After losing in the Orlando City Council election, Chris Durant posed arm-in-arm with his former opponent Roger Chapin and wholeheartedly endorsed him for next month’s runoff against Mira Tanna.
But Durant’s endorsement posted on social media Nov. 9 and Chapin’s new mailer highlighting his friendship with Durant doesn’t tell the full story.
Chapin paid Durant $1,500 on Nov. 10 for “contract labor,” according to Chapin’s campaign finance report.
Both Durant and Chapin denied Durant was compensated for his endorsement.
In an interview, Durant described the nature of the $1,500 work as doing canvassing and offering messaging strategies for Precinct 45 for the Rosemont neighborhood where Durant lives.
“The financial transaction had nothing to do with my verbal or my public endorsement,” Durant said. “He’s the one that offered. It was in recognition that I was a hard worker and a hard canvasser. … I knocked on more doors than anybody else. And Roger recognized my hard work and he wanted me to be on his team because he recognized that I’m indispensable. I’m someone that could help him win.”
Meanwhile, Tanna’s campaign countered that she doesn’t pay money to people who endorse her.
“I’m very proud of the campaign and vision we’ve built. All of our endorsers and volunteers believe in that vision and that’s why they’re backing us without any financial incentive,” Tanna said in a statement. “That’s why they have been tirelessly knocking on doors with us, showing up at events, making phone calls, and donating their hard earned resources to this campaign.”
Chapin has led Tanna in fundraising by 3 to 1 for the District 3 nonpartian race that covers Baldwin Park, Audubon Park, College Park, Coytown, Rosemont and a few other neighborhoods north of downtown Orlando.
Durant, 24, who had never run for political office before, finished third in the Nov. 4 election. Nearly one out of every five voters chose Durant, a real estate wholesaler looking for residential properties not yet on the market while also coaching youth basketball on the side.
“I consider myself a super canvasser,” Durant said about his success. “ Walked and knocked. I did it every single day from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. … I did that for five months straight.”
Durant’s finish surprised some people although Durant said he was disappointed because he expected to make the runoff.
Instead it was Chapin and Tanna, both Democrats separated by a mere 14 votes, who advanced to the Dec. 9 runoff out of the initial field of five candidates.
After the Nov. 4 election, Durant’s phone blew up. He got calls from state Rep. Anna Eskamani and U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, two popular Orlando Democrats backing Tanna.
Frost “tried to get him not to endorse me, and Chris still stuck with me. Having a U.S. Congressman call you is pretty big,” Chapin said in a earlier interview with Florida Politics. “I think that having a former opposition endorsing you speaks volumes.”
In his timeline for events, Durant said he spoke to both Tanna and Chapin Nov. 5 and decided afterward he was all in on Chapin.
The next day, that’s when Chapin and his campaign manager called him, offering him paid work for the runoff election, Durant said. He added he had not been promised any city hall jobs if Chapin is elected.
Roger Chapin’s new mailer.
The roots of Durant and Chapin’s friendship grew on the campaign trail where Durant said his opponent was genuine and complimentary as they crossed paths at events. They started reaching out if one knocked on the door of a resident supporting the other one, Durant said. Chapin even called asking for advice the best way to leave a message on residents’ Ring cameras if they weren’t home.
“The campaign really exposes who you are,” Durant said of Chapin’s personality. “It didn’t matter what Maxwell Frost told me. I was going to go with Roger because I believed in him. I believed in who he was, and I believe he would be the best person for this district.”
Frost declined to comment about Durant’s $1,500 contract work but he elaborated on his support for Tanna, the Orlando city grants manager
“She understands the inner workings of what the city does, but also more importantly, how to utilize the federal and state resources to get the mission completed,” Frost said in an interview.
The District 3 runoff comes at a time of major transformation for Central Florida since both Orange County and Orlando are getting new mayors in the upcoming years and the community is grappling with big challenges, from an affordable housing crisis to traffic congestion and a broken and underfunded public transit system.
“I think people just want to know, ‘Are you going to make sure my trash gets on time, that we fill the potholes,’” Frost said. “’And are you going to make sure that you’re going to City Council with brand new ideas that can actually move our city forward?’ I think Mira checks both of those boxes.”
Miles Davis is taking his Florida-focused organizing playbook to the national stage.
Davis, Policy Director at PRISM Florida and Director of Advocacy and Communications at SAVE, has been selected to present a workshop at the 2026 Creating Change Conference, the largest annual LGBTQ advocacy and movement-building convention.
It’s a major nod to his rising role in Florida’s LGBTQ policy landscape.
The National LGBTQ Task Force, which organizes the conference, announced that Davis will present his session, “School Board Organizing 101.” His proposal rose to the top of more than 550 submissions competing for roughly 140 slots, a press note said, making this year’s conference one of the most competitive program cycles in the event’s history.
His workshop will be scheduled during the Jan. 21-24 gathering in Washington, D.C.
Davis said his selection caps a strong year for PRISM Florida, where he helped shepherd the organization’s first-ever bill (HB 331) into the Legislature. The measure, sponsored by Tampa Democratic Rep. Dianne Hart, would restore local oversight over reproductive health and HIV/AIDS instruction, undoing changes enacted under a 2023 expansion to Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” law, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics.
Davis’ workshop draws directly from that work and aims to train LGBTQ youth, families and advocates in how local boards operate, how public comment can shape decisions and how communities can mobilize around issues like book access, inclusive classrooms and student safety.
“School boards are where the real battles over student safety, book access, and inclusive classrooms are happening,” Davis said. “I’m honored to bring this training to Creating Change and help our community build the skills to show up, speak out, and win — especially as PRISM advances legislation like HB 331 that returns power to our local communities.”
Davis’ profile has grown in recent years, during which he jumped from working on the campaigns and legislative teams of lawmakers like Hart and Miami Gardens Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones to working in key roles for organizations like America Votes, PRISM and SAVE.
The National LGBTQ Task Force, founded in 1973, is one of the nation’s oldest LGBTQ advocacy organizations. It focuses on advancing civil rights through federal policy work, grassroots engagement and leadership development.
Its Creating Change Conference draws thousands for four days of training and strategy-building yearly, a press note said.
State Rep. Kevin Steele’s campaign for Chief Financial Officer already enjoys political support from U.S. Sen. Rick Scott. The Dade City Republican attended a summit headlined by the Senator to also gain some policy insight and mentoring.
Steele was among the attendees for the Rescuing the American Dream summit held on Thursday in Washington, D.C. He said it was a quest for knowledge that drew him to Capitol Hill to hear the discussion.
“The way you do things better in the future is by learning from people who have already accomplished something,” Steele told Florida Politics at the event.
Scott gave a shoutout to Steele from the stage. The Governor already endorsed Steele, who is challenging the appointed Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia in 2026. At the summit, Scott both promoted conservative successes in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term and laid out visions on issues from health care reform to cryptocurrency.
Steele called the panel discussions “amazing” and instructive on tackling affordability issues in Florida.
“If we don’t start addressing those things head first, we’re going to fall behind,” Steele said. “I think we’ve lost several million jobs in the state of Florida over the past six or seven years. Learning from Rick Scott and how to bring jobs back to the state is a good thing. And I think that we need to start tackling some of the big, big things that we need to attack.”
That includes addressing property insurance premiums head on and evaluating the property tax situation.
While he will be challenging a Republican incumbent in a Primary, Steele voiced caution at comparing his philosophy too directly with Ingoglia, a former Republican Party of Florida Chair with a history of animus with Scott.
But he did suggest Ingoglia’s recent scrutinizing of local governments may be starting at the wrong place when it comes to cutting spending.
“We need to start focusing on state down, instead of going to a county and pointing out flaws there,” Steele said. “There’s a lot of issues at the state level that we can address, some of which we are, some of which I’ve submitted different bills to address. I think that there’s a lot of waste and abuse at the state level that we can focus on.”
U.S. Rep. Darren Soto is refusing to say whether indicted U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick should vacate her seat in Congress.
Video obtained by Florida Politics shows Soto being confronted on Capitol Hill. “Will you call on Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick to resign?” the videographer asks.
Initially, Soto remains silent, but the questioner suggests that silence shows “support” for someone who “stole $5 million in health care funds for the most vulnerable.” The Kissimmee Democrat then responds but continues walking away from the camera. He then conflates a censure motion against U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican, and Cherfilus-McCormick, a Miramar Democrat.
“Both Mills and Cherfilus-McCormick, both will have due process. Thank you,” Soto said.
Both Cherfilus-McCormick and Mills remain the subjects of ongoing House Ethics Committee investigations. But only Cherfilus-McCormick now faces criminal prosecution for alleged financial crimes.
A grand jury in November indicted Cherfilus-McCormick on charges she stole $5 million in disaster relief funds to finance her 2021 congressional campaign.
The indictment alleges that Cherfilus-McCormick and her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, secured funding intended for a COVID vaccine distribution program, but when overpayments were made, she routed the spending through several accounts that later donated the funds as campaign contributions.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said pursuant to House rules that Cherfilus-McCormick had to give up her ranking status on the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa. Local Democrats have started to issue calls for the Miramar Democrat’s resignation. But there have been no calls from Democratic members of Congress.
U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, a Sarasota Republican, has said if she won’t resign, he will move for her expulsion.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which lists Soto as a target in 2026, slammed Soto’s unwillingness to criticize a fellow Democrat.
“Darren Soto’s refusal to call on Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick to resign is unacceptable,” said NRCC spokesperson Maureen O’Toole. “Floridians deserve a representative who fights for them, not his taxpayer-thieving colleague.”