Candidate Profile: Chris Messina

Making his second run for Orange County Mayor, Winter Park tech entrepreneur Chris Messina, 67, decided to run for the open seat this year because “all the business skills and my education have converged to make me the best candidate to take Orange County into the 21st century,” he told VoxPopuli. “Obviously that’s not something that happens alone, but you need a leader with some vision to achieve that.”

Messina describes himself on his campaign Facebook page as a “visionary conservative and practical populist.” He is supporting Moms for Liberty School Board Member Alicia Farrant for School Board Chair, backed the statewide removal of fluoride from community drinking water and would like to see more crisis pregnancy centers established to dissuade women from seeking abortions. At the same time, Messina is also advocating to locate the country’s Space Force Academy in Orange County and construct vertiports at Orlando International Airport and other key hubs for vertical takeoff/landing “air taxis” to fly tourists to theme parks and commuters between cities.

“We have the second-largest university in the country. We are in the center of what I think is the most important state in the union. We've got relatively good roads. We have sunshine, we have amazing theme parks and entertainment options. But at the same time, we're 49th out of 50 according to the Census Bureau in terms of median individual incomes. We have according to Florida Department of Health, over 2,100 people sleeping on the streets in Orange County every night. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says we're third for child sex trafficking. Those are really sad numbers,” he said.

[Ed. Note: Census Bureau tracks household income. According to the U.S. Economic Development Administration, in 2025, the U.S. ranked 37th in individual annual income, about $47,880]

“So I think we need to do something different than what's been done before, and I don't believe we need a politician. I believe we need somebody who comes from a business background, somebody who's had experience with creating new things, things from nothing, or taking challenges and turning them into opportunities. That's my background,” Messina said.

The lone Republican in the nonpartisan Aug. 18 race, Messina faces Orange County Commissioner Mayra Uribe, former Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy and Orange County Clerk of Courts Tiffany Moore Russell — all Democrats. If none of the candidates earn more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters will advance to a run-off on Nov. 3.

The Orange County Mayor serves for four-years and earns $248,089 annually.

Here, Messina answers questions from VoxPopuli and the News Collaborative of Central Florida.

If elected, what are the three most pressing problems you want to address, and what do you suggest to solve them?

Low median wages stifle economic opportunity for many Orange County citizens. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data ranks Greater Orlando as #49/50 of the 50 largest metro areas in the US, with a median wage of $45,410 in 2024. We'll address this by diversifying our local economy, with a focus on attracting high tech/space tech businesses, to bring a range of great jobs to compliment those we have now. A centerpiece of our Space Tech recruitment efforts will be to bring the first military academy in the South — The Space Force Academy —to Orange County. The Space Force Academy alone will generate a minimum of $1 billionin local economic activity. [Ed. Note: There are four military colleges in the South (and still more high schools and prep schools): The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., founded in 1842; Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, founded in 1839; Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets in Blacksburg, founded in 1872; and Texas A&M Corps of Cadets in College Station, founded in 1876.]

We need to keep our kids safe; they are our future! As one indicator of the scale of the attacks on our children, leaders affiliated with organizations such as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children say that Greater Orlando is number 3 in the country in child sex trafficking. The USF Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Lab 2024 State Report estimates that there were 100,000 trafficked children in Florida, with Orange County in the top group. In addition, there is a rise in large group teen crime, such as the April 2026 "Icon Park Takeover." Our approach to keeping our children safe will be multifaceted. We'll focus on every environment that our children find themselves in. This includes getting rid of environmental toxins, providing more sports opportunities and playing fields, and sensibly regulating e-Bike use.

Above all, we will focus on fostering a culture of responsibility, accountability, and opportunity. A major initiative that we plan to launch is our Orange County Works program. This provides a subsidized trade school education to every qualified citizen in Orange County who wants one.  Eligibility will start junior year in high school and run through middle age, addressing the local shortage of qualified trades workers, while providing a hopeful path to those feeling stuck in a "dead end" job. After finding a trade job, the recipient will have five or 10 years to pay half of the subsidies back. This  will help keep the program evergreen.

We need to get rid of waste, fraud and bureaucracy in county government. That way we can invest where needed, such as better transportation and affordable housing, without raising taxes (and potentially while cutting taxes, if the ballot initiative to reduce homesteaded taxes passes). We'll utilize a forensic audit team, zero-based budgeting, and fiscal discipline to cut $200M/year in programs which are unnecessary, inefficient, or both.

Why do you deserve to elected in this race?

My combination of Experience, Education & Vision is ideal for the role of Orange County Mayor.

Experience

1. Building high tech businesses, trade associations and foundations that have cumulatively created thousands of great jobs

2. Solving problems with technology

3. Community service - Vice Chair- Orange County Watch, volunteer OC High School Football Coach, Big Brother, Special Needs Ministry founder.

Education

MBA, Harvard; Masters in City & Regional Planning (Rotary Fellow)

Vision

1. Bring the SpaceForce Academy to Orange County, lead OC to be the US center for SpaceTech.

2.  Fund a Trade school education (Orange County Works) for every Orange County citizen who wants one.

3. Transform the Lynx system using technology to right size it, making it a more reliable/efficient point to point system.

4. Revitalize our blighted Strip malls, create vibrant housing (including affordable), commercial & residential centers.

5. Partner with the City of Orlando and local builders to develop Church Street into a mega-sports entertainment complex, including e-sports and giving local residents an equity stake.‍

According to a University of North Florida poll, Floridians say affordability is their top issue. What are your solutions for dealing with Florida’s affordability issue?

1. Bringing in additional great jobs.  "Affordability" is mainly a function of earnings ability.

2. Facilitate educational paths, especially in the trades, which provide opportunities for economic advancement.

3. Cutting the per capita cost imposed by local government on its residents.

Will you vote Yes or No on the constitutional amendment to slash property taxes and explain your position. How would you replace lost revenue – fees and/or service reductions?

I will vote Yes to lower property taxes by increasing the homestead exemption and am encouraging everyone to vote accordingly. The total from tax on homesteaded properties is 2.5 percent of Orange County’s budget, assuming no growth. The impact of the proposed amendment on Orange County’s budget is likely to be less than a 2 percent reduction, again, assuming no growth. With growth, Orange County budget revenues will be neutral to positive even if this amendment takes effect. Any shortfall will be addressed by economic growth, combined with fiscal discipline. It's important to note that non-homesteaded residential and commercial properties are both larger county ad valorem revenue categories than all homesteaded properties.  

Utility costs are rising for customers in Florida, and the proliferation of data centers is expected to exacerbate that issue. How should Florida’s utility regulators respond?

Although this issue is largely addressed at a state vs. a county level, there are a number of important considerations. First, I don't believe that hyper-scale data centers are right for Florida, especially because of the risks to our water supply. Second, I believe that the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) should discontinue incentives for inefficient large scale utility solar fields and wind turbines and instead encourage clean coal and small scale nuclear to provide stable base load power. In addition FPSC should incentivize investments in commercial and residential roof-top solar by mandating net metering (1 for 1 utility bill credits) and cash payments for the net energy those installations send back to the grid.

What do you think is the biggest environmental issue your government should address in Florida?

We need to reduce pollution across the board — water, air and land — starting with threats to the Florida aquifer. That's why I oppose hyper-scale data centers in Florida generally and Orange County specifically. These hyper-scale centers are currently cooled by massive amounts of water. That water is chemically treated with glycols, phosphates, nitrates, biocides, and sodium hydroxide, among other additives, all of which will end up back in our water supply.  

How do you want to develop Orange County’s economy?

 I think Orange County should be the space tech leader of the country. I think we’re the perfect location for the Space Force Academy. It’ll be transformative. Initially it’ll spin off a billion dollars in revenue. Why do we know that? Because that’s what West Point spins off. But space is creating all kinds of new jobs, so there’s all those ancillary benefits, so a billion dollars is the low end. The cost would be borne by the Department of Defense so it’d be a big win for us.

How would you address the county’s housing issue?

We need to take advantage of some of the local programs that have been created, like Live Local and YIGB [Yes, In God’s Backyard], the new law allowing churches with land, subject to local zoning to build their own housing units.

And take advantage of the rundown housing stock or commercial building stock that we have with all these rundown strip malls all over Orange County. Like Fashion Square Mall, West Oaks Mall, the Colonial Promenade. We have locations all over the city, and right now they're blights on the city. I think the estimate is that there are between 100 and 200 strip malls of varying sizes. So we have the locations. My focus is to figure out how to redevelop these areas and provide a range of mixed-use and mixed-income housing.

We also need to look at reducing demand. There have been studies  that have shown that for every 1 million people who are here in this country illegally, they raise housing costs by one percent. So a million people who are here illegally, leaving, going back to their home countries under the programs that are in place now, to do that reduces housing costs nationally by 1 percent. So that's something we really seriously have to look at. [Ed. Note: Increases in immigration may have increased demand, but there’s no evidence it drove higher costs, experts say. Under-building, restrictive zoning and higher interest rates were the contributing factors.]

 What would you work on to ready the county for storm preparedness?

 First of all, we know where the major storm flooding is, like Orlo Vista. We know that the roads right off Dean Road that there's some bad flooding there because the Econ [Econlockhatchee] River has been developed downstream, and it backs up during big floods. And so we need to proactively put in drainage systems that are capable of shunting water away from those big locations.

We also have to stop approving developments. There's a development on the corner of Dean Road and University Blvd. that floods every time there's even a mild to moderate hurricane. They get a foot of water there. That should have never been approved. It's in a floodplain. So we've got to stop developing our floodplains. We should also look at where we're planting trees because they become reservoirs for anchoring areas, and trees take up a tremendous amount of water. Any politician who promises there will be no flooding, they're not telling the truth. But we can do a lot to mitigate it.

And we need to know if there is aerial seeding of clouds for weather modification going on. It's illegal in Florida, but that doesn't mean that maybe the federal government or other players are doing it. That's something that really has to be looked into. I know a lot of people say, Oh, that's a conspiracy theory, but there's just too too much evidence. There’s actual evidence that aerial seeding happens, and then it causes these uncontrollable localized storms, and that's not good.