Roger Chapin and Mira Tanna are going head-to-head in Tuesday’s Orlando City Council runoff after a margin of only 14 votes separated them in last month’s crowded General Election.

Chapin holds the big fundraising edge and the advantage of having name recognition as the son of former Orange County Mayor Linda Chapin. He also carries the support of the establishment, including Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and incumbent City Commissioner Robert Stuart, who didn’t seek re-election.

Tanna’s strengths are her grassroots campaign and the endorsements of popular Orlando Democrats like U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost and state Rep. Anna Eskamani, who are lending their support to help her knock on doors and engage with voters.

Early voting concluded Sunday. Election Day precinct polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Chapin and Tanna are both Democrats, and the winner will be the first new City Commissioner to represent District 3 in 20 years. The four-year term currently pays $79,343 annually for the nonpartisan seat. District 3 spans College Park, Audubon Park, Baldwin Park, Coytown and other downtown area neighborhoods north of Colonial Drive.

Tanna works as the Orlando city grants manager. She commutes to work on the bus, and is focused on fixing Central Florida’s public transit.

Chapin is a public affairs and public relations consultant. He said his biggest client is Mears Transportation, his former employer. His priorities include the Main Street Districts on Ivanhoe Boulevard and Edgewater and Corrine drives.

In making his case to voters, Chapin pointed to his long résumé of public service. After a failed bid for Orlando City Council in 2002, he got involved on the Municipal Planning Board, Downtown Development Board, Orlando Utilities Commission and more.

Chapin argues he is the most experienced candidate in the race and would “govern from the middle” to work with both Republicans and Democrats, citing Dyer as an example of a politician who can work both sides of the aisle to get things done.

Tanna’s supporters say she is the right fit and has the vision to help make changes as Orlando faces big challenges in a lack of affordable housing and congested traffic. They also say bus routes and SunRail don’t meet enough people’s needs. Tanna also pointed to her city career, saying she knows City Hall and is ready to jump in on Day 1.

Tanna’s endorsements include the Young Democrats of Orange County, Ruth’s List, the Sierra Club, the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association and Ruth’s List Florida. Endorsements also include state Sens. LaVon Bracy Davis and Carlos Guillermo Smith, as well as state Reps. Johanna López, Rita Harris, RaShon Young. Orange County Commissioners Nichole Wilson and Mike Scott and Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell are also backing Tanna.

Chapin won endorsements from the Orlando Sentinel, the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association, the Orlando Regional Realtor Association and unions representing police and fire. Orange County Sheriff John Mina also is backing Chapin.

Chris Durant, who placed third, just out of reach in the Nov. 4 General Election, has endorsed Chapin and is being paid $1,500 to join him on the campaign trail.

Even Ash Marwah knows the odds do him no favors.

A Senate district that leans heavily Republican plus a Special Election just weeks before Christmas — Marwah acknowledges it adds up to a likely Tuesday victory for Ralph Massullo.

The Senate District 11 Special Election is Tuesday to fill the void created when Blaise Ingoglia became Chief Financial Officer.

It pits Republican Massullo, a dermatologist and Republican former four-term House member from Lecanto, against Democrat Marwah, a civil engineer from The Villages.

Early voter turnout was light, as would be expected in a low-key standalone Special Election: At 10% or under for Hernando and Pasco counties, 19% in Sumter and 15% in Citrus.

Massullo has eyed this Senate seat since 2022 when he originally planned to leave the House after six years for the SD 11 run. His campaign ended prematurely when Gov. Ron DeSantis backed Ingoglia, leaving Massullo with a final two years in office before term limits ended his House career.

When the SD 11 seat opened up with Ingoglia’s CFO appointment, Massullo jumped in and a host of big-name endorsements followed, including from DeSantis, Ingoglia, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, U.S. Sens. Ashley Moody and Rick Scott, four GOP Congressmen, county Sheriffs in the district, and the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

The Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus is endorsing Marwah.

Marwah ran for HD 52 in 2024, garnering just 24% of the vote against Republican John Temple. 

Massullo has raised $249,950 to Marwah’s $12,125. Massullo’s $108,000 in spending includes consulting, events and mail pieces. One of those mail pieces reminded voters there’s an election.

The two opponents had few opportunities for head-to-head debate. The League of Women Voters of Citrus County conducted a SD 11 forum on Zoom in late October, when the two candidates clashed over the state’s direction.

Marwah said DeSantis and Republicans are “playing games” in their attempts to redraw congressional district boundaries.

“No need to go through this expense,” he said. “It will really ruin decades of progress in civil rights. We should honor the rule of law that we agreed on that it’ll be done every 10 years. I’m not sure why the game is being played at this point.”

Massullo said congressional districts should reflect population shifts.

“The people of our state deserve to be adequately represented based on population,” he said. “I personally do not believe we should use race as a means to justify particular areas. I’m one that believes we should be blind to race, blind to creed, blind to sex, in everything that we do, particularly looking at population.”

Senate District 11 covers all of Citrus, Hernando and Sumter counties, plus a portion of northern Pasco County. It is safely Republican — Ingoglia won 69% of the vote there in November, and Donald Trump carried the district by the same margin in 2024.

The Associated Industries of Florida (AIF) will spend Session advocating for a legislative slate that includes support for affordable housing, private property rights and a regulatory framework for artificial intelligence.

The pro-business group outlined those and other goals in its recently released 2026 Session Priorities publication, which serves as a detailed guide to the policies AIF supports as well as those it will lobby against.

“As the 2026 Session approaches, AIF is proud to present our priorities, reflecting the collective voice of Florida’s diverse business community,” said Brewster Bevis, the organization’s President and CEO. “Florida remains a national model for economic opportunity, and AIF will work diligently to protect the business climate, encourage investment, and foster job creation across the state.”

AIF’s priorities reflect the interests of a broad set of industries, honed by its many policy councils and coalitions, including the Community Growth Council; Environmental Sustainability & Agriculture Council; Energy Council; Financial Services Council; Transportation & Maritime Council; Information Technology Council; Manufacturing, Aerospace & Defense Council; Taxation Council; Health Care Council; and the H2O Coalition.

The priority list also details its support for “the lawful, strategic use of state preemption” on “unnecessary, inconsistent” local government regulations, an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy, full funding for the state’s Fresh From Florida marketing program, and efforts to increase the number of graduate medical education slots across Florida’s health care institutions.

AIF said preserving the tort reforms from 2022 and 2023 also remains a top priority. The 2023 bill made sweeping changes to Florida’s torts laws that AIF and other pro-business groups argue are integral to stabilizing the cost of insurance premiums.

“Housing affordability, the rise of artificial intelligence, and efforts to roll back Florida’s historic tort reforms all have major implications for the strength of our business climate. AIF will continue to champion policies that support employers, protect consumers and residents, and ensure Florida remains one of the most competitive states in the nation to live, work, and do business,” Bevis said.

The 2026 Session Priorities publication will be delivered to all members of the Legislature and Cabinet, as well as state agency heads.