Former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings has qualified by petition for the Orange County Mayoral election ahead of incumbent Mayor Teresa Jacobs, surpassing the 6,907 petition signatures needed to qualify. Her campaign was quick to tout the early grassroots momentum while “beating incumbent Teresa Jacobs in the race to qualify for the August ballot” in the announcement.
Meanwhile, just yesterday the re-election campaign for Mayor Jacobs sent out an email hoping to collect more signatures. “We’ve had a very good response, but now we need a great response,” the email declared. “We are well on our way to our goal of 7,000 petitions, but time is running out. We only have a few more weeks and we need another big response,” Jacobs added.
Demings has pledged to run an aggressive grassroots campaign and hopes to capitalize on the early advantage.
“I am humbled to have the support of thousands who leant their name to this effort, signing the petitions to put my name on the ballot,” Demings said in a statement. “The overwhelming support I’ve received in this campaign is truly heartwarming, and a testament to families living here who are disappointed with the lack of leadership and broken promises of the current mayor’s administration.”
According to the Demings campaign, petitions have been validated by the Supervisor of Elections and certification will occur within 24 hours.
