Candidate Profile: Wes Hodge

The way Wes Hodge, 48, tells the story, if his boss District 5 County Commissioner Dr. Kelly Martinez-Semrad didn’t put the idea of running for the open District 2 seat in his head, she gave him the shove he needed to file his candidate paperwork and start collecting petition signatures. Within a single week, Hodge — with a small army of volunteers and people in the community — collected 1,152 signatures (106 more than the required 1,046) to qualify for the Aug. 18 election.

It’s now a five-way race between Hodge; Ocoee City Commissioner George Oliver III; Attorney Marsha Summersill of Apopka; former State Rep. Kamia Brown of Ocoee; and Orange County Sheriff Lt. Mike Crabb of Ocoee. County Commissioners serve four-year terms and earn $127,320 annually.

For her part, Martinez-Semrad told VoxPopuli in May that she would “selfishly love to keep [Hodge] as my chief of staff … but he’s been doing the job for years as chief of staff to three county commissioners. … We don’t need a learning curve. Wes is a ready-made commissioner.”

Orange County District 2 includes Ocoee, Apopka, Tangerine, Zellwood and the census-designated areas Clarcona, Paradise Heights and Lockhart, where the former chief of staff for County Commissioners Emily Bonilla and Mayra Uribe lives with his husband Cannon Ouelette and a mini menagerie of pets.

This is not Hodge’s first run for office. Hodge — who chaired the Orange County Democratic Party from 2016 to 2021 and last year was elected treasurer of the Florida Democratic Party with 88 percent of the vote on the first ballot — ran unsuccessfully in 2024 for Orange County Supervisor of Elections.

But the two-time survivor of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, who told VoxPopuli that the difficulties he had getting health insurance after having cancer is what propelled him into politics years ago, never says Quit.    

“My experience and knowledge of how to work with county staff and how the county operates is going to be essential,” he said in May.

Here, Hodge 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?

1. Affordability is the top issue our residents are asking me to address.

I have already done work to address our affordability crisis. As a member of the District 5 staff, I assisted Commissioner Emily Bonilla in drafting the 2022 Rent Stabilization ballot measure. The measure passed with nearly 60 percent support from Orange County voters, demonstrating our community's desire for urgent action on housing affordability. This was never meant to be a permanent solution. It was intended to give renters a financial reprieve for two to three years while the rental market stabilized.

I support Orange County taking a more active role in creating housing opportunities, including public ownership and development of affordable and workforce housing. The reality is that one of the largest costs in housing development is land acquisition. Orange County holds a significant amount of land, and we should be exploring innovative ways to leverage that land to increase housing supply while maximizing public benefit.

I believe we need to think more creatively about how we use county-owned property. For example, when constructing new facilities such as fire stations, community centers, or administrative buildings, we should evaluate opportunities to incorporate housing into those projects. Around downtown and along transit corridors, county-owned parcels could support mixed-use developments that combine housing, parking, public services, and commercial space. By utilizing land the county already owns, we can significantly reduce development costs and create more attainable housing options for residents. I would support public-private partnerships to manage these communities, allowing the county to leverage private sector expertise while maintaining public goals around affordability and long-term community benefit.

I strongly believe mixed-use, mixed-income communities produce the best outcomes for residents. They create opportunities for economic mobility, access to jobs, and stronger connections. Concentrating poverty through exclusively low-income housing developments has too often failed to deliver a positive outcome. By creating communities that include a range of housing types and income levels, we can build better outcomes.

We must also be intentional about where we build housing. New residential development should be located on or near multimodal transportation corridors, including bus rapid transit, SunRail, and other transit investments. Connecting housing to transportation reduces household costs, decreases traffic congestion, lowers emissions, improves air quality, and expands access to employment and educational opportunities. Housing and transportation planning must go hand in hand to create an affordable and prosperous Orange County.

2. The second biggest complaint I hear about is traffic.

I believe we need to rethink how we fund and prioritize transportation investments. For too long, our residents have carried the costs of maintaining and expanding infrastructure that is heavily utilized by both residents and tourists.

Orange County has a shadow population of more than 220,000 tourists each day who use our roads and transit options, yet we as residents bear a disproportionate share of the burden for addressing these traffic needs. We should be working aggressively with our state partners to secure a fairer return on the gas tax dollars generated in Orange County while also ensuring that our local tourism economy contributes more directly to transportation solutions.

I believe we should pursue a more aggressive use of our Tourist Development Tax revenues and maximize opportunities to leverage the Orange County Convention Center as a transportation hub. We need our tourism industry to support transportation investments that benefit both visitors and residents. The continued success of our tourism economy depends on a transportation system that moves people efficiently, and tourism should help pay for the impacts it creates. We are currently losing hundreds of millions of dollars from the World Cup because we have such inadequate mass transit options.

I support investing in a multimodal transportation network that gives residents real alternatives to sitting in traffic. That includes expanding and improving bus service, advancing bus rapid transit projects, supporting SunRail expansion, improving pedestrian and bicycle connectivity, and creating better connections between where people live, work, and play. This has been proposed by Sunrise Movement Orlando and their STAR plan. Transportation planning needs to focus on moving people, not simply adding more pavement.

Expanding reliable transit options reduces transportation costs. Affordability and transportation are directly linked to each other. By reducing car dependency, we can improve quality of life while creating a transportation system for the future which makes it more affordable for our residents.Orange County must better align transportation investments by and for tourists. By leveraging our TDT dollars, advocating for a fair share of gas tax funding, and investing in modern transit solutions, we can build a world-class system that works for residents, tourists, and businesses alike.

3. The third issue I am most frequently asked to address is unmanaged growth and sprawl.

Addressing sprawl starts with respecting the will of Orange County voters and recognizing that our natural lands, rural communities, and agricultural areas are among our most valuable assets. I will adamantly defend the voter-approved rural boundary, which serves as an important tool for protecting our critical wetlands, wildlife habitat, water resources, agricultural lands, and the overall quality of life that makes Orange County a desirable place to live. These areas serve as runoff and recharge areas for our stormwater. Hurricane Ian showed us in a very dramatic and expensive manner that we cannot continue mitigating and filling in wetlands for growth.

I believe we must respect our rural settlements and ensure that growth does not undermine the character and history of these communities. Residents who chose to live in rural Orange County should not have to worry that unchecked development will fundamentally alter their communities or place additional strain on roads, infrastructure, and environmental resources. Orange County made a commitment to protect these communities in the 1990's, it is our job to honor that commitment.

Smart growth means focusing development where our infrastructure already exists. Keeping residents closer to jobs, services, and transportation options are essential for longterm community success and sustainability. Encouraging infill development and redevelopment within our Urban Service Area reduces the pressure to expand outward into environmentally sensitive lands and agricultural areas.

I am hopeful for the expiration of Senate Bill 180 in 2027 and the opportunity to fully implement the goals and policies of Vision 2050. Vision 2050 represents years of community input for our new comprehensive plan and provides a roadmap for managing growth in a way that balances economic opportunity, environmental protection, transportation planning, and quality of life. Vision 2050 provides the County with the ability to develop mixed-use projects around targeted growth sectors. For this to succeed, Orange County need to adopt a long-term transit plan which adequately meshes well with Vision 2050.

We all know that the growth is seemingly inevitable, but sprawl is a choice we make. By defending the Rural Boundary, protecting rural settlements, focusing development within existing growth areas, and implementing Vision 2050, we can accommodate these new residents in a responsible manner while preserving the environmental and community assets that make Orange County special.

Why do you deserve to be elected in this race?

I bring a strong record of public service through my work as Chief of Staff to Orange County Commissioners Mayra Uribe and Dr. Kelly Martinez Semrad. In these leadership roles, I have been deeply involved in the day to day operations of county government while helping to shape long term policy priorities that impact residents across Orange County. I have written and advanced numerous policies and proposed legislation addressing critical issues such as the Tourist Development Tax, housing affordability, immigration, transportation, and improvements to the county’s permitting processes.

My work reflects a consistent focus on affordability, expanding transportation options, and combating urban sprawl. I have supported efforts to increase housing access and reduce cost burdens for families, while advocating for the use of TDT funding for transportation projects. I have worked to ensure that TDT dollars are more clearly accounted for and used to addressed our community priorities. I have also worked to bring community partners and county government together to address community issues as small as permitting to concerns as impactful as immigration. We must demand a commitment to efficiency, fairness, and transparency in local government.

Through collaboration with community stakeholders, industry leaders, and public officials, I have built a reputation for delivering practical, results driven solutions that strengthen communities and improve quality of life.

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?

Please see the answer above listed as my top priority.

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?

NO. I strongly oppose efforts to eliminate or dramatically reduce property taxes because of the impact it would have on the essential services residents rely on every day. Property taxes fund public safety, corrections, parks, libraries, roads, stormwater management, code enforcement, animal services, mosquito control, and other services that keep our communities safe, attractive, and desirable. These investments directly contribute to quality of life and help maintain property values.

It is also important to acknowledge that renters are unlikely to see any meaningful benefit from this proposal. Instead, if local governments are forced to replace lost revenue through higher sales taxes, fees, or service cuts, renters could end up paying more while receiving no direct tax relief.

Sales taxes are particularly concerning because they are regressive, placing a greater burden on those who can least afford it. Working families, seniors on fixed incomes, and lower-income residents spend a larger share of their income on taxable goods and services, meaning they would likely bear a disproportionate share of the cost.

Before voters consider a proposal of this magnitude, they deserve a clear understanding of how property tax dollars are used and an honest explanation of how billions in lost revenue would be replaced. My focus will be on improving transparency, accountability, and government efficiency. We should not be creating dramatic budget shortfalls that lead to higher costs or reduced services for Orange County residents to address minor inefficiencies.

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?

Utility costs are already rising. The rapid growth of energy-intensive data centers across the country threatens to place even greater strain on our aquifer and electrical grid. Unfortunately, I have little confidence that Florida's utility regulators will adequately protect our communities. Time and again, the commissions responsible for oversight have forced residents and small businesses bear the burden. Too often, these commissions are composed of political appointees from the very industries they are charged with regulating.

Local governments must be proactive. Counties should use the tools available to them, including comprehensive planning, future land use designations, zoning, and the development review committee, to ensure data centers does not undermine community interests. I support the full ban on mega data centers in Orange County. We simply do not have the land, water, or capacity in the power grid to support them.

We must also remain vigilant against efforts by special interests to attack local decision-making through preemption. I fully support home rule. The people of Florida should not be forced to subsidize corporate profits through higher utility bills and environmental destruction.

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

The biggest environmental issue Orange County must address is unmanaged urban sprawl. For too long, Orange County's growth has been measured by how quickly our cities and county can approve new development rather than how responsibly we can build communities that protect our natural resources, reduce infrastructure costs, and preserve our quality of life.

As a County Commissioner, I will defend the voter approved rural boundary and protect our rural settlements as critical tools for managing growth. These areas are not simply vacant land waiting for development. They provide flood protection, protect wetlands and wildlife habitat, support agriculture, preserve water resources, and help maintain the natural systems that make our communities more resilient to climate change.

Orange County must prioritize smart growth by incentivizing infill development, revitalizing existing communities, and supporting greater density where infrastructure already exists. I will also work to establish stronger legal protections for our conservation and mitigation lands. We cannot be using taxpayer money to purchase preservation lands and watch them be easily repurposed for toll roads that undermine the public investments made to protect them. Conservation investments must be defended.

Where should growth happen in District 2, and where should it stop?

I support Vision 2050 even though it's been preempted by the state until August 2027 assuming we don't get any hurricanes this year or next year. But in that comp plan, there are targeted areas or targeted sectors for growth looking at where we have multimodal transit, looking at where we have the infrastructure to support an increase in density. And I'm not talking about putting a skyscraper somewhere, but rather, if we can take a one-story building and make it two or three stories, put some commercial on the bottom and put some housing on top, those are the kinds of projects in the right areas that we can begin to look at to address our housing issues.

What I don't support is the city of Apopka and the city of Ocoee annexing Orange County land and then allowing developers to do whatever they want, which is kind of what's been going on for the past 10, 15 years. Orange County has some pretty decent development standards and codes. They're burdensome, they're meant to protect our wetlands, meant to protect our trees. But our cities' [codes] are more lax. So when they come to the county and the county says no, then they get sent to the city so there needs to be a check and balance. There also needs to be a relationship. I think that we need to work with the City of Apopka and the City of Ocoee through a joint planning agreement that says, "This is where we want the growth to go. These are the conditions that we're willing to accept,” to allow that growth to go there, and just put the rules out, and so the county can have a little bit more say in what happens in these areas to help manage the growth. I’m a big proponent of the rural boundary, not because Wes Hodge likes it, but because a super majority of Orange County voters put it into effect, and so the voters have been clear on where they want the growth. They don't want it outside of the rural boundary.

What are your priorities for protecting Wekiwa Springs and surrounding waterways?

Commissioner Christine Moore did a great job on the septic-to-sewer conversion, finding funding that was available and supporting residents and getting the education going. But that job is not complete. I want to ensure that we continue removing more septic tanks out of the Wekiwa Basin so that we can keep the nutrient load down. Lake Apopka is another area where a lot of money has been spent to improve it. I was here in the '80s and '90s when you just literally did not go anywhere near Lake Apopka because it was so polluted. We have the wildlife drive now, but there's still a lot of work that needs to be done to improve that lake, so we have been working on things like the summer fertilizer dam to prevent runoff, to prevent nutrient loads going into these waterways and systems. I want to get an update to see if we're actually seeing decreases in nutrient loads. If not, we need to strengthen ordinances. There is an opportunity for ecotourism that's not impactful to highlight these areas, and I feel like if people can actually come out and see the springs, if they go out and see the nature, they will appreciate them.

Do you support using the tourist development tax (TDT) for needs beyond tourism, such as roads and housing?

Absolutely. But I do think we have to work within the confines of it being in the tourist area. So one of the things I want to work on is, for example, there's this big loophole with the convention center. So let's say we want to put a SunRail station at the convention center, we have a precedent where we can use TDT dollars to pay for it. Then once we build the train station, we have to get a train there, so now we can use TDT dollars to build the train line. It is an expanded use of TDT dollars. I think it's still within the confines of the law, so it's not going to require a law change, and that does have a direct benefit to tourism because we're getting people from the airport to the convention center on SunRail.

Do I also support Tallahassee loosening up the strings on our TDT uses? Absolutely. I think every other county in Florida can use it for a ton of other things. We are the most restricted county in the state, and I think that the other counties in the state seem to be doing just fine, utilizing their TDT dollars for public safety, for streets, for roads, and still don't have any problem bringing tourists there. So I feel like the way that the law has become so carved up is ridiculous. It's overly burdensome for Orange County, and I think that we need to re-evaluate the law. But in the meantime, I fully support using it to expand SunRail to the convention center.

How would you improve public transit options in Orange County?‍

I fully support the Star plan proposed by Sunrise Orlando. They are advocating for transit corridors, and then using a TIF tax on properties to help create a funding source for it. I think it's a great opportunity. Those bus rapid transit lines become the precursor to light rail, and I think that that's what we need. I fully support some sort of mass transit. It's ridiculous. As big as we are, we have zero reliable public transportation.

What programs would you prioritize or cut?

That's a tough one because we're looking at the possibility of having to cut a lot of stuff with property tax reform, right? And when we're talking about cuts, we're not talking about little cuts, we're talking about drastic cuts, so we need to educate people that when it comes to stormwater maintenance or road maintenance, road replacement is on a 25-year cycle that may have to become 40 or even 50 years.

Stormwater — whenever there's a hurricane, that's what protects your property from flooding, and if we're not able to maintain them at the level we currently do, it's only going to be exponentially worse. I want to make sure that we're adequately funding the critical infrastructure needed to protect lives and property.

I also want to ensure that our first responders — the deputy sheriffs, the firefighters, and our corrections officers — are all paid adequately and competitively. We just did a pay correction for our firefighters because we were so far behind. The starting firefighter salary was $45,000 a year in Orange County, and you can't live in Orange County
making $45,000 a year. So what was happening was we were losing a lot of the very talented, skilled young professionals because they couldn't afford to live in the community they serve. This is something we've got to tackle. It cost us roughly $750,000 to $1 million dollars to train a firefighter. We lose them, guess what? We have to reinvest that money into training them and onboarding them again. So it actually costs us more by not paying them what they're actually worth.

I want to challenge each of the county departments to really deep dive into their budgets. Are the programs actually being utilized by the community? Are we seeing positive net results? I just want to ensure that when we're investing taxpayer dollars, the programs are being utilized and that we're getting a good return on our
investment.

What should Orange County do about affordable housing?

We are in a housing emergency, a housing crisis right now, and nothing should be off the table. Orange County is at a deficit at all levels. It's not just low income; it's not just market rate. We're missing housing at all levels. We need a comprehensive plan. One of the things I keep talking about is Orange County needs to get into the housing business. I think our properties are underutilized. For example, when we build a fire station, there's an opportunity to put housing on top of that building and integrate housing. I fully believe we need mixed-income housing, so it'rs not just low income — it's everybody can come in and get into that housing. It's been shown that when you have mixed-income housing, you have better results for the lower income residents. I don't think that the county should be running the housing per se. I think we can do a public private partnership on the management of the property. The biggest component of the cost is land, so if we can find ways to utilize land currently owned by the county to increase our housing supply, I think we should be doing that.

We have some robust programs for affordable housing, but they're also arguably short term, meaning 15, 20 years and then they go to market rate. Tha's not a long term solution, that's a temporary fix. I think that we need to play the long game. What's going to happen in 30, 40, 50, 60, years? and ensuring that we have an adequate housing supply. That also goes back to density and sprawl. As we go further out, we need more roads, more sidewalks, more storm water infrastructure. That all has to be maintained, which costs the community.

Tallahassee has not allowed counties to charge the full impact fees for development, and so when we approve these new developments, these developers are not paying the actual cost of what it costs the community, they're paying a portion of it. So what happens is the rest of us as taxpayers have to make up that difference. So we're actually subsidizing developers and lining their pockets because they're not paying their fair share of impacts to our community.

Florida currently leads the nation in Section 287 agreement. Do you support the state and federal government's approach to immigration in Orange County?

No, because we're being forced to pay the balance. We're not only being forced to pay the balance, we're being forced to pay for people detained in other communities and brought to Orange County. We were getting $100 a day and it costs $188 a day, so we're losing $88 a day, but now since we've withdrawn from the IGSA, which I fully supported and worked on in Commissioner Martinez Semrad’s office, but now we have an agreement for $100 for two days, so we've actually gone backwards. The only thing that is a benefit is that we shouldn't be housing people from outside of our county.

The Big Beautiful Bill had a dramatic increase in funding for homeland security. The state has money that it’s set aside and none of that is coming down to Orange County. So what's happening is we pay our federal taxes, we pay our state taxes, and yet we're still having to pay again through our county general revenue to participate in immigration which is a federal issue. Local law enforcement should not be doing immigration enforcement. We've been forced to take up that responsibility and fund it even though we’re already funding it at the state and federal level, then again at the county level. I feel like we can do better.

I have been very fortunate to be able to work with Chief Quiñones at the jail. I've been to the jail on several occasions to see the conditions that we are keeping detainees in and I will say that, given the circumstances, our jail staff and our correction staff are doing the best that they can to ensure that while they're in Orange County's custody, they're treated with dignity and respect. We worked with the Public Defenders Office to get information about knowing your rights posted in those areas. So we are doing what we can and I will say that I know the care and treatment received at Orange County is far better than what they would get in any other facility in the state. But I would like to see us get to a point where we have a legitimate immigration process and we're not terrorizing our community or putting people in jail when they have valid work permits.

Where do you stand on how Orange County handled signing the addendum to the 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to give corrections officers authority to transport detainees to federal facilities, and the governor’s threat to remove commissioners if they didn’t comply?

At the end of the day, I have to put my head on the pillow and go to sleep right? And there are laws that Tallahassee passes that have been proven to be unconstitutional when challenged in court, and I will fully support the county challenging laws in court when we think that they're unconstitutional.

I supported the challenge to Senate Bill 180, I support a challenge to the law that requires us to cooperate in immigration enforcement. I think that the courts have made it clear that immigration is a federal issue, and that it's not up to local law enforcement to be doing that. We have not filed that lawsuit yet, that clarification lawsuit, but I would fully support it.

When it came down to the vote to sign the 287(g) agreements, I was chief of staff for Commissioner Martinez, and she struggled with it. She's like, "In my heart, I know what to do, but it's not just me, I have a staff and you guys have families.” We had a team meeting without her and had a discussion about where we stand. And we, as a group, all agreed that we were going to do what was right, which was to stand up to Tallahassee, and ifb that cost us our jobs, then that was the cost that we were willing to pay. My stance hasn't changed on that. I have been willing to put my job on the line for my community. I will do that again. I will always put the people first, and if putting people above a paycheck is what it's going to take, that's what I'm going to do. I know that other people will say that they've tried to do this, or that they would do this, but I'm the only one that actually has.

What transparency measures do you support?

I would love to see our budgeting process become more transparent. Having worked with the county for many years, I've been through the process multiple times. The way the county is set up, commissioners are kind of off on their side by themselves, and the mayor controls the county administrator, who runs the county. So when it comes to trying to influence budgeting priorities or trying to have conversations about where these funds are going, we don’t get to have a whole lot of say other than to vote yes or no. I would like to see more transparency in that process.

The county has done a bad job of educating residents as to where those dollars actually go. It's easy to say the county is wasting money, but we need to do a better job explaining what actually happens. Stormwater, sidewalks, roads, animal control, mosquito control — all of these are county services. and it's kind of become out of sight, out of mind for our residents because the county staff does a great job doing their job. It goes unnoticed. So I feel like we do need to be more transparent in the budgeting process and more detail as to where those dollars are spent.

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