Democrats outvoted Republicans in Orange County 91,052 to 61,973 with 24,449 voters indicating they had no party affiliation, according to the Supervisor's site. About 2,874 voters said they identified with some other political party other than Democrat or Republican.

Mail-in voting continued to be popular, accounting for an estimated 60,528 ballots. Early voting accounted for 56,369 ballots.  

Democrats preferred voting by mail (31,981) and voting early (30,587) to voting on Election Day (28,484). Republicans, on the other hand, prefer to vote on Election Day (25,706) to voting by mail (17,286) and voting early (18,981), possibly because of the doubts cast on mail voting by President Trump —who votes by mail himself.

Three Run-offs

The Orange County Mayor’s race, the District 2 County Commission race and one of the Ninth Circuit judicial races resulted in runoffs when none of the candidates received more than 50 percent of the votes.

Tiffany Moore Russell, the former Clerk of Court and the frontrunner going into today’s election, garnered nearly 32 percent of the vote — 52,350 of the total 165,065 ballots cast. She’ll face tech entrepreneur Chris Messina, the next highest vote-getter, who received nearly 28 percent of the vote, with 45,882 ballots, on Nov 3.

Former Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy received 26 percent of the vote while Mayra Uribe, District 3 County Commissioner, got 14.62 percent.  

In the District 2 County Commission race, the top two vote-getters, Kamia Brown, with 32 percent of the vote, and new District 2 County Commissioner Mike Crabb, who netted nearly 26 percent, will go head to head on Nov. 3.

Crabb was appointed to the county commission by Gov. Ron DeSantis days before early voting began. He fills the vacancy created by former Commissioner Christine Moore who resigned in April to run unsuccessfully for Apopka mayor.

In Group 1 on the Ninth Circuit Court, the three-way race resulted in a runoff between Temika Hampton-Johnson, who garnered 45.80 percent of the vote and 70,411 ballots and incumbent Judge Mikaela Nix who received 28 percent of the vote and 43,041 ballots. Attorney Charles Hart II received 26 percent of the vote and was eliminated from contention.

School Board & Clerk of Courts

There were decisive wins in the School Board and the Clerk of Courts races.

Former District 1 School Board Member Angie Gallo, won the School Board Chair with 59 percent of the vote and a nearly 30,000 vote margin over former District 3 School Board Member and Moms for Liberty candidate Alicia Farrant.

Roberta Walton Johnson, the general counsel for the Clerk of Courts, saw that experience translate into a sweep of the Democratic Primary with 53 percent of the vote over Rick Singh who received nearly 29 percent. District 4 County Commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero still netted 18 percent of the vote, despite having withdrawn from the race in the face of a lawsuit Singh filed to have her removed from the ballot because she had not resigned her seat on the  commission to run. Singh had argued that if she'd won, she could have held two elected positions, which is not allowed under Florida law. Walton Johnson will face Terrell Thompson, an independent, on Nov. 3.

Judicial races

Three judicial races were also decided today.

In Group 2 on the circuit court, Christina Arguelles won a decisive victory over Christie Lou Mitchell. Arguelles scored nearly 66 percent of the vote to Mitchell’s 34 percent.

In Group 31, Kamilah Perry won out over Steve Kerestes with nearly 60 percent of the vote to his 40 percent.  

On the Orange County Court, Asima Azam won the Group 5 seat with nearly 52 percent of the vote over Kafi Kennedy who earned 48 percent.

Incumbent Orange County Judge Cherish Adams handily retained her seat on the Group 17 bench, beating Joy Goodyear with nearly 54 percent of the vote to her 46 percent.

A third Orange County Court race, Group 21, was decided in early July when incumbent Judge Mark Miller accepted an appointment to the federal immigration court and withdrew from contention. His opponent Judi Garabo Hayes is automatically seated on the bench, though it was too late to remove the race from the ballot.

In a sweeping victory that should surprise no one, incumbent State Rep. Doug Bankson won the Republican Primary for House District 39 with 91 percent of the vote against Longwood dentist, pilot and real estate magnate Carlos Johary, Sr, DMD. Of the 7,238 votes cast, Johary, who told VoxPopuli that he got into the race to set himself up for when Bankson leaves the House, netted 639.

Bankson now faces Democratic nominee Dr. Jarod Fox on Nov. 3.

Congressional District 11

The race for retiring Rep. Daniel Webster's Congressional District 11 seat was set tonight. The district includes a sizable portion of West Orange County, including Winter Garden, Oakland and Windermere. In the three-way Democratic Primary, James Pericola, who jumped into the race during the qualifying period, pulled 43 percent of the vote for a win over Royal Webster, who won 30 percent of the vote, and Dan Williams who received 26.52 percent.

Pericola, who served in the Clinton Administration, told VoxPopuli that he aims to bring national attention and funding to the race. He also hopes to appeal to disaffected Trump voters, souring on the economy.

Pericola will face Joe Strada, winner of the District 11 Republican Primary. In that five-candidate race, Strada, who had the backing of many state and national Republican leaders, as well as his own personal fortune to draw on, pulled out 36 percent of the vote. Former state legislator Carey Baker earned 26.61 percent of the vote while Tim Wilkins, who made targeting fellow Republican candidate Dr. Nizam Razack for his Muslim religion a centerpiece of his campaign, netted 25.25 percent of the vote. Razack pulled in nearly 9 percent while Ivette Palomo received 3 percent.