Candidate Profile: Randolph Bracy III

Former State Sen. Randolph Bracy III, 48, is running for the same Florida senate seat he campaigned for last August in a bruising primary challenge to Sen. Geraldine F. Thompson to represent Senate District 15. The district includes Winter Garden, Oakland, Ocoee, Pine Hills, Apopka, Eatonville and parts of Orlando.

Thompson won re-election with the endorsements of all of the Democrats on the Orange County Legislative Delegation (including Bracy’s sister State Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis) and nearly 61 percent of the vote. But then Thompson died unexpectedly in February after complications from knee surgery. The day after her death and without a word of condolence to Thompson’s family, Bracy announced his plan to run for the open seat and serve out Thompson's term through 2028.

This time, he faces a crowded field in a June 24 Democratic primary, which includes Ocoee lawyer Coretta Anthony-Smith, former Congressman Alan Grayson and his sister — who’s not only been endorsed by Thompson’s family but their own mother.  

The winner will face Republican Willie Montague, founder of the nonprofit House of Timothy, a facility for troubled boys and youth. Montague is the only Republican to qualify for the Sept. 2 special election.

Florida state senators serve four-year terms and earn $29,697 annually.

The deadline to request a mail-in ballot is June 12. Early voting will take place daily  June 14 to 22, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Click here for early voting locations. 

“Not a campaign, a movement”

Bracy’s campaign — which according to his website is “not a campaign, it’s a movement” — is a retread of his 2024 campaign. It features the same slogans: “A better me. A better you. A better us” and “The vibe will attract the tribe.” 

It outlines several key issues: 

• Helping small businesses get “access to capital” and “offer more employment as well as workforce training and retention tools.”
• Increasing affordable housing through “aggressive steps” and “fresh ideas.”
• Improving and increasing access to public transportation.
• Improving mental health through a “vision to transform how mental health is understood, perceived, accessed, treated and integrated.”
• Adding more programs for youth, such as “more STEM programs” and advocating for “more arts, music, movies and educational programs.” 
• Advocating for corporations to “partner with schools to provide technological access” to reduce the digital divide.

Recently, Bracy recorded a 21-second Facebook video in which he talked about continuing to fight for women’s reproductive rights. He said he’s “always supported a woman’s right to choose, and [he’ll] vote for it in Tallahassee." 

“The audacity for anybody to tell a woman what they should do with their bodies is just ridiculous,” he said in the video.

But as in 2024 there are few details about how any of his ideas would be executed if Bracy were elected. We made several attempts by phone and text to gain an interview with Bracy. He hung up the phone after I said I was from VoxPopuli. 

Bracy appears more comfortable talking about his past legislative accomplishments, including his eponymous scholarship fund for descendants of survivors of the 1920 Ocoee Election Day Massacre or any Black high-school graduate in Ocoee continuing their education. He also got legislation passed in 2020 to ensure that the Ocoee Massacre is part of the school curriculum, helped secure millions of dollars in recurring funding for HBCUs and passed the Kaia Rolle Act, which prohibits the arrest of children under 7. 

He also makes videos lambasting his opponents. 

In a May 25 video posted on Instagram, Bracy blasted Grayson for utilizing photos of himself with Black leaders from his days in Congress, like Congressman John Lewis and former President Barack Obama, to appeal to Black voters.

He accused Anthony-Smith of being a Republican Party “plant,” infiltrating the Democratic Party. He said: “ Republicans are making plants, and they're trying to plant Republicans in the Democratic Party.”   

Reached for response, Anthony-Smith told VoxPopuli she has been a registered Democrat in Orange County for more than 21 years and that she is not a “MAGA plant.”

Bracy pointed to a video clip of Anthony-Smith — who he calls “MAGA Coretta” — stating that she doesn’t support reparations and a Florida Politics article as evidence that the Republicans are funneling money to her. The article reported nothing of the sort and stated that Anthony-Smith had no knowledge of television attack ads, which accused Bracy of taking money from insurance corporations and were created by Republican political consultant Mark Zubaly with the Committee to Protect Florida. 

Anthony-Smith’s called Bracy's claims "baseless." Her campaign finance reports show no contributions from Committee to Protect Florida, Zubaly or any Republican organization.

Anthony-Smith added that  the radio clip didn't accurately portray her full stance on reparations. While she doesn't support slavery reparations "because there would be no way to discernibly ascertain who would be entitled to those reparations," she does support reparations for other well-documented atrocities, such as the Tuskegee syphilis study on Black men.

Family feud

This special election has re-ignited a one-sided family feud. Bracy has made no secret of his anger that his sister, Bracy Davis, who as representative of House District 40, worked hand-in-glove with Thompson is also running for the Senate District 15 seat. After her March announcement that she planned to run for the seat of her friend, mentor and frequent legislative partner, Bracy released a statement, Fox 35 reported, that her choice “to run against me dishonors our father’s legacy in every way possible.” 

The late Rev. Dr. Randolph Bracy, Jr. was the founder of the New Covenant Baptist Church of Orlando, former Orange County NAACP president and Bethune Cookman religion department director. He died in 2023. 

On April 10, Bracy shared a Facebook video recorded by his wife, Kietta Mayweather Bracy, criticizing Bracy Davis for running against him and accusing their mother of turning his sister against him.

While his sister had no comment, Bracy’s uncle, Philoron Wright, who made a similar appeal not to air family business publicly last year during Bracy’s campaign against Thompson, wrote: “I am saddened by the latest internal events that are damaging/harming the good names of people who have contributed so much to make our communities better… It's time for a cease fire and let the voters vote based on the candidates’ record and merits to determine best candidates for senate position. Best man or woman win.”

Bracy responded: “The fact that you are endorsing the mess is astonishing. You endorse this mess in my family, but would you endorse it for your own family? Would you endorse your son PJ running against your son Patrick; and furthermore would support one, and slander and denigrate the other son in public?... This is NOT NORMAL!!!!!!” 

When asked about any aspect of his campaign, Bracy Davis only ever says she loves her brother and wishes him well.

Financial questions

Family drama is not the only thing raising questions about Bracy’s campaign. Signs around the district have featured the word “re-elect,” as in “Re-elect Sen. Randolph Bracy.” 

That’s a violation of Florida election law. Only incumbents can use the word “re-elect” in campaign advertising to avoid confusing voters. While Bracy was a state senator, he left office in 2022 and is not the incumbent. When VoxPopuli reached out to Bracy in April to ask about this, we got no response. However, when WESH 2 asked him in May, he said, “I didn’t know that. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll change that.” The signs are still up. 

In addition, there are questions about Bracy’s personal finances. The Orlando Sentinel reported last year that Bracy’s net worth jumped from about $530,000 in 2022 when he left the Florida Senate to more than $4 million in 2024. He ascribed this to new clients but refused to provide details about who these new clients were. 

On his 2024 financial disclosure form (or Form 6), Bracy’s net worth is listed as $4.26 million. His consulting business is listed as his sole source of income, which he stated was $786,000 for 2024. Bracy claims $8.25 million in real estate assets, though none are listed. An ethics expert and an attorney who represents clients before the state ethics commission, quoted in the Sentinel article, both indicated Bracy should be more transparent about what he owns and who he does business with so that voters can see if there are conflicts of interest. He chose not to file his tax information with his financial disclosure form. 

He is carrying about $1,188,000 in debt, according to his Form 6, in addition to two mortgages — one for $2.8 million on his homesteaded estate in Lake County and one for $699,000 on his Oakland home in the Hull Island development. 

Bracy’s Oakland home may be causing him some financial headaches. In March, he refinanced his mortgage, a process that requires the submission of proof of all income. The loan modification documents, available at the Orange County Comptroller site, state he is “experiencing financial hardship and, as a result, I am in default … or my default is imminent, and I do not have sufficient income or access to sufficient readily available financial assets to make my monthly mortgage payments now or in the future.” 

A total of $53,100 has not been paid. The new 40-year mortgage is now $728,077. 

The Oakland home was also liened by its neighborhood homeowners association for $5,000 in unpaid HOA dues, fees and penalties. The HOA president told VoxPopuli that they are getting ready to foreclose on the home. A separate lawsuit is being prepared for lawn maintenance neglect. 

Bracy’s Oakland home is listed as the mailing address for his Global Business Development Consulting firm, started in 2015, although since 2022 a downtown Orlando address on Magnolia Avenue has been listed on Sunbiz as the principal address. When VoxPopuli visited the Magnolia Avenue address, we found two office buildings. Another company was in the suite number associated with Bracy's consulting business. In the other building, there was an unmarked, locked office. There was no answer to repeated knocks at the door.