Crabb was a registered lobbyist, meeting with lawmakers and attending meetings in Tallahassee. The law, passed in 2025, makes driving 50 mph or more over the posted speed limit, or 100 mph or faster in a way that endangers others, an arrestable offense.
“It’s hard work, but in the end we passed some really good policy,” Crabb said. “That’s probably my biggest accomplishment because we did that one from scratch.”
Amendment 3 debate
Also on the Nov. 3 ballot is Amendment 3. If at least 60% of voters approve, it would raise the non-school homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, then index it to inflation starting in 2029.
Some of Amendment 3’s loudest opponents are law enforcement groups, including the Florida Sheriffs Association and the Florida State Fraternal Order of Police.
Crabb wrote 59 words but did not definitively say whether he supported Amendment 3 or was against it in the Orlando Sentinel voting guide.
He told Florida Politics he was undecided but leaning toward voting for Amendment 3. He said he was talking to county attorneys about whether Orange County could put a charter amendment on the 2028 ballot to raise fire fees and protect the fire department from potential Amendment 3 cuts.
Meanwhile, Brown opposes Amendment 3, saying property taxes fund essential services and important community amenities such as parks and libraries.
Finding her voice
Brown grew up in MetroWest Orlando and studied political science at Florida A&M University. She worked as a staffer for elected officials across the state, including Terry Fields in Jacksonville, Bruce Antone in Orlando and Joe Gibbons in Broward County.
“I just felt that it was important to have a voice,” Brown said. “That’s how my sort of political career got started.”
She was elected to represent House District 45, where she grew up.
Critics have questioned her voting record at times. Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell noted in a 2017 column that Brown was among local delegates voting for a bill making it easier for parents and activists to challenge books in school libraries. Within years, Florida made national headlines for heavy book bans.
Maxwell also criticized Brown and others in 2018 for voting against a bill requiring tourism and economic development agencies to disclose conflicts of interest and details of contracts above $5,000. He wrote the column after Visit Florida spent $12.7 million in taxpayer money on a TV show with celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse.
More recently, Orange County Commissioners have debated Visit Orlando’s contract and raised concerns about hotel tax spending, which will likely be a continuing discussion for the new elected officials who win in November.
Asked about those past votes, Brown said she is against book bans and wondered whether she mistakenly voted for the bill.
She said that in hindsight she would have voted differently on the Visit Florida bill.
“It’s important for there to be transparency and folks know how their tax dollars are being used,” Brown said.
Brown lost a 2022 state Senate race to fellow Democrat Geraldine Thompson in a universal Primary.
Outside the Legislature, Brown has worked in healthcare as an advocate. Brown is director of government and municipal affairs at the Foundation for Sickle Cell Disease Research, while caring for her aging mother and raising a son with autism.
“It is a struggle. Healthcare costs are a majority of my bills,” Brown said, acknowledging her own affordability challenges many others face.
Now Brown is knocking on doors where some voters remember her as their state Representative.
“I feel I can be more effective being boots on the ground here full-time as a County Commissioner,” she said.
Her priorities include improving roads and infrastructure, streamlining the county’s permitting process and creating programs that give young people opportunities as a crime deterrent.
Crabb also wants to prioritize road infrastructure.
“The local government owes you two things with your taxpayer money and that’s public safety and infrastructure,” Crabb said.
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