Orlando city commissioner Antonio “Tony” Ortiz has set up a competitive Orlando mayoral race for this upcoming year by filing paperwork Tuesday to run against progressive Democrat Anna Eskamani, a Florida House representative and Orlando native who launched her own bid for mayor in late 2024.
Ortiz, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and former Orlando police officer, has served as city commissioner in Orlando since 2007. A former Republican, Ortiz switched his party affiliation to Democrat in 2025, citing disagreement with the GOP over issues such as immigration and the climate crisis. Orlando’s mayoral race is officially nonpartisan.
Rumors swirled at the time of his party switch that Ortiz was considering a run for mayor. He’s the first major candidate to file for the mayoral seat, after Eskamani. Two other lesser-known candidates — Elliot Kahana and Abdelnasser Lutfi — have also filed paperwork to run.
The seat, up for election next year, will be vacated in early 2028 by longtime Mayor Buddy Dyer, a Democrat who confirmed he doesn’t plan to file for re-election.
“As the City of Orlando continues to grow and evolve, residents across the city are increasingly focused on the issues that shape everyday life, including housing, affordability, public safety, homelessness, transportation, economic opportunity, and neighborhood stability,” Ortiz told Spectrum News 13 in a statement Tuesday.
Eskamani, who’s currently in Tallahassee at a special legislative session to finalize a state budget, offered a cordial response when questioned by Orlando Weekly Wednesday on Ortiz’s decision to run. “I’m not running against anyone — I’m running for the people of Orlando,” she maintained. Her campaign, she added, has already knocked on 40,000 doors in the city and raised more than $1 million from 25,000 contributions across 15,000 individual donors “because folks are hungry for leadership that’s transparent, responsive and rooted in community.”
“Our campaign isn’t focused on who’s filing,” she told the Weekly. “We’re focused on who and what we’re fighting for: solutions for a more affordable and accessible city that works for all families, not one that continues to give in to the influence of special interests. I’m proud of the momentum we’ve built, and I’m excited to keep earning the trust of Orlando voters one conversation at a time.”
Eskamani — who’s term-limited from running for another term in the Florida House — has already received endorsements from a wide range of local, state and federal elected officials (mostly Democrats) including Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-10), State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, Orange County commissioners Nicole Wilson and Kelly Martinez Semrad, and State Attorney Monique Worrell. She’s also been endorsed by Equality Florida, the Sierra Club Florida chapter, the Orange County Young Democrats, and labor organizations such as the Central Florida AFL-CIO, the International Brotherhoods of Electrical Workers Local 606, and Unite Here Local 737. (Editor’s note: Ortiz’s campaign has not provided information regarding endorsements or fundraising yet.)
Dyer has served as mayor of Orlando since 2003. Ortiz told the Orlando Sentinel Tuesday that Dyer “has been an excellent mayor, and there’s a lot to emulate,” while adding that “there are certain things I probably would do a little differently.”
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