Surrounded by members of the late Sen. Geraldine Thompson’s family, Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis announced she will seek the Windermere Democrat’s seat.

“Today’s announcement was about continuing the legacy and mission Sen. Thompson started,” Bracy Davis told Florida Politics.

That sets up a showdown in a Democratic Primary in Senate District 15 between Bracy Davis and her brother, former Sen. Randolph Bracy, who filed for the seat earlier this week. But Bracy Davis said she doesn’t want the race to become personal.

“I love my brother and I wish him well,” Bracy Davis said. “I’m not running against anyone. I am running eventually for the people of Senate District 15.”

Legislative allies of Thompson expect to rally around the sitting lawmaker. Sen. Tracie Davis, a Jacksonville Democrat, told Florida Politics earlier this month that Thompson before her death said she saw Bracy Davis as the heir apparent to the seat.

That seemed clear by the presence of Thompson’s daughter, Elizabeth Grace, and niece, Charlean Gatlin, during Friday’s announcement. Both gave remarks strongly supporting Thompson’s candidacy.

Bracy Davis backed Thompson in her last re-election effort, when Randolph Bracy challenged the incumbent lawmaker in a Democratic Primary. Thompson ultimately won the contest with nearly 61% of the vote in an open Primary that decided the election last August.

But Thompson died on Feb. 13 following complications with knee replacement surgery. The unexpected death left her SD 15 seat vacant during the Legislative Session.

Notably, Gov. Ron DeSantis has yet to call a Special Election to fill Thompson’s seat more than a month after her death. Bracy Davis said she hopes the Governor takes action on that quickly.

“I would hope he would do it very soon,” Bracy Davis said. “The people of Senate District 15 need representation and I hope this happens soon. It is needed. The people have needs and desires and mandates. The Senate district has nobody to represent them now.”

At the same time, Bracy Davis as a sitting lawmaker cannot raise money during the Legislative Session, and isn’t even filing paperwork for the seat immediately. Bracy, in contrast, has filed for the seat in 2028 and already can immediately raise money that will eventually transfer to a Special Election account.

Bracy Davis said she plans to continue Thompson’s legacy as an advocate for education and Black history. She announced her intention to run in front of the Wells’Built Museum of African American History and Culture in Orlando, an institution Thompson championed.

And Bracy Davis noted that she is carrying legislation she once helped craft with Thompson. Thompson sponsored the Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Voting Rights Act this year with Bracy Davis. Thompson originally filed the bill, which would reverse many voting restrictions implemented by Republicans while allowing same-day registration and voting and making Election Day a paid work holiday.

“My experience as a state Representative has shown me the importance of fighting for the needs of our community,” Bracy Davis said at the event. “I am ready to serve the people of District 15 and committed to bringing the same passion and dedication I’ve had throughout my career to the Florida state Senate to address critical issues like affordable housing, education and economic development.”

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The First Couple clearly isn’t ruling out a third term in the Governor’s Mansion, but they aren’t willing to commit to an unprecedented run either.

The looming drama over the Governor’s race is whether First Lady Casey DeSantis runs against Donald Trump-endorsed Byron Donalds in the 2026 Primary.

She sidestepped a direct question at the National Review Institute’s “Idea Summit,” extolling her husband as “the GOAT” and offering vague criticisms of other politicians she wouldn’t name as part of a “long-winded answer” that ended with “we’ll see.”

“All that he has done is extremely fragile. You could get somebody in and it could revert back,” she said of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

She also condemned politicians who “think about what’s next on the next political rung in their career.”

“The founders never thought that politics should ever have been a career, right? You were supposed to go up and serve, and you come home and you live under the laws that you pass. But it’s really changed,” said the wife of a man who ran for Senate while in Congress, and then ran for President immediately after being elected Governor a second time.

The Governor said that “leadership is going to continue to matter,” given that forces “in and around Tallahassee” don’t like a lot of what he’s done, and that as a result “the success in Florida is very, very fragile.”

“There’s a lot of people that don’t like what we’ve done on the Republican side. And there’s a lot of people that are just kind of waiting like, ‘we just got to get this guy out of here so that we can kind of go back to business.’ There is that sentiment out there,” he said.

“We’ve been the example that a lot of people, conservatives around the country, have pointed to. But I don’t think that this is on autopilot that’s going to continue in this direction.”.

Later in the interview, he promised that Casey, were she Governor, would “be more conservative” than him.

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