Former Democratic Sen. Randolph Bracy, who is running to try to return to the Senate in November, made a splash this week when he contended that incumbent Democrat Geraldine Thompson doesn’t live in the Orange County district.
Bracy argued Thompson’s homesteaded Windermere property should disqualify her from holding the District 15 seat and threatened legal action.
Bracy held a news conference Wednesday outside the Orange County Administration Building to outline a draft lawsuit. Thompson showed up and stood beside Bracy.
Thompson was elected to the seat in 2022, when Bracy unsuccessfully ran for Congress. Thompson also served in the Senate from 2012 to 2016 and in the House from 2006 to 2012 and from 2018 to 2022.
Thompson told the Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday that she lives at her daughter’s home in Ocoee, which is in the district. She said her husband lives at the Windermere property they have owned for 36 years. Thompson is registered to vote in Ocoee.
Windermere is in Senate District 13, which is represented by Eustis Republican Dennis Baxley.
In Thompson’s 2022 financial-disclosure report and paperwork filed on the state elections site, the only listed address is an office suite in Orlando.
Lawmakers must be residents of their districts at the time of election. But the state Division of Elections says questions about residency should go to the Senate or House. It said each legislative chamber has “exclusive jurisdiction over the qualifications of its members.”
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This article appears in Jun 5-11, 2024.