Winter Park Political Mingle

More than 350 Winter Park residents, business owners and community leaders mingled with candidates for local, state and federal offices at the Winter Park Political Mingle on Tuesday, July 20.  This event, presented by Bright House Networks, and hosted by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, gave attendees the opportunity to meet the candidates running in this fall’s hottest races and vote in a straw poll prior to the upcoming primary and general elections.

Special thanks to the sponsors and candidates that demonstrated their commitment to our local businesses and the Winter Park community by their involvement of this event.  Thank you to Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles and his team for their help with our straw ballot.  The ballot is not an official document and was developed in the context of those candidates participating in the event (indicated with *).  It is not inclusive of all races, declared candidates or proposed state consitutional amendments. Results are listed below (or can be downloaded here) and are not an endorsement of the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce.

U.S. Senator
Marco Rubio (R)    68%
* Glenn A. Burkett (D)  2.5%
Jeff Greene (D)   2.5%
Kendrick B. Meek (D)  7%
Charlie Crist (NPA)  20%

U.S. Representative District 7
* John L. Mica (R)   85%
* Heather Beaven (D)  15%

U.S. Representative District 8
Alan Grayson (D)   28%
* Peg Dunmire (T)  72%

U.S. Representative District 24
* Sandra “Sandy” Adams (R)   29%
* Karen Diebel (R)    34%
* Craig Miller (R)     14%
Suzanne Kosmas (D)   14%
* Paul Partyka (D)   9%

Governor
Bill McCollum (R)    45%
Rick Scott (R)     28%
Alex Sink (D)   24%
Lawton “Bud” Chiles (NPA) 3%

Attorney General
Holly Benson (R)    26.5%
* Pam Bondi (R)     34%
Jeff Kottkamp (R)    20%
Dave Aronberg (D)  7%
Dan Gelber (D)   9.5%
Jim Lewis (NPA)   3%

Chief Financial Officer
Jeff Atwater (R)    76%
Loranne Ausley (D)  17%
Ken Mazzie (NPA)  2%
Tom Stearns (NPA)  5%

Commissioner of Agriculture
Adam H. Putnam (R)    62%
Scott Maddox (D)  18%
Ira Chester (T)   14%
Thad Hamilton (NPA)  6%

State Senator District 22
* David Simmons   100%

State Representative District 35
* Dean Cannon (R)    77%
Amy Mercado (D)  15%
Juanita “Nina” Virone (T) 8%

State Representative District 38
* Bryan Nelson (R)    81%
James “Heinie” Heinzelman (T) 19%

School Board District 1
* Joie Cadle   85%
Jacqueline Centeno  15%

County Mayor
Matthew Falconer  17%
Teresa Jacobs   39%
* Bill Segal   44%

County Commission District 5
* Ted Edwards   64%
* Doug Kinson   36%

Questions

Do you support Amendment 4, which establishes that before a local government may adopt a new comprehensive land use plan, or amend a comprehensive land use plan, the proposed plan or amendment shall be subject to a vote of the electors of the local government by referendum?

Yes:  22%
No:   78%

Do you support Amendments 5 & 6, stating that unless otherwise required, Legislative and Congressional districts must be compact, as equal in population as feasible, and where feasible must make use of existing city, county and geographical boundaries?

Yes:  49.8%
No:  50.2%

Do you support Amendment 8, revising class size requirements for public schools, where the current limits on the maximum number of students assigned to each teacher in the public school classrooms would become limits on the average number of students assigned per class to each teacher, by specified grade grouping, in each public school?

Yes: 68%
No:  32%

Thank you to our sponsors for their support of this event:

Media Partners:
Orlando Sentinel
Winter Park/Maitland Observer