representative Kristen Arrington hopes voters will promote her to the Senate on November 5. But can a newcomer to politics Jose Martinez turn a majority-Hispanic seat red instead?

Arrington and Martinez face off in Senate District 25, with the winner expected to succeed the incumbent senator. Victor Torresa Democrat from Orlando. Torres won election for the first time in a slightly differently shaped constituency in 2016garnering 58% of the votes at the time. But he won his last term in 2022 with less than 53% ahead of the Republicans. Pierre Vivaldi.

That left the governor. Ron DeSantis openly wanting Republicans to play a bigger role for the Hispanic seat, and Republicans have only strengthened their presence there since. But Democrats are confident the Orange-Osceola seat remains blue.

In September, vote showed Arrington with a 17 percentage point lead over Martinez. And voter registration numbers still show that the 117,000 registered Democrats significantly outnumber the more than 81,000 Republicans, as do the more than 105,000 voters with no party affiliation.

But Martinez hopes voters won’t just consider party identification when deciding whether a candidate represents the community. Nearly a million people who voted in the district in 2022 are Hispanic, according to MCI cards. That includes Martinez, who notes that he is the only candidate in the race who speaks Spanish.

“I think we deserve a representative who at least speaks the language,” he said.

Martinez has been a co-owner of Elite Metro Corp., a Metro by T-Mobile dealership headquartered in St. Cloud, for 20 years. He won a Republican primary in August, winning more than 59% of the GOP vote against an Osceola County school board member Jon Arguello.

He ran for office because of concerns about the excessive power of homeowners associations, he said. And while these groups fine their members for frivolous reasons, he said Central Florida continues to suffer from an affordable housing crisis.

“I don’t want to become another Miami,” he said. “So what do we do with affordable housing and can we apply it here to help middle-class people pay their rent?” »

He praised efforts such as the HEROES Act signed by DeSantis, which helps first responders buy homes, but said the state needs to do a better job of raising awareness.

Arrington ran a competitive Democratic primary herself in August, where she defeated former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson and community leader Carmen Torresthe wife of the outgoing senator. Despite serious competition, she won 51% of the vote.

Martinez received just over 10,000 votes to win the Republican nomination, while more than 11,000 voted for Arrington.

The Democratic lawmaker also considers affordable housing a major issue and said she has a track record proving she can solve the problem. During her time in the House, the Kissimmee Democrat secured funding for hotel-to-housing conversions in the area, and she also supported bipartisan measures like the Live Local Act to increase the supply of affordable housing.

“During my time in the Florida House, I passed bipartisan legislation to help our students, veterans, first responders, HOA residents and small businesses in downtown Kissimmee,” Arrington posted on Facebook .

“Additionally, I brought back funding for affordable housing (three motel/hotel conversions), fire protection, flood mitigation, and housing for homeless veterans and those struggling with addiction. “

She is married to the Osceola County Commissioner Brandon Arringtonand is the daughter-in-law of the supervisor of elections Mary Anne Arrington. The fact that all three were on the ballot prompted general anti-Arrington signs to appear. pop up in the neighborhood.

But her prominent name, her tenure in the House and her own work as a political consultant before her election give her a number of advantages in the election. And most importantly, she has a significant resource advantage over Martinez.

She raised more than $279,000 during the race and still had nearly $30,000 left as of October 28. Martinez raised just over $34,000, but largely self-funded his race with a $150,000 candidate loan. He closed last period with more than $85,000 in cash, but must decide whether to spend it.

Meanwhile, a Friends of the Arringtons The political committee had more than $27,000 extra for Arrington to use. A Positive PC Solutions trained by Martinez did not raise any money.

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