The Mayor of Orange County, Florida, Jerry Demings, has filed to run for governor as a Democrat in the 2026 Florida gubernatorial election. Mayor Demings, a former Orange County sheriff and a former police chief in Orlando, has led the county since 2018 — he has won three elections — and has opposed several policies of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who will leave office at the end of the year due to term limits.
Note: Orange County includes the city of Orlando (home of Disney World), one of the few remaining Democratic strongholds in statewide and local elections in Florida.
Mayor Jerry Demings, who leads the county that is home to Orlando and its multiple theme park resorts, filed papers to run for Florida’s highest office on Friday, according to state elections records.
— Tampa Bay 28 (@tampabay28) November 4, 2025
In the Democratic primary, Demings will face former Republican Congressman David Jolly, who’s been campaigning as a “centrist” Democrat since June.
The leading Republican gubernatorial candidate so far is MAGA-aligned U.S. Representative Byron Donalds, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump. (Note: DeSantis has yet to announce his endorsement as his wife, Casey DeSantis, and his lieutenant governor, Jay Collins, have reportedly been considering runs.)
The Republican Party of Florida responded to Demings’ upcoming campaign, and said in a statement: “This is a desperate attempt to keep the Demings name in the headlines after years of failure,” asserting that Demings’s campaign was “destined to flop.”
Today @JerryDemings filed to run for Governor — a campaign destined to flop. This is a desperate attempt to keep the Demings name in the headlines after years of failure and to plunge an already divided @FlaDems into an internal civil war. https://t.co/7DumcOWYLS
— Florida GOP (@FloridaGOP) November 4, 2025
Note: In 2022, Demings’ wife, former chief of the Orlando Police Department and U.S. Representative Val Demings, lost the 2022 U.S. Senate election to Republican incumbent Marco Rubio in a landslide. Ms. Demings is reportedly considering running in the 2027 Orlando mayoral election. (Current Mayor Buddy Dyer, a Democrat, has said he will not seek a seventh term in the 2027 election.)
The Florida GOP also claimed that Demings’ campaign will “plunge an already divided @FlaDems into an internal civil war,” although elected Democrats in Florida including Rep. Maxwell Frost and Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith continue to appear united against Governor DeSantis.
As seen below, Frost and Guillermo Smith yesterday urged Governor DeSantis to declare a State of Emergency on Food Insecurity and use state resources to fund SNAP benefits paused by the federal government shutdown.
Today @RepMaxwellFrost & I stood with Central FL families facing HUGE Obamacare premium hikes due to GOP cuts.
If Congress doesn’t act, over a million Floridians will lose coverage and many more will see their premiums DOUBLE.
We can’t let working families pay the price.
pic.twitter.com/ig6KTStweP
— Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith (@CarlosGSmith) November 3, 2025