Alan Grayson jumps into Orlando state Senate race alongside Bracys

The candidates are set for September’s special election to fill the late Geraldine Thompson’s state Senate seat, and an already headline-grabbing matchup featuring the Bracy siblings now includes yet another familiar name.

Former congressman turned perennial candidate Alan Grayson entered the race for Senate District 15 on Tuesday, the latest in a string of elections he’s filed for since leaving Congress in 2017.

Grayson joined state Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, D-Ocoee, and her brother, former state Sen. Randolph Bracy, in the June 24 Democratic primary, along with Ocoee lawyer Coretta Anthony-Smith.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Willie Montague, the unsuccessful GOP candidate against Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost in 2024, in the Sept. 2 special election. Montague was the only Republican to file by the qualifying deadline at noon Wednesday and will not face a primary.

Sister vs. brother: LaVon Bracy Davis, Randolph Bracy both running for state Senate

The seat in western Orange County, which includes parts of Orlando, Ocoee, Apopka and Eatonville, was left vacant by Thompson’s death on Feb. 13 following surgery.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been criticized for his slow pace in scheduling special elections in heavily Democratic seats, set the election dates for the district last week.

Grayson, an outspoken progressive in Congress during the Obama administration, has filed to run in at least six different races since he left the House for an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate. He ran for Congress in 2018, 2020 and 2022 and the U.S. Senate in 2022 and 2024, though he dropped out of three of those races early.

In 2024, he ran for state Senate in the neighboring District 25 in southern Orange and Osceola counties, coming in third in the Democratic primary behind current state Sen. Kristen Arrington.

Grayson and Bracy had previously faced off in 2022 for the congressional seat eventually won by Frost. Bracy was required to resign his state Senate seat in order to run, and his attempt to reclaim it last year led to a bitter primary battle with Thompson that included allegations of each candidate living outside the district and questions about Bracy’s finances.

During that race, Thompson was notably endorsed by Bracy Davis, who snubbed her brother as did most of the Central Florida Democratic delegation. Thompson defeated Bracy by more than 20 percentage points.

Bracy announced his candidacy for Thompson’s Senate seat the day after she died, posting on Instagram from Italy’s Amalfi Coast that he planned to run again.

His sister, endorsed by Thompson’s family, announced her candidacy last month. Bracy Davis’ mother, civil rights advocate LaVon Bracy, also endorsed her daughter as the best candidate to replace Thompson, who was close friend dating back to their time as college students at the University of Miami.

“I love my brother, and I wish him well,” Bracy Davis, D-Orlando, said when asked about Bracy’s candidacy. “I am not going to be running ‘against’ anyone. I’ll be running for the people of Senate District 15.”

“This is a sad day for the Bracy name,” Randolph Bracy wrote in a text to the Orlando Sentinel that day, citing their late father, Randolph Bracy Sr., the co-founder with his wife of New Covenant Baptist Church in Orlando. “My sister choosing to run against me dishonors our father’s legacy in every way possible.”