Uribe, representing a sprawling district covering neighborhoods south of downtown and in the Curry Ford District, is the third candidate so far to publicly toss her hat into the ring. Her announcement comes after those of Tiffany Moore-Russell, who currently serves as Orange County Clerk, and local tech entrepreneur Christopher Messina, who unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2022.
“Too many families in Orange County are being priced out. They are behind and can’t get ahead,” said Uribe. “We see it every day when we have skyrocketing rents, traffic that’s choking our growth, a tourism economy that often forgets about the people who are helping run it, and a generation of young people like my daughter who wonder what’s left here to do in Orange County.”
Uribe’s young son Lincoln and college-aged daughter Faith joined Uribe and her husband — “the First Lady,” Uribe joked — as she publicly announced her bid for mayor. Orange County is home to roughly 1.5 million people and runs on a $7.2 billion annual county budget. Because Orange County follows a “strong mayor” form of government, the mayor occupies a role of executive leadership, overseeing the county budget and all county operations, including the county’s more than 8,000 employees.
Orange County’s current mayor is Jerry Demings, a former police chief and sheriff who is term-limited from seeking re-election in 2026 after first ascending the dais in 2018. Uribe, an Orlando native and registered Democrat, was first elected to represent District 3 as county commissioner in 2018.
She has been re-elected to the officially nonpartisan office twice since, earning endorsements last year from labor unions like UNITE HERE Local 737, the local teachers’ union, as well as progressive groups like Florida Rising in her bid for re-election to the County Commission.
“I’m running for mayor because we need leadership that puts people first and its results over rhetoric,” Uribe argued.
“I believe we can build an Orange County where our teachers, our firefighters, our law enforcement, our correction officers can live in the county that they work and serve in, where we start building smarter with clean energy, modern and resilient infrastructure, where we make the public safety as a partnership with neighbors and not as a budget line item, and where we build government that’s transparent, efficient and accountable to you and not the special interest.”
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Uribe, in the past, hasn’t been afraid to stand up to tourism bosses — including Universal Orlando, a billion-dollar corporation that secured $125 million in public funds from Orange County leaders in 2019 for road construction around Universal’s new Epic Universe park. That vote to give Universal millions in public money came despite votes of opposition from Uribe, then-Commissioner Emily Bonilla, and Commissioner Maribel Gomez-Cordero.
“I couldn’t find a justification for giving a corporation that large and that well-funded money,” Uribe told Orlando Weekly at the time.
Uribe also told Orlando Weekly on Thursday that she’s open to the idea of diversifying the county’s use of tourist tax development funds to fund transportation and public infrastructure, instead of just Visit Orlando — the local tourism agency — and owners of other tourist attractions.
“In order for us to have some real comprehensive transportation change, we need everyone on this,” said Uribe. The county’s TDT funds come from a 6 percent tax levied on hotel stays and other short-term lodging.
Uribe says it’s not just locals living in one of the country’s biggest tourism destinations, many of whom are already struggling to make ends meet as it is, who should have to shoulder the financial burden. “If we have a top-notch transportation system, the visitors, but most importantly the people who live here will be successful,” she argued. “And that’s what I really want to see.”
Mayor Demings has similarly pushed for new ways to better fund public transit, including through a local sales tax increase that voters ultimately rejected at the ballot box.
Addressing housing
Struggles in the housing market and homelessness are also front of mind for Uribe and likely any other serious candidate running for mayor of Orange County moving forward.
A one-day count of homeless people in Orange County earlier this year identified nearly 2,000 people in the county who either lack shelter altogether or are sleeping in a homeless shelter or other temporary arrangement. Homelessness has been on the rise in Central Florida since the COVID-19 pandemic and skyrocketing rents that priced many working families and seniors living on fixed incomes out of their homes.
Orange County has invested millions of dollars into homeless service programs, but Uribe said she believes the county’s system for allowing new housing development also needs to change.
“It takes too long. It should not take years to get your permit processed so you can break ground,” she argued, adding she believes the same for new businesses. “You’re going to need employees to function, you’re going to pay impact fees, you’re going to be doing all these things that are actually going to help financially in our security of our county going forward. And I think it’s super important that we make that a priority.”
Uribe announced two early endorsements for her campaign Thursday from the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 86, representing employees of the Orange County Corrections and Sheriff’s Office, in addition to the statewide Fraternal Order of Police union. A rep from the International Association of Fire Fighters was also present at the campaign launch.
“It doesn’t matter who the other options are,” Nelson Cruz, a state trustee for Lodge No. 86 told Orlando Weekly, describing Uribe as the “obvious choice.”
“We’ve had the ability to have conversations about our pain points,” Cruz explained. “She’s not just someone who’s familiar — she’s someone who cares.”
Staff within the Corrections Department have struggled to recruit and retain employees, in part due to low salaries. The county commission recently approved a raise for corrections employees, who now have to manage operations of not just local people who are detained but others from surrounding counties who are brought to the Orange County Jail by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Remain vigilant
Uribe did come under scrutiny last year after she was accused of using her power in elected office to help her husband’s charity. Attorney Christian Waugh filed an ethics complaint against Uribe (later dismissed by the state ethics commission), claiming Uribe was funneling thousands of dollars’ worth of county perks (in the form of luxury box tickets to local events) to her husband Kevin Sutton’s charity, All-Star Dads.
Uribe, who had also provided tickets to other charities, denied any wrongdoing. Even so, after the allegations aired, the county moved to change their rules on county commissioners’ access to skybox tickets at the Kia Center and Camping World Stadium to prevent a reoccurrence, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
The electoral showdown for Orange County’s next mayor is set to take place next year. Candidates have until June 12, 2026 to qualify for the ballot. In addition to Uribe, Russell-Moore, and Messina, the names of other potential candidates have also traveled through the rumor mill. According to the Orlando Sentinel, former county Commissioner Emily Bonilla is also considering a run. So are former U.S. House Reps. Stephanie Murphy and Val Demings, the current mayor’s wife.
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This article appears in May 7-13, 2025.
