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The Senate District 15 special election has barely gotten underway, and already former State Sen. Randolph Bracy III has violated election statute. At issue is the Democrat's political sign, at Apopka Vineland Road and Balboa Drive in Pine Hills, that states Re-Elect Senator Randolph Bracy.
The word re-elect is reserved for incumbents, according to Florida Statute 106.143(6). All other candidates must use the word elect. The statute states unequivocally: "No political advertisement of a candidate who is not an incumbent of the office for which the candidate is running shall use the word re-elect.”
While Bracy was a state senator once upon a time, he has not been in office since 2022 when he left the Florida Senate to mount an unsuccessful campaign for Congress. And despite his challenge last year, Sen. Geraldine Thompson handily held onto the District 15 Senate seat with 61 percent of the vote. The Senate District 15 seat is only open now because Thompson died unexpectedly in February from complications after knee surgery.
Bracy is not the incumbent.
And that's why the wording on the sign is problematic, explains University of Central Florida political science professor Aubrey Jewett, PhD.
" It gives the impression that he is the current incumbent, and that's what state law is designed to stop,” Jewett told VoxPopuli in a Friday phone interview. “They don't want candidates to give false impressions to voters.
“Unless you are actually the current incumbent for a particular office, you are not supposed to imply that you are by using the term re-elect, because the average voter might just assume, Oh, if we're re-electing this person, they must already be the one in this office. And of course, that's just not the case here,” Jewett said.
Bracy served two terms in the Florida House and one term in the Florida Senate. That means, he ran in at least three Florida elections and is presumably familiar with the rules governing political signage. VoxPopuli reached out to Bracy by text to ask about his particular word choice, but he did not respond.
The Florida Elections Commission issues fines for up to three violations of this statute at $2,500 apiece; beginning with the fourth violation, fines increase to $7,500 each.
This isn’t the first time Bracy has played fast and loose with election laws. During last year’s Senate District 15 campaign against Thompson, Bracy used campaign funds to rent the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden for the premiere of his and his wife’s film Ponder, which was marketed as a black-tie, red-carpet, celebrity-filled affair. He later attempted to pass off the premiere as a campaign event despite there being no campaign advertising or branding. After VoxPopuli asked him about it and spoke to his longtime treasurer, Bracy repaid his campaign the rental fee.
